Muse U.S. vs Muse U.K.

ScreenagerWes · Muse U.S. vs Muse U.K.

Okay, so I've been curious as to just how big Muse is in the U.K. so I'm gonna do some little things here and maybe it'll help you understand how it is over here, then you can make the same statements, just fill in how it is in the UK for my information.

When you mention the band Muse in the Southeast states here are some common responses...
"Who?"
"OH, I LOOOOOOVE Time is Running Out."
"Yeah, The Muse is pretty good."
"Oh, those are the guys that sound like Radiohead, right?"

Concerts occur in one of two ways:
1.) In a small, 3,500 person old Mormon Tabernacle church
2.) In a massive, massive 80,000 person something where they are opening for a band who has a religious following and no one gives a shit about Muse.

The set list consists of...
Nothing from Showbiz. Nothing.

The fans that come to shows are...
Almost entirely under the age of 25
Lots of 16 year old fan girls
Lots of 21 year old drunken dumbass guys
mostly fans of really hard rock and metal
moshers

Muse is still in some sense of obscurity in the U.S., especially the Southeast. Radio stations play TiRO and KoC and that's about it, very few people own anything other than Absolution and BH&R. Many fans don't own any of the albums at all, but have just downloaded a lot of their music.

They're just not popular here, they're only discussed in Indie magazines, nothing too big really recognizes them.

How is it in the UK? What kinds of gigs to they play? Are they all like Glastonbury with 200,000 people? Is it more common to be a fan of Muse than to not be a fan of Muse? I'm curious.

ashentara

Oh wow it's so different over here.
Well I'm not from the UK, I'm in France.. but it's similar I think.
Here they play bigger venues, like 8 to 10,000 seats maybe and sometimes festivals with 50,000 people or something.. but they're almost always the headliners. They've been so for a while now.
I remember when I first saw them live it was back in 2000 and they weren't that big.. but a couple of years later they were really hot and headliners everywhere.

They're really big over here, most people recognize the name Muse and have heard several songs on the radio.
The radios, they tend to play them a lot... I hear Supermassive black hole at least five or six times every day (and I don't listen to the radio all the time). They still play stuff like SFA, TIRO, PIB, Muscle Museum and Bliss..
and I don't know how many people own their CDs, but I do know that most of my friends do, at least one album, and only a couple of them are fans.
So yeah, pretty different :=)

Admin

It's slightly different over here in the UK, not quite as good as Manu describes in France.
Muse have a very big fanbase but they're practically unknown to the general public.
Not even that many young people know much about them, in a relative sense.
They're the type of band of whom people know the more well-known songs (TIRO, PIB perhaps), whose album enters the chart at number one then drops.

I don't think this low profile has anything to do with Muse's musical ability, it's simply that the media here only considers a band/artist as newsworthy if they're 'celebrities' i.e more famous for falling out of nightclubs or being mates with Robbie Williams than for any actual talent;after all, these are the days of low culture, sadly.

ScreenagerWes

I see. It's funny that both of you mentioned Plug in Baby - it's virtually unknown stateside. Depressing, eh?

hystericali

Steve sums it up very well I think with regards to the UK.

TreeHeart

Well, over here in Iceland, I dont think they are that popular, although they did play here in Dec 03, (damn them come back!) apparently a 6000venue.
They are on the radio alot, I dont listen, but the chefs in work usually have it on and I have heard them, even before BHAR came out.
I have only heard one comment from an Icelander about Muse, and that was "I don't like how you can hear him breathe" lol

I havent seen the new vids on tv yet, but they do play alot of the older ones...but that doesnt say much they play alot of crap too. :roll: :lol:

warped

Noone cares about Finland since a lot of Americans probably don't even know our country exists at all.. mhah, but still..

Muse seem to have gotten more popular here with every album, but still many people wouldn't even know them. Last time they visited Finland in 2003 they played in a small club which takes about 800-1000 people I believe. The first gig sold out immediately though, so they played a second night there too. But as I said, they haven't even been here after that.

There is one national radio station that I normally listen to and whenever they play Muse it seems to be Sunburn that they play. Only now that there is the new album, they have also played Supermassive somewhat, and I have heard Starlight, Exo-Politics (on a charts program tho) and Map too. And when Absolution was out they played TIRO fairly often.

I would say that Finland has two major music magazines to be taken seriously and one of them always seemed to hate Muse. They got bad reviews and there was never an article about them. Now with BH&R suddenly they had a cover story on Muse and in their review the album got 5 stars. The other one also printed an article about the band, though their review wasn't quite as positive. The album was two weeks no 3 on the chart, which was a big surprise to me, but around here you don't really have to sell that many copies to make the charts really.

(Why can't I ever keep my answers short? :o )

ScreenagerWes

No no, that's exactly what I'm curious about - I like the length answers!

Princess_of_Cydonia

Like Steve said Muse have a huge fanbase here in the UK but not very well known in the General Public...I'm going to see Muse in Nov and i've told everyone and i get really annoyed when people just stare back and say "who?"...only the best band in the world!! That's who!

They play music videos every now and again...not alot though, i'd wish they'd play more. I've never heard them on the radio but that's not too bad cause i can sing along to Muse in my head (That's what you get for playing their albums over and over again!!!) I'm a walking Muse Radio!

