Drones Album Discussion Thread

[Bumpypotato]

Never forget the extended version of Unnatural Selection .

 

Didn't even know this was a thing until now. Far out what were they thinking?

[Clunge]

It is the worst.

[forevermusic]

I haven't heard it in fucking ages so I actually went back and listened. I don't think its terrible, its just doesn't fit in very well with the rest of the song. But my initial thought that its better just going straight from organ to riff remains.

 

Actually hadn't heard the song in general in a while to boot. Sure the opening riff is New Born with less notes but in general I likey.

[Bumpypotato]

I've always found the New Born comparisons a bit boring. Yes, it is a similar riff, but the songs are suitably different. The extended version is piss though, and I will accept no praise.

[Hat]

I will praise it for being the perfect manifestation and example of Muse's cringy Queen influences.

[Bumpypotato]

I will praise it for being the perfect manifestation and example of Muse's cringy Queen influences.

 

Hmm… Borderline acceptable.

[lurkinglurkerlurksagain]

I honestly don't know where I'd rank Drones now. It was really high at first, then it got deflated. But now I think it grew on me. Dead Inside was a shit opener though.

[Clunge]

Dead Inside is a brilliant opener. Second only to New Born, imo.

[Nature2]

Dead Inside is a brilliant opener. Second only to New Born, imo.

 

Is it? I think both Apocalypse Please and Take a Bow make a better introduction giving us the general vibe of the album than DI does.

[lurkinglurkerlurksagain]

I like Dead Inside as a song, but the opening I find annoying. Especially since it's the first thing you hear listening to the album.

[frozenbanana]

I like Dead Inside as a song, but the opening I find annoying. Especially since it's the first thing you hear listening to the album.

 

I remember when that radio station previewed the first 2 seconds of the song a few hours before its official premiere, and all we could hear was 'dddDEAD INSIDE!!!". Pretty sure the general reaction was :facepalm:

[serpentsatellite]

I guess I want an opener to grab my attention more than anything; if I start an album bored it's going to flavor how I listen to the rest.

 

Like I've said, I'm really conflicted about Drones now, and it's got little to do with how I felt about seeing them live anymore.

I think the songs, largely, are great... but I've gone from being able to tolerate the terrible lyrics, to being horribly off put by them.

When the political climate has changed so drastically and seriously, and you can't read an article or have a conversation without running into someone talking (quite seriously) about the "shadow government" and quoting Infowars, Matt's lyrics don't look so much like juvenile dumbed down politics and conspiracy theories "for the lols" as they do what people apparently actually believe and worse, make voting decisions over.

 

The songs have become seriously tough for me to listen to.

[MartianSpaghettiRider]

I guess I want an opener to grab my attention more than anything; if I start an album bored it's going to flavor how I listen to the rest.

 

Like I've said, I'm really conflicted about Drones now, and it's got little to do with how I felt about seeing them live anymore.

I think the songs, largely, are great... but I've gone from being able to tolerate the terrible lyrics, to being horribly off put by them.

When the political climate has changed so drastically and seriously, and you can't read an article or have a conversation without running into someone talking (quite seriously) about the "shadow government" and quoting Infowars, Matt's lyrics don't look so much like juvenile dumbed down politics and conspiracy theories "for the lols" as they do what people apparently actually believe and worse, make voting decisions over.

 

The songs have become seriously tough for me to listen to.

 

I could give you a key to read through Drones lyrics, my friend.

(Warning: it's just a theory of mine to give you something to think about what unsettles you)

In a past interview, after the T2L stadium tour, Matt expressed his interest in "exploring" the mindset of types of personality such as fanatics, conspirationists, and (guess what?) psychos.

My theory is: what if Matt writes such rousing stomps to ironically mock those types of mindsets? That would explain the cheap-ass, grotesque feel of Psycho, the catastrophic feel of part of Reapers, the zelant and operatic lyrics of Mercy and Defector, and so on...

That would make Muse late production more wonderfully ambiguous than we may think of.

[serpentsatellite]

He's always been a conspiracy theory nut, though, hasn't he? He's known for it, the band is known for it. I've seen articles saying Matt's less sane than Tom DeLonge.

