walking upstream…
Muse
Formed in Teignmouth, Devon in 1994, Muse built an arena-rock sound around Matt Bellamy's operatic falsetto, classically trained piano writing, and towering, effects-warped guitar riffs, stretching rock toward science-fiction grandiosity and political paranoia. Albums like Origin of Symmetry, Absolution, and Black Holes and Revelations turned a three-piece into a festival-headlining spectacle of falsetto highs, faux-orchestral bombast, and stadium-sized riffs. Decades on, they remain one of rock's most theatrical and technically ambitious working bands.
the sound in question
2006
Knights of CydoniaMuse
walk the tributaries ↓
Queen1970s–80s · Rock / Glam rock / Arena rock
Bellamy has flatly called Queen "the best band in the world" and pointed to their clash of guitar and piano - and Freddie Mercury's operatic reach - as a direct model for his own arranging; Muse's multi-section suites and Bellamy's near-falsetto belt both trace straight back to that playbook.
listen: upstream & heresource: Bellamy ↗
1975
Bohemian RhapsodyQueen
2009
United States of EurasiaMuse
listen for"United States of Eurasia" stacks layered vocal harmonies, mock-orchestral swells, and abrupt tempo and mood swings the same way "Bohemian Rhapsody" cycles through its ballad, opera, and hard-rock sections.
Rage Against the Machine1990s · Rap metal / Alternative metal / Funk metal
Bellamy has said he's a huge fan of Tom Morello and saw RATM live over a dozen times; Morello's trick of making a guitar mimic a DJ's turntable and synth - toggle-switch stutters, wah-as-filter, pitch-shifting pedals - fed directly into Bellamy's own effects-heavy riffing on Muse's early records.
listen: upstream & heresource: Sounds Just Like - Muse's "Hyper Music" vs. Rage Against the Machine's "Snakecharmer" ↗
1996
SnakecharmerRage Against the Machine
2001
Hyper MusicMuse
listen forThe central riff of "Hyper Music" lifts the searing, effects-warped shape of RATM's "Snakecharmer" almost wholesale - listen for the same stuttering, DJ-scratch guitar tone and stop-start aggression.
Sergei Rachmaninoff1900s–10s · Romantic / Classical
Bellamy has said Romantic pianist-composers like Rachmaninoff, Liszt, and Chopin hold "a mystery" that's "much more abstract and much more able to stimulate your imagination" than rock, and it's Rachmaninoff's dense chords and sweeping harmonic drama that show up most directly in Muse's own piano writing.
listen: upstream & here
1901
Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor, Op. 18Sergei Rachmaninoff
2003
Butterflies and HurricanesMuse
listen forThe extended piano interlude in "Butterflies and Hurricanes" swells with the same thick chords, cascading arpeggios, and melodramatic key changes as a Rachmaninoff concerto cadenza.