Hah, the majority of people I approach online directly respond eloquently, because i don't have the time or patience to dally with idiots that spk lk ths with use of *lols* I'm a puritan for good language it's an English student thing.

Hmm, I first came to Muse - or rather, them to me - via a good friend in 1999, who'd bought the debut album and gave me a listen on her new discman in our school playing field. Rather sneakily, she'd snuck it out in our PE lesson, and we were both feigning inuries to get out of playing rounders, just to listen to this album. I was, and still am, totally blown away by certain tracks - Unintended (which made me go a bit snotty and weepy on first listen - teen hormones, huh) Fillip, Falling Down, Muscle Museum - ambivalent to others (Hate this and I'll love you, Uno, Cave, Overdue.) I discovered that i could like prog rock, and Muse detracted from the growing tide of so-called RnB that the majority of my classmates were soaking up, also fitting in nicely with my growing obsession with Green Day and Offspring. The latter's fallen by the wayside; Green Day still remain dear to my heart, though the last album was more than a little overblown, in length and quality.

It's been good, growing up with Muse. Watching them go from the toilets to the heaving arenas, as it were. When I saw them with my partner last November at London 02, and witnessed the show opening to the sounds of "Uprising" and the sight of hundreds of shadowy figures projected onto three tall columns, as though ghostly people were walking continuously up flights of stairs (so Ballardian), I knew they'd come to fruition; this was their evolutionary peak. That made me feel a little sad, in the way that coming to the end of Lord of the Rings made me feel. All the albums together, cover a great story arc, and when you've got a lyric like "let's start over again ... this time we'll get it right", well, where the Hell do you go from there? I'm rather hoping that they compose a rock/classical album now, since Exogenesis went down such a storm. It's still probably my favourite part of the album.

Absolution ... well, I thought that was it, my favourite album, til I heard Resistance - which seems even more complete, if that's possible. My least favourite album has to be Origins, I'm afraid. Too much screaming on that one in particular, however, Bliss is one of my absolute top Muse songs. The beginning part, I believe, they ripped off an old Nintendo game! My partner, NES nerd that he is, noticed it a little while ago - we went and found a clip of said game on Youtube, to satisfy our nerdiness.

It can't just be me that thinks of Bravestarr, that old cartoon from the 80's, whenever they hear Knights of Cydonia