Clunge Posted April 2, 2015 Share Posted April 2, 2015 The whole Radiohead thing is bogus anyways. That was just lazy journalism on the part of the music press at the time when Radiohead were arguably at the height of their powers and prominence, at least in terms of critical acclaim. Showbiz clearly shares some of the same influences that spoke to Thom Yorke then, Jeff Buckley and Nirvana for instance, but listen to Showbiz and The Bends back to back and there is no real comparison there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kueller Posted April 2, 2015 Share Posted April 2, 2015 Radiohead thing was started by a few people and I guess the fanaticism of the time (not helped by Thom kinda agreeing with it all) just boosted it. The comparisons kinda dropped after The Resistance when everyone started comparing them, more fairly, to Queen. It was such a strange and annoying thing though. I remember a good chunk of the Radiohead fanbase always being so snobbish at Muse (and Coldplay too I guess) for being Radiohead ripoffs. For people trying to present themselves as having superior musical knowledge they sure missed out on most of the indie scene taking just as much and sometimes more influence. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LewisF Posted April 2, 2015 Author Share Posted April 2, 2015 The whole idea that Muse ripped off Radiohead only really holds any weight on Showbiz, which still doesn't sound similar to them at all imo, save for the vocals. Origin Of Symmetry, Absolution and Black Holes And Revelations are all way heavier than RH have ever gone, and everything that has followed has been more in the path of Queen and U2. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
p_of_cydonia Posted April 2, 2015 Share Posted April 2, 2015 I think it was mostly matt's early vocal style resembling yorke's that boosted the comparisons. imo showbiz is influenced by radiohead, but honestly, if you're a birtish band in 1999 and you're not at least a bit influenced by the ok-computer sound, there's probably something wrong with you After OoS I'm not hearing radiohead at all (maybe just in Animals a bit) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim59 Posted April 2, 2015 Share Posted April 2, 2015 I agree to an extent. But I simply can't deny BH&R was the first Muse album that featured songs which reminded me overwhelmingly of other acts. Since then, it has only got more noticeable on each subsequent album. LPs 1-3 sound, to me definitively like Muse, first and foremost. LPs 4-6 sound like Muse, but with very discernible nods to other acts. Not on every track, of course, but I still subconsciously make a distinction. It does bug me, a bit. I'm sure I'm not the only one who listened to USoE for the first time and immediately thought Queen. Does it bother me? No. It's in moderation, and it's a terrific song. Same for Map Of The Problematique venturing into Depeche Mode territory. It works because it's great. I just wish I got more of a pang of the twisted originality and/or meld of influences that cane together to inspire the sound on OoS and Absolution. Perhaps it's not even a sound, but rather a mindset or ethos. Yeah agreed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain Radiator Posted April 2, 2015 Share Posted April 2, 2015 Radiohead thing was started by a few people and I guess the fanaticism of the time (not helped by Thom kinda agreeing with it all) just boosted it. It was such a strange and annoying thing though. I remember a good chunk of the Radiohead fanbase always being so snobbish at Muse (and Coldplay too I guess) for being Radiohead ripoffs. Get this - my girlfriend's aunt, a big Radiohead fan since The Bends, saw Muse at Glastonbury in 2000, the height of the Radiohead copyist claptrap in the media, and she not only still believed it after the gig, which she said made her completely disinterested in them, it also, for her, confirmed the Radiohead comparison so much that she STILL thinks they sound the same. The mind boggles! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frozenbanana Posted April 2, 2015 Share Posted April 2, 2015 It kinda upsets me that I wouldn't have known about the L'Arena influence if I hadn't read about it on here, and I would have enjoyed the preview (and probably the album song) far more if so. To a small extent it's been permanently spoilt by knowing about this stuff. Then again, I wouldn't have even known about the preview at all if I hadn't been reading the boards, so... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mozza Posted April 2, 2015 Share Posted April 2, 2015 People wanted a new Radiohead album after 1997 and Showbiz was in the area of The Bends so it kind of made sense at the time. Since 2001 though it doesn't, both bands branched out in different directions. Regarding Muse - the influences are fine but the last two records did sound too much of a 'let's do a song that sounds like [x] artist'. BHaR was a mini disappointment at the time because of how Assassin, Exo Politics and even KoC turned out compared to their early live shows and the increase in more blander pop-rock oriented songs (and the weird flow). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gareeh Posted April 2, 2015 Share Posted April 2, 2015 BHAR has aged well though. I enjoy it more now than I ever did, maybe because TR and T2L aren't great. Just wish they'd remaster BHAR Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mozza Posted April 2, 2015 Share Posted April 2, 2015 BHAR has aged well though. I enjoy it more now than I ever did, maybe because TR and T2L aren't great. Just wish they'd remaster BHAR Yep, it's not on the level of OoS or Absolution but it's a solid album Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hipbones Posted April 2, 2015 Share Posted April 2, 2015 Also read the rules about questioning mod decisions. Keep it out of the thread. Oh, you're so scary! I like The Globalist so far, no biggie. I'm a fan of BHAR, still trying to erase T2L and TR from my memory. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spectrum IV Posted April 2, 2015 Share Posted April 2, 2015 Oh, you're so scary! That hurts my ego Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Finn. Posted April 2, 2015 Share Posted April 2, 2015 For a lot of people who aren't hardcore fans but likes the band and listened to all their albums, BH&R is their favourite to date. If you want to show someone what is Muse, "Supermassive Black Hole" and "Knights of Cydonia" are excellent songs for a first contact. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FabriPav Posted April 2, 2015 Share Posted April 2, 2015 For a lot of people who aren't hardcore fans but likes the band and listened to all their albums, BH&R is their favourite to date. I'm glad you interviewed a lot of people about this so that you could report your findings here Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CoolFunkMan Posted April 2, 2015 Share Posted April 2, 2015 wow, haven't been in here for three years or something, since T2L was released I think the whole "oh that song reminds me of these song(s)" has become sligthly ridiculous - to the point that people don't enjoy songs anymore, they're just breaking them down to little pieces and try to trace the influences of each piece. I mean I'm pretty sure many great twelve-bar blues songs sound (very) similar - what does it matter? who cares? anyway, from what i've heard, the globalist intro's chord progression and whistling melody are different from the l'arena one, the orcehstration, however, is almost identical. imo it sounds similar enough to be an (obvious and intentional) "homage" but not too similar to be a "blatant rip-off". ok, enough from me now, I'll probably shut up for the next three years anyway, until album no.8 is due Couldn't agree more, this is really starting to annoy me. So what tracks have similarities to other songs? Why should we care? Even if everything we've heard so far is similar to other songs, they still sound like Muse to me. The thing is, there's only so much that can be done in music, it's only inevitable that songs will sound similar/the same as other songs eventually... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FabriPav Posted April 2, 2015 Share Posted April 2, 2015 The thing is, there's only so much that can be done in music, it's only inevitable that songs will sound similar/the same as other songs eventually... Lol "there are just 7 notes!!" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
forevermusic Posted April 2, 2015 Share Posted April 2, 2015 wow, haven't been in here for three years or something, since T2L was released I think the whole "oh that song reminds me of these song(s)" has become sligthly ridiculous - to the point that people don't enjoy songs anymore, they're just breaking them down to little pieces and try to trace the influences of each piece. I mean I'm pretty sure many great twelve-bar blues songs sound (very) similar - what does it matter? who cares? anyway, from what i've heard, the globalist intro's chord progression and whistling melody are different from the l'arena one, the orcehstration, however, is almost identical. imo it sounds similar enough to be an (obvious and intentional) "homage" but not too similar to be a "blatant rip-off". ok, enough from me now, I'll probably shut up for the next three years anyway, until album no.8 is due It's one thing that there are so many notes, chord progressions, and arrangements of each that people find worthy of listening, as is the argument that contemporary culture is no longer interested in originality. Or maybe its the case that since the recent Blurred Lines verdict, the question of what actually is original and what isn't is coming under more scrutiny. I dunno. I mean, sure, its ridiculous to always go "That sounds like this, that and the other", and sure, Muse's originality on recent albums is not exactly without questions. There's probably an inbetween argument to be fair - sure, there's only so many musical pieces out there and some stuff is bound to be familiar, but it'd be nice to find something different. Also from what I remember, it was the other stuff to the orchestration that reminded me of L'Arena, and that reminded me of other stuff. But who knows. Maybe on the album it will be credited as "featuring a cover of L'Arena as part of the intro". It's a good piece of music though. Sadly that has been the case with the last two albums too. Guiding Light/Vienna. Unnatural Selection/New Born & Lay All Your Love On Me. Explorers/Don't Stop Me Now. Uprising/Call Me & Dr Who & Whatnot. Oh and Panic Station/Superstition & Another One Bites The Dust. I'm not 100% sure with that one. Explorers reminds me of a lot of other songs (there's a few Beatles-y vocal melodies, a few Christmas carols, and something else I can't quite remember), but DSMN isn't the first song I'd think of. Especially atmospherically - it feels a lot more defeatist and insomnia-curing than the Queen tune. Agreed with the others though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Finn. Posted April 2, 2015 Share Posted April 2, 2015 I'm glad you interviewed a lot of people about this so that you could report your findings here Just friends from my city and others in internet, Muse is a well known band, and a lot of people told me BH&R is their favourite and/or their most accesible album. