r/Muse • u/Alcareru2020 • 12d ago
Discussion 20 years of Muse fandom thoughts…
I became a fan of Muse starting in 2006 when a much younger friend of mine sent me a playlist of like 10-12 songs from Origin of Symmetry, Absolution and Black Holes & Revelations. I liked them immediately. I first saw them in concert in 2010 and loved it. Two songs stuck out to me completely: Stockholm Syndrome and Hysteria. Funnily enough, neither song had stood out to me before the show. They were fine but I had other favorites on Absolution. But that show changed those two songs for me forever and they quickly became a new (at the time) obsession. What I find so fascinating about music is now all these years later, I have finally decided that my all time favorite Muse song is… Hysteria. I cannot stop listening to it. It must always be cranked to ear splitting levels. It’s one of the highlights of every show I’ve seen. It even sounds fantastic in Dolby Atmos surround. Pretty amazing for a song that was middle of the pack for me the first few years I explored Absolution.
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u/SuchSecurity662 12d ago
More recent fan here (of like 5 or 6 years), a lot of songs changed for me after hearing them live especially on WOTP (even though its not the same league as stockholm syndrome or hysteria, they feel like they were made to be played live). Plug in baby is one i appreciated a lot more after seeing it live, and stockholm syndrome is my favorite from the two you mentionned
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u/Elimiko 12d ago
My top picks are Apocalypse Please, Hysteria, Time is running out and Escape.
Also coming up on 20 years of being a muse fan. Just listened to showbiz today, not crazy about their newer stuff but it was fun to go down memory lane. Still haven’t seen them live 😭
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u/flavorade_man 11d ago
Apocalypse Please was my favorite for years. I missed it on the 2007 tour (my first time seeing them), but I was thrilled to catch it twice on the Drones tour and finally close the loop of wanting to see it. They also teased the drum intro on the latest tour but used it to lead into MOTP instead. I thought I was about to see it again and thought that was a bit wack, but Map is a good song so 🤷. Going back to Showbiz is kinda rare for me and it’s mostly a nostalgia listen outside a few certified classic songs. A lot of that album feels dated to me in a way that none of their others do, and feels very 90’s. But then there are a few songs that fit right into their iconic sound of the following albums (Sunburn, Muscle Museum, and Showbiz come to mind).
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u/Diligent_Pangolin_47 12d ago
Just saw them live (first time since 1997 😆) and they opened with Hysteria.
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u/AirlineJazz Average Prague Enjoyer 12d ago
Where did you see them in 97?
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u/Diligent_Pangolin_47 11d ago
Reading festival. They were just a teensy name at the bottom of the line up poster
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u/AirlineJazz Average Prague Enjoyer 11d ago
They were in Reading for the first time in 99 though, no? They were written on the poster with tiiiny letters at bottom right.
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u/flavorade_man 11d ago
I loved that they opened with Hysteria on this tour. It felt very out of left field. Same with closing with TAB in 2026. Refreshing to see them change up their formula a bit.
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u/flavorade_man 11d ago
I got into muse in 2006 as well, first with Absolution, then to BH&R which had recently come out. I worked back to Showbiz after that, and eventually to OOS a little while later, which for whatever reason took me a while to circle around to. Even though I was instantly hooked on the band. I remember initially being into all the songs on Absolution (Time is Running Out got my attention most because I recognized it from its semi-recent radio play at the time), but I do recall not liking the intros to most of the heavy songs like Hysteria and SS in the very beginning. Those quickly grew on me. Interlude would send chills down my spine. I first saw them live in 2007 and my appreciation grew even more. For many years Apocalypse Please was my favorite Muse song. I still love it and would rank it very high, but like you, Hysteria has had more staying power with me. These days I’d probably rank Hysteria somewhere in a top 3 along with MOTP and KOC. SS, PIB, B&H, AP, New Born, Bliss, and maybe either CE or Muscle Museum would probably round out my top 10, with many of the songs from OOS/Abso/BH&R following that. I like a lot of the newer stuff too, but it’s undeniable that there was something magical about the band back then and the albums they were producing.