I really wish that people here in the UK would apreciate the huge talent that came from their own country instead of being engrossed by these "celebrities" which don't even compare to Muse by a giant, very long stick!!! (lol...maybe i'm just biased?!)

However, i was pleased and pleasantly surprised that BHaR got to number one but overall, it's not the number ones that are important it's the quality and talent of the band, and how their music affects it's fans in an awsome headbanging way....Muse are number one in my heart!!!!!!! I don't think any other band could ever replace them and i think that's more important than world recognision (Although that would be nice!!!! I think we should start a revolution....together we and Muse will rule the world muhahahaahaha!!!!! *cough* anyways...)

I'm so glad that Muse are loved in France...and i also think it's great that they are loved in places where they may not be so popular by the general public. Muse are so great!!!!!! *takes huge breath after very long speech...then dances to Muse*

ScreenagerWes

Do you all think that maybe the reason Muse isn't that big in the U.K. is because they're not that... controversial? I've heard that in the U.K. popularity is equal to controversiality. Could that be one of the reasons?

Admin

Typical UK Musey reactions: Tonight I wore a Muse t-shirt into work. One guy said: 'Mouse? Who are they?' and a girl went nuts about the shirt, as she absolutely loves Mouse..sorry, Muse

buggeroff

Steve's sig is awesome!

buggeroff

hystericali

I do daft theories, be warned, here's one:

I work with a lady and both her kids are going to see Muse at Sheffield, and I said I was going there aswell, and I mentioned I was seeing them at Leeds and Nottingham too, and she looked at me and shook her head, so I asked why, and she said she didn't 'get' the music.

I think that people don't 'get' Muse because they don't have the ability to 'think outside the box' and Muse are a band that push boundaries musically and because Muse don't produce 'normal top 40 bollocks' then people won't listen to them, they have closed minds and rather than open their mind to something that is outside their little parcelled up safely world, they go 'I don't like it' and don't give it a chance.

TreeHeart

ScreenagerWes

I think that's quite probable Ali. Kudos for the theory.

Admin

I don't think people give Muse a fair hearing before judging them. I mean, some don't even have to listen to them, lol.....I've had people say to me: 'Oh, Muse are depressing', 'They sound like Radiohead', 'It's that high-pitched voice that puts me off'...gah! :cry: :cry: :lol:

And sadly, I do think it's true that if Muse were more controversial, they'd probably be championed by far more people....although unfortunately, these types would only champion them until they drift onto the next trendy scene...

ashentara

You know what the most annoying reply is, when you ask "so what do you think of Muse?"... when the person in front of you says something like "oh, you mean that band where the singer has a girly voice? Is he gay or something?" End of discussion. I mean.. hello!

Matt's Red Hair Dye

Sylvie

I've already heard about Matt owning a girly voice and I've never thought once this !!!

It is true that Muse were not so controversial until now but I think their new album is from now going to reach a larger public.
This one is much more dealing with an awareness of political issues in our world and they bring it through songs owning different influences, they obviously wanted to get a larger audience and I think they are going to be considered differently by the rock public.

warped

Okay, I have to say I always thought and understood that Muse WERE and ARE big in the UK. Not massive, but big anyhow.

I just heard a Muse interview on Finnish radio this week, and the reporter fella described Muse as a huge band these days and how with the new album they are getting more fans that wouldn't have listened to them before. His proof was that the album went no 1 in UK and top 10 in US and critics love them and whole lotta people but them.

:roll:

Well, on an alternative scale Muse are big, but I wouldn't like them to be like Green Day or Foo Fighters or whatever. Meh..

And there are bands that come and go. They sell loads and loads cos they are IN at that given moment, but in couple years only some will remember them. Luckily this is not Muse.

I think many enough people know and love Muse. Those who don't, shame on them. And sometimes I feel like Muse are wasting their time in the states, cos they just won't make it, but good for the fans there that they get to see them too of course.

(But where's the Finnish date, dammit!! :evil: )

Sylvie

No news until now Taina.

ScreenagerWes

In the States most people are very good about remembering bands for a long time after the media begins ignoring them. Another one of my favorite bands, Hum, had a few big songs between 1993 and 1995 and still today they have thousands and thousands of fans. I think Muse will stay around here, people will begin to notice them, and they'll stay nice and popular.

EventHoriz0n · My take...

I don't think it's just America. It's all over the world really. I know lots of people here in the states who love them, I know lots of people who don't, and I know that that's the case all over the world as well. Ali's theory best sums it up I think, because if people were to truly listen to Muse's material, they would find that Muse are an incredibly rare breed of musician; ones who take pride in exploring all aspects of music, who truly put their hearts into producing good material.

My 2 cents on the matter. Cheers.

hystericali

well said ^^

Too many people have closed minds and miss out on so much, including for example Muse's music, or a piece of fine art or literature because it requires them to leave their little area of 'normality' and they can't deal with the thought of perhaps thinking differently and having the courage to like something different, challenging, thought provoking and beautiful.

Its a shame because people on here obviously adore Muse and I find it frustrating when people go 'eeeeeurgh' and won't even give Muse a chance. If you want to be negative about Muse, then fine, its your opinion but at least listen to them before making that decision.

Its my opinion, I hope you understand what I'm trying to say! I mean no offence

Muse U.S. vs Muse U.K.

My take...