There was the Terror Storm thing, which admittedly crossed then line even back then, but I wasn't listening to songs about it, it was just a bad life choice.

I was frankly surprised to see him utilizing that sort of stuff so heavily still in his albums after disavowing it after the Glenn Beck thing and saying he was more politically "nuanced" now, and just assumed it was just keeping up the "theme" he was known for going forward.

 

I used to just look at conspiracy theory shit as humorous and harmless, but it's completely moved into the realm of seriously dangerous idiocy at this point.

[Hat]

I could give you a key to read through Drones lyrics, my friend.

(Warning: it's just a theory of mine to give you something to think about what unsettles you)

In a past interview, after the T2L stadium tour, Matt expressed his interest in "exploring" the mindset of types of personality such as fanatics, conspirationists, and (guess what?) psychos.

My theory is: what if Matt writes such rousing stomps to ironically mock those types of mindsets? That would explain the cheap-ass, grotesque feel of Psycho, the catastrophic feel of part of Reapers, the zelant and operatic lyrics of Mercy and Defector, and so on...

That would make Muse late production more wonderfully ambiguous than we may think of.

This isn't a new theory. She literally mentioned it in her post, and Matt has talked about it. But he has also talked a lot about these issues in a way that is reflected in the songs, which is what's kinda worrying.

[MartianSpaghettiRider]

I could give you a key to read through Drones lyrics, my friend.

(Warning: it's just a theory of mine to give you something to think about what unsettles you)

In a past interview, after the T2L stadium tour, Matt expressed his interest in "exploring" the mindset of types of personality such as fanatics, conspirationists, and (guess what?) psychos.

My theory is: what if Matt writes such rousing stomps to ironically mock those types of mindsets? That would explain the cheap-ass, grotesque feel of Psycho, the catastrophic feel of part of Reapers, the zelant and operatic lyrics of Mercy and Defector, and so on...

That would make Muse late production more wonderfully ambiguous than we may think of.

 

EDIT: What the hell, I've actually repeated what you've just said.

That's what happens when you don't read carefully...

 

This isn't a new theory. She literally mentioned it in her post, and Matt has talked about it. But he has also talked a lot about these issues in a way that is reflected in the songs, which is what's kinda worrying.

 

I've seen, and I feel kinda stupid now...

[Hat]

I used to just look at conspiracy theory shit as humorous and harmless, but it's completely moved into the realm of seriously dangerous idiocy at this point.

Indeed. I seriously worry about the number of people who in a few years will believe that the earth is flat.

[MartianSpaghettiRider]

This isn't a new theory. She literally mentioned it in her post, and Matt has talked about it. But he has also talked a lot about these issues in a way that is reflected in the songs, which is what's kinda worrying.

 

Maybe you won't like my point of view about that, but...

(-inhalates deeply-) I think it's also... his character. I mean, the character he's come to build throughout the years, to come across as eccentric and wacky like the music he writes.

Quite ugly, uh?

[serpentsatellite]

Maybe you won't like my point of view about that, but...

(-inhalates deeply-) I think it's also... his character. I mean, the character he's come to build throughout the years, to come across as eccentric and wacky like the music he writes.

Quite ugly, uh?

 

I honestly still don't think he's 100% serious about it, and exactly he's just sticking with the "image" that worked for him in the first place.

But stuff keeps coming up in interviews that suggests that they might be exaggerated views, but they do reflect the core of his beliefs.

It's hard to listen to The Globalist's themes about the destruction of all life on Earth and not think it is representative of Matt's views when he talks about being pro-Brexit and afraid of big government.

It's harder sometimes for people to be subjective and realize that that sort of situation portrayed in the song is far more likely to be perpetrated by excessively nationalist leaders.

 

I don't know, I guess it's just insane for me to realize how rapidly things have changed in the world since Drones was released, and my support and often adoration of these sorts of themes - that I never took seriously and didn't think were meant to be taken super seriously - has made me feel the relevant "mildly nauseous."

[Hat]

Maybe you won't like my point of view about that, but...

(-inhalates deeply-) I think it's also... his character. I mean, the character he's come to build throughout the years, to come across as eccentric and wacky like the music he writes.

Quite ugly, uh?