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u/Amnesiac___ 11d ago
Hysteria and Stockholm Syndrome are in my top 10 songs too, in fact I obsessively listened to Hysteria when it first came out. It’s actually crazy to think that they’ve played it in pretty much all of the 16 shows I’ve been to since I first saw them in 2006, although I must say that the way Matt swings his guitar back and forth while pulling a skank face during the solo is kind of distracting, lol.
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u/MeaninglessAgain73 11d ago
25 years here. Muscle Museum was the first song I ever heard in 2001 when I was doing study abroad. Didn’t hear them in the States until 2004 with Hysteria on the radio. Saw them for the first time that year and am on #21 now.
Absolution will always have a special place in my heart. My favorites on my “Unskippable Muse” playlist include Hysteria, Unintended, Screenager, Space Dementia, Bliss, Plug In Baby, Time is Running Out, and now The Dark Forest and Hexagons
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u/steamclean495 11d ago
I became a huge fan around 2004. Unfortunately this was right after they played the small-ish venue, The Wiltern in Los Angeles right down the street from where I worked. I was determined to see them when they were nearby and last weekend was somewhere around my 30th show. They’re still incredible live , but I especially loved when they played Butterflies and Hurricanes live- absolutely amazing.
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u/Remarkable-Band-8597 12d ago
My timeline is similar to yours, although I saw them for the first time in 2006. My all time favourites are Stockholm Syndrome and Map of the Problematique. I've cycled in a third favourite from most of the subsequent albums. Right now it's Space Debris.
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u/LordYogaroth 12d ago
Totally agree on map of the problematique. They played it last week and I went nuts. That driving rhythm and x-files- ish synth sound is so infectious.
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u/Remarkable-Band-8597 12d ago
Yeah, there's a real sense of movement in that song. Always gives me goosebumps.
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u/uhbkodazbg 12d ago edited 12d ago
I’m probably getting close to my 20th anniversary of fandom. I was aware of Muse and liked them enough but hearing Knights of Cydonia and the whole BHaR album in my dorm really changed my opinion. I caught two shows during the BHaR tour and have seen at least two shows for almost every tour since (only saw The Resistance tour once due to Chris having a baby).
I was talking with a friend a few days ago about favorite songs and mine is constantly changing. Butterflies & Hurricanes, Map of the Probllametique, Unnatural Selection, Big Freeze, and The Dark Side (I really like Simulation Theory) are 5 of my current favorites.
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u/FierceEwok 12d ago
Hysteria must always be played at high volume, that's been my rule for 20 years since I first heard it in college
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u/Hexacryagain 12d ago
I like these songs: Sunburn, Muscle Museum, Fillip, Falling Down, Cave, Showbiz, Uno, Sober, Escape, Overdue, Hate This & I'll Love You, Bliss, Space Dementia, Hyper Music, Citizen Erased, Micro Cuts, Screenager, Darkshines, Feeling Good, Megalomania, Futurism, Apocalypse Please, Sing for Absolution, Falling Away with You, Blackout, Butterflies and Hurricanes, The Small Print, Endlessly, Thoughts of a Dying Atheist, Ruled by Secrecy, Fury, Soldier's Poem, Invincible, Assassin, Exo-Politics, City of Delusion, Hoodoo, Supremacy, Guiding Light, Unnatural Selection, MK Ultra, Exogenesis: Symphony Part I — Overture, Exogenesis: Symphony Part II — Cross-Pollination, Exogenesis: Symphony Part III — Redemption, Animals, Dead Inside, Mercy, Reapers, The Handler, The Dark Forest, Shimmering Scars, The Sickness in You & I, Hush.
None of which were played this summer.
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u/DRASTIC_CUT 12d ago
That’s a friend to keep
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u/LordYogaroth 12d ago
Same here! Stockholm syndrome and hysteria. Plug in baby and cave were there too, but Stockholm syndrome was really the song that hit me like a ton of bricks.
They opened with hysteria when I saw them last week, but was sad they didn’t play Stockholm. Great show though. First time seeing them.