September 26, 2000

Muscle Museum

Muse Muscle Museum Taste

Muse

Muscle Museum (Taste)

It shouldn't be allowed, of course. Counting a debut EP that was so limited
edition the band themselves probably don't have a copy, this is the third
(third!) time 'Muscle Museum' has been released. If Whitney
Houston went about selling records like that, there'd be a public lynching.
Still, people have been slow to realise what an important band we have in
Muse - a band who are not even close to fulfilling their true potential -
and if it takes 'Muscle Museum' to make them realise, it should be out
every second week.

It's also truly the mark of a great song that, after all
these releases, 'Muscle Museum' still sounds wondrous. Like (gulp)
Radiohead before them, there's a ragged fury to it that can only be
refined and turned razor-sharp-dangerous with time.

This single is a good
place to begin your love affair with Muse. It could be the anthem of every
struggling band who've ever faced discouragement, a furious, spitting, bitter
riposte to those who never want anyone to do anything out of the ordinary. Such
anger could never be born from anything but true experience (though singer
Matt Bellamy won't explain further), and there's a real vindictive snarl to
some lines here: "I have played in every toilet/But you
still want to spoil it/To prove I've made a big mistake".

This is
revenge in action. A two-fingered salute to everyone who still doesn't believe.
An intrinsic promise that Muse won't stop until they've forced you to
understand.

Siobhan Grogan