You're still talking about the obvious. It's no secret that Matt's been playing up the whole conspiracy thing and has found it funny to come across as the conspiracy guy, even though he also believed in some of it at one point.

 

I think you should read SerpentSatellite's post again.

[serpentsatellite]

Didn't I ask a question about Matt's current views about being "the conspiracy theory guy" in the Q&A and it didn't get submitted???

[serpentsatellite]

And I do know Drones is just a bad political metaphor for his crumbling relationship (which also leads to it's own set of questionable items) - Matt's pointed it out clearly both before (Triple J interview he admits the "protagonist" is himself) and after (Telegraph article admitting the songs were a reflection of his life.)

I've always viewed it that way, because frankly the political stuff was pretty shit. Blunt, immature, pointless on its own. And being emotionally damaged by a relationship and feeling like you can't share it directly is very relatable.

I've just turned a corner where the political imagery doesn't feel harmless. It reflects what people *actually* believe, and not just the handful of nuts and bored teenagers that I expected.

I've also constantly been shocked by the sheer amount of fans who take the political story on Drones super seriously, and reject the relationship aspect.

 

There used to be a line between joking around about what the rich and Republicans were doing naked in the forest together (see: Bohemian Club) and thinking the "pagan rituals" were more important than what was actually going on - rich assholes influencing other rich assholes to use the government for their benefit in an untouchable, exclusive environment.

If you want to see a real mind boggling pile of what I'm talking about, go read some comments about the X-37B secret mission, and all the talk about the "deep state" and the need for govt transparency because we're testing nuclear devices in orbit over the country to keep us compliant, and we're all about to be put into camps.

Or remember that some jackass brought an arsenal into a pizza joint because clip art of ping pong paddles on a menu meant there was a Democrat-run sex dungeon in the freezer. And hundreds of people are still driving hundreds of miles with their kids wearing shirts saying "I'm not pizza" to protest and demand the govt looks into it.

Edited May 10, 2017 by SerpentSatellite

[lurkinglurkerlurksagain]

If we're now taking Muse conspiracy lyrics as being serious, Knights of Cydonia and Exo Politics are going to be tough to listen to again.

 

Like with the song FEAR on Kendrick Lamar's new album, I don't think the "true Israelites" voicemail has much credibility at all, yet I can still enjoy the song overall.

[serpentsatellite]

The issue isn't if Muse meant them to be serious, but how they may represent people's actual "political" beliefs today, and the growing section of the populace that believes Infowars is legitimately more trustworthy than "the main stream media."

It's irrelevant if Matt truly still believes Alex Jones, but if he's still using the content without any obvious signs that it's tongue in cheek.

 

What exactly is the conspiracy theory in KoC? It's just generic "the government is stupid" stuff at best.

 

Drones takes a really good topic of how potentially our situations and experiences brainwash us, and then shits all over it in a lot of places with "shadow government" mind control crap (but mostly just painfully on the nose lyrics,) and the idiotically privileged notion that you can fix everything through positive thinking.

[forevermusic]

I do recall a comment from Matt a while ago saying he felt turned off by the conspiracy theory movement drifting more right wing into the stuff like "Obama's a terrorist communist!" horsecrap the more time went on during the last President's terms. But its an interesting point though - where does stuff like irony, satire or writing as someone else's POV end, and where does the real view begin?

 

I guess its just part of the way the world has gone, given the conspiracy movement has gone from being this slightly different but much more niche way of seeing the world in, say, 2006, to now, where its helped catapult a dangerous psychopath and cabal of jackasses to power.

 

IMO, there was a mix of shit going on with Drones anyway, such as some relationship collapse, some real world issues, some conspiracy stuff, and some grand sci-fi narrative attempts, which might've been carried off better with some more complex lyrics. Though tbh I don't really know much of the idea of people who see it more straight-faced - I thought there was a consensus it was harder to take that seriously lyrically than some earlier LP's. A long time ago, I thought The Resistance made a half-decent narrative, albeit with some mental joining the dots.

 

But then I dunno... I can still singalong without really giving it too much thought for these considerations and how someone I don't agree with politically sees it, or at the least in my head, I can contort the lyrics to fit my own viewpoints. Maybe some others can't, ehdunno.

Edited May 10, 2017 by forevermusic