web feature Muse Are Talented Brainwashers

[Hyper]

these are the two books Matt was reading and commenting on:

 

 

Brainwashing-Science

http://www.amazon.com/Brainwashing-Science-Thought-Kathleen-Taylor/dp/0199204780/ref=sr_1_10?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1251151048&sr=1-10

 

Matt:

What was the last book you read, and what did you think of it?

 

“The last book I read was called Brainwashing: The Science Of Thought Control by Kathleen Taylor. It’s about the history of brainwashing, which has only really been around since the Chinese started doing it with prisoners of war in WWI, I think. I learned how to brainwash people, which is quite useful if you want to use it, but you have to use quite extreme methods. I’ve also been reading Zecharia Sitchin’s The 12th Planet, a series of re translations of the Aramaic tablets that the Torah – which is the base of Islam and Judaism – was originally drawn from. The new translation content that references to “the heavens”, for example, are really talking about space travel. The 12th planet is a planet with a civilization like ours who mined earth – I know this sounds laughable – cloning themselves with a fifth of their intelligence to do the work. It’s been proven we only use a fifth of our brain.”

 

 

Musicophilia

http://www.amazon.com/Musicophilia-Tales-Music-Revised-Expanded/dp/1400033535/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1251150203&sr=8-1

 

second book is about ear worms and what makes music pleasant to our brains

 

"Sitting on the balcony at the band’s beautiful wood and glass rehearsal space in the hills inland from their home town, Bellamy doesn’t look remotely serious. Sure, he has already launched into a passionate soliloquy about Geoism (the land-tax movement inspired by the 19th-century political economist Henry George), bemoaned the stranglehold of the whipping system on parliamentary democracy, taken aim at banking bonuses and evangelised about Oliver Sacks’s research into the effects of music on the brain in his book Musicophilia. But Bellamy is soon moving on, with a chuckle like a naughty schoolboy’s, to the artwork for the band’s new single, Uprising."

[TaperJeanGirl]

I cant believe you all read that poorly written piece of crap. I gave up after the first paragraph

[Rage Kitty]

I think this is all a bunch of boll-

[JoJo_x]

I think this is all a bunch of boll-

 

 

Must. Follow. Teh. HypnoBellz.

 

 

 

[TheDeliverance.]

Talented Brainwashers but with truly generous aim … as said before (http://board.muse.mu/showthread.php?t=76415&page=2)

[shadowkay]

Talented Brainwashers but with truly generous aim … as said before (http://board.muse.mu/showthread.php?t=76415&page=2)

lol, advertising your own threads

[seregon]

I think this is all a bunch of boll-

 

:LOL:

[L.]

I think this is all a bunch of boll-

 

 

 

Must look away... Must look away.... Must look... Must... Mus... Muse... Muse... Muse... Muse... Muse... Muse... Muse... Muse... Muse... Muse... Muse... Muse... Muse... Muse...

 

 

 

 

Muse...

 

[weird cOokie]

4 pages because of a random tumblr post?

oh and that background

[TheDeliverance.]

lol, advertising your own threads

 

... just too lazy to explain again... :LOL:

[CarrieB]

4 pages because of a random tumblr post?oh and that background

 

Yes people must be bored! I thought the same. What the fuck is the interest in this!?

[Hyper]

Talented Brainwashers but with truly generous aim … as said before (http://board.muse.mu/showthread.php?t=76415&page=2)

 

thank you , missed that one

[Dracia]

Haha, we (that's a friend and I) are always joking about muse brainwashing all their fans, because Matt said in an interview (I think it was in the "visions"), that he wanted a triple-album with one CD with brainwave frequencies xD

Well, that article actually talks about another kind of brainwashing though. I read that book, that Matt mentioned in the interview above, called "Brainwashing: The science of thought control". It was really interesting and it says that most of brainwashing techniques are just about persuasion at all. So I'd say that article truly IS about brainwashing, but I wouldnt say that Muse are purposely brainwashing their fans (although it would be hilarious xD) ;]

[CarrieB]

I think I'd rather be brainwashed by Muse than anyone else!

[fuesch]

After some copypasta (srsly, wtf at that background) I was able to read it and I pretty much agree.

 

 

I, for one, welcome our new Meerkat overlord.

 

 

 

I refuse to be called 'soft minded.' It's more of a toffee sort of texture, so nuuh

 

Mmm... toffee minded.

 

 

HypnoBellz has them all under the spell, they must take everything literally.

 

 

ETA: D'oh, someone already made one.

[Trilateral_Symmetry_Com'n.]

So you think his argument to defend his view is rubbish?

