Twilight Soundtrack Offers A Glimpse of Muse by Alexis Andrews - November 26, 2008 British rock band Muse Now that the Twilight soundtrack album is out and in full throttle, people in the U.S. – including myself – are starting to pay more attention to Muse. Truth be told, I hadn’t really heard much about Muse until recently, when Stephenie Meyer – author of the young adult Twilight novels that spawned the much-awaited vampire romance film of the same name – revealed that the rock band from Devon, United Kingdom, is one of her favorite bands. In fact, she added that she listened to Muse records while writing her phenomenally successful novels. Muse is comprised of Matthew Bellamy (vocals, guitar, keyboard, lyrics), Christopher Wolstenholme (bass, backing vocals), and Dominic Howard (drums, percussion, human bones). Hailing from Teignmouth, Devon, they formed the band in 1994 under the name Rocket Baby Dolls. They changed their band name shortly after that and began to play their early gigs in London and Manchester. Muse has released a total of four studio albums so far. Showbiz was released in 1999 by Mushroom Records, reaching as high as #28 in the UK charts and achieving gold certification status. The succeeding Muse albums were Origin of Symmetry in 2001 and then Absolution in 2003, both of which were released also under the Mushroom record label. The latter album yielded the band’s first major hit in “Hyper Music” – the first Muse single that entered the UK Top Ten charts. The fourth Muse album, Black Holes and Revelations, was released in July 2006. Not only did it achieve commercial success in the UK, U.S., Europe, and Australia; it was also well-received by the critics, most of whom commented positively on the album’s experimental sound and political and sci-fi themes. Black Holes and Revelations received a Mercury Prize nomination and was named by Planet Sound as Album of The Year for 2006. The first official UK single from this was “Supermassive Black Hole” – the British band’s highest charting single to date, and which, incidentally, also opens the Twilight soundtrack album. Muse has been cited for experimentally fusing classical influences with elements of progressive rock, alternative, electronica, even Italian music and (early on) gothic rock. Which is no wonder, then, that Bellamy has said: “I like being influenced by things that have a mixed style.” Their sound has often been compared to Radiohead, but the group has also been influenced by a diversity of other acts, ranging from Nirvana, Gustav Mahler, Queens of the Stone Age, Rage Against The Machine, Led Zeppelin, and Frank Liszt. Muse is the first band to ever sell out the new Wembley Stadium in London, but they’re making even greater waves now with their appearance in the Twilight soundtrack, which debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200 and sold 165,000 copies in its first week alone. Thomas Kirk, Muse band manager, isn’t surprised that years since playing at typical Devon pubs, Muse has come a long way. “The belief was always there,” he says, “the confidence, the ability and the desire to get to where they are today.”  Subscribe to Latest Articles

2 Responses

conseils eMarketing March 31, 2009 2:09 AM Going into this CD I thought that the only Songs that I would like would be from Paramore. I was surprised to find that I liked all of the songs on this CD.

Monica Rutland April 2, 2009 2:09 AM I ABSOLUTELY LOVE TWILIGHT AND ALL THE MUSIC!!!

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