Joyous uni occasionally has less than joyous - but still necessary - debates, and I am a great lover debates.
The other day there was a debate on whether feminism is still relevant. I know right? Of course it is. To say it is not is completely ignorant and ethnocentric. Whether you believe there is gender equality in this country or not, you can in no-way deny that feminism is still needed as a movement to promote gender equality worldwide. Note the use of the words 'gender equality', that is, as it says, the equality of the genders (genders being fluid and many, we reject binary here, guys). For some reason people have this obscure perception that feminism is 'man-hating', a lot of this is probably down to the lack of mainstream feminist debate in popular culture *sigh*.
Just wanted to get that out there, it is still relevant, somewhere for someone. Don't hate.
You know when bands get a nice amount of success, they either continue doing exactly what they were doing and it all gets a bit samey, or they go completely mental and sound like a completely different get-up. Muse is one of those bands that I think fits into the former category, their music is very samey (imo). That's not to say their music isn't good, I'm just saying, heard one Muse album, heard 'em all.
Part of me think it's just Matt Bellamy singing in exactly the same way in every-single-song but then after sitting down to write this blog, and listening to a lot of their music on Spotify (today and in life), I have come to the conclusion that they really do sound similar...
Here is my I'm-avoiding-work-so-made-up-this-thing-for-Muse-songs thing.
No bass, possibly bit of rhythm guitar (or vice versa, the bass and no rhythm guitar). Usually a bit of singing after a good 10 seconds.
Bass/rhythm guitar kicks in, words are more (but probably not very) coherent now...
Some kind of "unusual instrument" will come in like some kind of brass/strings/odd sound
Lots of noise, lots of whining, (this bit is usually the bridge)
Loonnnggg whine from Bellamy or more "unusual instruments" (sometimes even both, urgh)
Bit where everything cuts outs except for some kind of hook or Bellamy whaling.
Build the song back up (usually without the hook...)
Then the hook....then the "unusual instrument"
Lots of noise, lots of whining (usually the bridge)
Loonnnggg partially-coherent whines from Bellamy, more "unusual instruments"
Just a rhythm guitar and a random unusual instrument.
Then just some more singing/whining and probably an increase in tempo and noise before the song ends (not always though, sometimes they like a good dramatic end, woo diversity!)
Also, just going passive-aggressively throw this out there, I'm not saying this is a bad thing, I love a good hook, doesn't everyone? It's good hooks that get me singing "I whip my hair back and forth" drunk in clubs. A lot of bands sound very similar, I just happened to have picked up on Muse because they have a massive fan base that I want to judge.
I will leave you with City of Delusion, the song that I think sums Muse up. It's not their best, nor is it their worst, but it is very "Muse".
Also, not dissin' Matt Bellamy's falsetto, before any of you get a grump on.