 

Well, here's the paragraph in question:

 

 

 

His argument in simple terms: Muse are selling out in order to get as much exposure as possible to their music. This is reflected in the examples he gives, which is boiled down to:

 

• The use of songs in the Twilight soundtracks.
  
• The constant playing of their music videos in department stores.
  
• The fact that songs on The Resistance are far more accessible than on past albums that connect with the audience in a very easy way.
  

Which is a perfectly fair argument to me.

 

It is a perfectly cogent and reasonable argument, although you'll get some resistance [no pun intended] over terming their recent direction as "selling out"; but it isn't really the tumblr writer's argument, which keeps hammering on Muse's (or at least Matt's) using "brainwashing" to achieve this. You also conveniently left out the writer's embarrassing stuff about personal-pronoun use as evidence of this... would that be evidence of brainwashing, of the metaphorical use of b-washing as a figurative device in the essay, or of Muse's selling out?

 

I cant believe you all read that poorly written piece of crap. I gave up after the first paragraph

 

Believe me, it wasn't easy. Writing that bad grates like sand caught in the gears and cogs of a Swiss watch. I actually cheated with my first post by arguing the fundamental illogic of it all without actually reading beyond the first three lines or so. Essays like that is why our teachers told us time and again to proofread and rewrite (and wash, rinse and repeat as necessary).

[Saracene]

I think the writer is confusing brainwashing with promotion. And adopting a more poppy approach is not brainwashing either, sorry. And it doesn't work as a metaphor either. And Muse were hardly a prog-rock band on Showbiz (or even OOS). And...

 

Prog-rock would mean that the music progresses

 

Huh?

 

And it's amazing to see how quickly some people made the article all about their own feelings about Muse "selling out".

[mjartrod]

And it's amazing to see how quickly some people made the article all about their own feelings about Muse "selling out".

indeed

[CarrieB]

indeed

 

Oh that's exactly what I thought too. Typical that people would jump on this as something authentic and interpret it in they're interests even though it's just a plain old blog by someone of no authority as far as I can see. Could just as well have been another post on here.

[Buxomflirter Queef]

Yes, he says that Muse uses "us" and "them" to make people relate etc, if you call that literal brainwashing, okay.

I don't; he does. I pointed out in my second post that it's hardly original to use personal pronouns in song lyrics.

 

Something I found. Seems to go with what the blogger was saying.

Using pronouns like "we" and "us", instead of "I" – you move away from the personal and start moving to singing about more - even the whole venue will feel like it's about them, or about all of us together in that room.

 

from here

[eyduh]

Stopped reading after "Muse has conquered mainstream popular music". olololol.

 

This.

 

Whoever wrote that article,reads too much into the lyrics.Chill out,it's just music.Or is angry at Muse for not going his/her way.

[CarrieB]

Something I found. Seems to go with what the blogger was saying.

 

 

from here

 

Yes I remember reading or seeing that Matt had said that. He also said that he purposely makes the lyrics in the political songs vague and unspecific to particular situations so that people in many different countries will be able to relate to them. The songs are about emotions. Wanting to make your music accessible to lots of people isn't brainwashing though.

[Hat]

Yes I remember reading or seeing that Matt had said that. He also said that he purposely makes the lyrics in the political songs vague and unspecific to particular situations so that people in many different countries will be able to relate to them. The songs are about emotions. Wanting to make your music accessible to lots of people isn't brainwashing though.

But brainwashing isn't what the writer was talking about, just a way of "forcing" people to like it, if you get what I mean. He uses techniques like that to make people relate easier yes, and that is exactly what the writer says.

[madzip]

His argument in simple terms: Muse are selling out in order to get as much exposure as possible to their music. This is reflected in the examples he gives, which is boiled down to:

 

Even before this thread who many musers on this forum have complained that Muse have sold their soul to get exposure?

 

Also, isn't it WARNER who decide to put their songs in adverts, movies et al.. therefore, if that is the case, isn't it Warner who are doing the brainwashing, not Muse or more specifically Matt?

 

This thread is very lolsome though!

[CarrieB]

But brainwashing isn't what the writer was talking about, just a way of "forcing" people to like it, if you get what I mean. He uses techniques like that to make people relate easier yes, and that is exactly what the writer says.

 

I know what you're saying but it's coming from (imo) the wrong direction. Brainwashing is a bad thing. Making your music accessible isn't. Brainwashing involves trying to make people believe what you want them to believe and discard their previous beliefs. Okay there may be subtle messages in there, and obviously they do want people to like their music and they want success, but what Matt has described before is being a conduit for other people's emotions, being part of the collective, not at the front doing the dictating. He has also said before that he feels that the lyrics come from outside himself.

 

I think they are sharing rather than imposing.