Their second EP, the Muscle Museum EP, also produced by Reeve, was released on 11 January 1999. The meeting led to their first serious recordings and the release of the Muse EP on on Sawmills' in-house Dangerous label, produced by Paul Reeve. He had seen the three boys grow up as he knew their parents, and had a production company with their future manager Safta Jaffery, with whom he had recently started the record label Taste Media. They had a significant meeting with Dennis Smith, the owner of Sawmills Studio, situated in a converted water mill in Cornwall. The Muse logo, incorporated chiefly since the release of Muse EP in 1998Īfter a few years building a fanbase, Muse played their first gigs in London and Manchester supporting Skunk Anansie on tour. According to journalist Mark Beaumont, the band wanted the name to reflect "the sense Matt had that he had somehow 'summoned up' this band, the way mediums could summon up inspirational spirits at times of emotional need". The band liked that the new name was short and thought that it looked good on a poster. After that, we started taking ourselves seriously." The band quit their jobs, changed their name to Muse, and moved away from Teignmouth. Bellamy said, "It was supposed to be a protest, a statement, so, when we actually won, it was a real shock, a massive shock. In 1994, Rocket Baby Dolls won a local battle of the bands, smashing their equipment in the process. Around this time, they received a £150 grant from the Prince's Trust for equipment. The band was renamed Rocket Baby Dolls and adopted a goth- glam image. They asked Chris Wolstenholme – at that time the drummer for Fixed Penalty – to join as bassist he agreed and took up bass lessons. Guitarist Matt Bellamy successfully auditioned for drummer Dominic Howard's band, Carnage Mayhem, becoming its singer and songwriter. The members of Muse played in separate school bands during their time at Teignmouth Community College in the early 1990s.
Muse have won numerous awards, including two Grammy Awards, two Brit Awards, five MTV Europe Music Awards and eight NME Awards. Their eighth album, Simulation Theory (2018), prominently featured synthesisers and was influenced by science fiction and the simulation hypothesis. Topping the US Billboard 200, their seventh album, Drones (2015), was a concept album about drone warfare and returned to a harder rock sound.
Rolling Stone stated the band possessed "stadium-crushing songs". The Resistance (2009) and The 2nd Law (2012) explored themes of government oppression and civil uprising and cemented Muse as one of the world's major stadium acts. Absolution (2003) saw further classical influence, with strings on tracks such as " Butterflies and Hurricanes", and was the first of six consecutive UK number-one albums.īlack Holes and Revelations (2006) incorporated electronic and pop elements, displayed in singles such as " Supermassive Black Hole", and brought Muse wider international success. Their second album, Origin of Symmetry (2001), incorporated wider instrumentation and romantic classical influences and earned them a reputation for energetic live performances.
Muse released their debut album, Showbiz, in 1999, showcasing Bellamy's falsetto and a melancholic alternative rock style. The band consists of Matt Bellamy (lead vocals, guitar, keyboards), Chris Wolstenholme (bass guitar, backing vocals), and Dominic Howard (drums). Muse are an English rock band from Teignmouth, Devon, formed in 1994.