Tag Archives: muscle

#881: Muse – Muscle Museum

Leave a reply

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.

#880: Dananananaykroyd – Muscle Memory

1 Reply

Ten years ago, Scottish band Dananananaykroyd released their second album, There Is a Way. The day it was released was the beginning of the final week of my GCSE exams. But I didn’t even know that the band were even making any new music until the video for ‘Muscle Memory’ – as you can see up there – was shown on Channel 4’s breakfast music show Freshly Squeezed about a week later, I want to say. It might have even been on the last day of my final exam. Anyone remember that show? Freshly Squeezed? Anyway, I thought the track was great from the moment I saw it. Helped that the band looked like they were all having some good times in the video too. Right before it got into the shouty bridge, the video cut out and the show presenters moved on to something else. But I was left with enough. The knowledge that D’Kroyd were back with a new album. And an urge to see how the track actually ended.

By the time I saw that video, I was now a free 16-year-old who didn’t have to go to school for three months. The world was my damn oyster. So I watched the rest of that video on YouTube and downloaded There Is a Way as soon as I could. And I loved that album too. It was probably my album of the summer. And ‘Muscle Memory’ was always one of the highlights from there. The ascending riff that starts it off just sets everything in motion, and when all the other instruments join in the track is given this extra bounce that always gets my foot tapping. Vocalists Calum Gunn and John Bailie Jnr sing in unison, harmonise and alternate the lines they sing. It’s all generally a very fun listen. And what is about? Well, after some consideration in the past few weeks, I think it’s a song that’s meant to explore the relationship of a band/artist and its fans. How fans want to get closer to a band by trying to decipher their lyrics, reading their reviews, or playing along to their songs by learning them on the guitar. Dang, I think this tune’s so great. Hasn’t lost its energy ten years on.

So taking you back to 2011. There Is a Way had been out for a few months. There I was, excited for any new music videos from the band if they decided to release any more singles from it. And then out of the blue, they announced that they were to split up after their UK tour. Have to say, I was just a bit bummed out. But then again, listening to the last song on that album, the clues were there. The band had felt that they’d done their part, and from some articles I’ve seen they didn’t think they could go on with a band name as strange as theirs anyway. I miss ’em. But they have two albums that captured that essence of pure energy and joyous noise that the band were all about. And for that, I can’t be too sad.