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CoolFunkMan Posted April 2, 2015 Share Posted April 2, 2015 Lol "there are just 7 notes!!" This... It's one thing that there are so many notes, chord progressions, and arrangements of each that people find worthy of listening, as is the argument that contemporary culture is no longer interested in originality. Or maybe its the case that since the recent Blurred Lines verdict, the question of what actually is original and what isn't is coming under more scrutiny. I dunno. I mean, sure, its ridiculous to always go "That sounds like this, that and the other", and sure, Muse's originality on recent albums is not exactly without questions. There's probably an inbetween argument to be fair - sure, there's only so many musical pieces out there and some stuff is bound to be familiar, but it'd be nice to find something different. Also from what I remember, it was the other stuff to the orchestration that reminded me of L'Arena, and that reminded me of other stuff. But who knows. Maybe on the album it will be credited as "featuring a cover of L'Arena as part of the intro". It's a good piece of music though. ...is pretty much what I was trying to say. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DifferentPerson Posted April 2, 2015 Share Posted April 2, 2015 I'm not 100% sure with that one. Explorers reminds me of a lot of other songs (there's a few Beatles-y vocal melodies, a few Christmas carols, and something else I can't quite remember), but DSMN isn't the first song I'd think of. Especially atmospherically - it feels a lot more defeatist and insomnia-curing than the Queen tune. There's a vocal melody that sounds almost exactly lifted from Don't Stop Me Now. It is only a small part of the song though, and as you say the rest of the song doesn't exactly fit the mood of DSMN. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
p_of_cydonia Posted April 2, 2015 Share Posted April 2, 2015 Also from what I remember, it was the other stuff to the orchestration that reminded me of L'Arena, and that reminded me of other stuff. But who knows. Maybe on the album it will be credited as "featuring a cover of L'Arena as part of the intro". It's a good piece of music though. Personally speaking, the moment I heard the Globalist whistling, I thought "Morricone"! And I didn't even really know the L'arena piece nor am I a huge Morricone fan. My point being that even if they whisteld Beethoven's 5th on top of those strings, it would probably still remind me of that morricone sound. But since the melody is not the same, I think it'd be absurd to give morricone any official credit at all in the album. I mean, will they also credit Queen for the vocal harmonies too? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
serpentsatellite Posted April 2, 2015 Share Posted April 2, 2015 I think it's just pretty obvious at this point that Muse songs take a lot of influence from other bands, songs, composers, scores, video games (because we've forgotten Bliss in all this "sounds like" ,) whatever. Matt's indicated a few times that listening to other music tends to heavily, subliminally, influence the stuff he writes. I've read somewhere that he claimed that's why he often doesn't listen to a lot of music in the first place. I have, for the most part, never really cared about it, either way. It's never stopped me enjoying the songs, and I'm often very impressed with what they do with the influences, where they do exist. I just had a weird transition from being excited over CEII, based on the things Matt said about it, and being a bit confused that the intro is apparently a cover song. From Matt saying "the beginning sounds like something from a film" to the beginning actually BEING something from a film (and why didn't Matt say that in the first place, instead of implying otherwise?) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Asmodius Posted April 3, 2015 Share Posted April 3, 2015 Sorry if this was done before but has anyone taken the time to reverse what Matt is saying in The Globalist? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonisdead Posted April 3, 2015 Share Posted April 3, 2015 Sorry if this was done before but has anyone taken the time to reverse what Matt is saying in The Globalist? It's probably too fast and distant for this to work effectively. I hope someone savvy enough gives it a shot though Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LewisF Posted April 3, 2015 Author Share Posted April 3, 2015 Is there any websites where the video is still up (if anyone is aware)? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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