Muse. Muse, Muse, Muse. I’ve written about a few songs of the band’s in the past. A couple of those that I’ve linked to, I don’t listen to them as enthusiastically as I once did. I’ll let you guess which two they are. Why don’t I listen to them anymore? Just the way Matt Bellamy sings sometimes, I guess. It’s too much for me to listen to now. A bit melodramatic. Doesn’t seem as cool as I thought it was when I was a teenager. I really did like Muse for a while back in those times, and then I think I found the Beatles and went in a totally different direction. Although my interest for Muse may have waned, whenever ‘Muscle Museum’ comes on I can’t help but think that it might just be my favourite song by them. And you’ll probably think, “Well, this song is just as dramatic as any of their other stuff”. And to that I’ll say that’s fair enough, but this one hits harder to me.

It’s likely that the first time I was introduced to this track was back in 2006, when Black Holes and Revelations was about to be released and MTV2 dedicated various slots of their programming to Muse. The track’s music video features a lot of people crying, and not like sobbing or sniffles, I mean ugly crying, sweat glistening on their faces, while they’re brushing teeth, washing the car, or getting a hair cut. The music to ‘Muscle Museum’ is heavy, sounds like something really sad has happened/is going to happen, and its whole minor key, tension-building delivery perfectly accompanied the visuals of its video. It kind of creeped me out, especially back then when I was 11, but I knew then that it was definitely a good song. 15 years on, the music video makes me laugh a bit. And if there was only one Muse song that existed, I would probably want it to be this one. It packs a punch like many others, but there aren’t any crazy guitar riffs or over the top vocalizations. It just seems a lot more subtle. But it’s still so heavy. It rules.

Again, never thought about the meaning of the track that much. I thought it was about the ending of a relationship. It very well could be. But I also read that it’s meant to be a kind of commentary on the band’s lack of success when they were starting out, and how they were giving their all in their live performances to people who frankly didn’t care. The ‘muscle museum’ title comes from the fact that they are the two words that respectively precede and follow the word ‘muse’ in the dictionary. At least, at the time the song was written. And that is meant to signify the past and future of the band. That also may be the case. Whatever it is, it doesn’t matter that much. I just know that I always feel a huge weight when I hear this song. Puts me in that screwing face, head nodding mood.