"Knights of Cydonia" / Muse / Black Holes and Revelations

My buddy Eric (who, on occasion, will pop in a comment) once said to me that the first time he heard Muse he thought...."That's a Bryan band".

And, yeah, he's dead on there. With the exception of Arcade Fire, I don't think there's a band that I've been more stoked about in the 00's than Muse. They've been around a little while, but really started to break here in America around 2003 or so. You may have heard a couple of their more popular tunes, "Time is Running Out" and "Stockholm Syndrome".

And speaking of "Stockholm Syndrome", let me just stop right there before I go any further. This song has rocketed into my personal top five list with a bullet. One big contributing factor was looking them up on the Youtubes and finding this performance of that song when they headlined England's famous Glastonbury festival in 2004. Honestly, I watch this about once a week, just to revive my faith in music and make me love life and people. It's five minutes of proper song, nine total minutes of awesome.


Now, there you can see what I love about this band on display. First of all...chops. Dudes can absolutely shred their instruments. They are a tight band (and I don't mean "tight" like "Those Pumas are tight", I mean "tight" like disciplined, locked in).I'm a sucker for big, melodic, anthemic, bombastic songs. Wagnerian, even. The energy they exude, the cool rock / electronia hybrid thing they have going..it all works for me.

When I picked up this CD back in 2006, it was everything I expected it to be. "Knights of Cydonia", in particular however, was a standout. Since then, it's gained a little bit of notice for it's brilliant video (more on that later) and it's inclusion on the "Rock Band" game. But first hearing this, I alternated between disbelief, hilarity and joy.

I really can't write about everything that's great about this song, but I'll try. It begins with a motif straight out of an Ennio Morricone spaghetti western, leading into a galloping drum line over which the guitar is playing the song's melody. It's really set up like an overture, as we don't really get to any lyrics until 2:07 of the song.

The song does set itself up as some kind of space cowboy epic ("Come ride with me, through the veils of history" reads the opening line) though what or where "Cydonia" is is for them to explain one day or for us to figure out. Anyways, they get through the first two verses quickly (the only two in the song, by the way), and come back in with the opening theme at 2:02. Soon after, the magic happens - the music falls dead away (save for some little electronic bleeps underneath) and at 3:19 we get:

No one's gonna take me alive
The time has come to make things right
You and I must fight for our rights
You and I must fight to survive

What the...I almost drove of the road the first time I heard this. So ridiculous, so over the top, so...sweet. What does it mean? Again, I have no clue, but it all fits.

They repeat the chorus a couple more times as the music builds up slowly behind it (I know, the oldest, most manipulative trick in music...but always effective) until we explode at with the new guitar riff at 4:14. Then once more with the chorus, this time, with a feeling of triumph, and we're done.

(Not to gush again about my kids, but this was Quinn's favorite song for most of last year. I was playing it in the car one day, then about twenty minutes of thoughtful silence later, he asks "Dad, why won't no one take him alive?" I smiled and thought - "That's my boy!" He made me put this on one of his CD mixes too, and had to listen to it first every night as he went to sleep. He also refused to let me talk while it was playing, so he could concentrate more on it. Of course, he will remember none of this by Christmas of this year)

The video. Oh, the video. I believe with the video they are letting you know that it's all a big, fun goof, not meant to be taken seriously. What's my favorite part of the video? Too many parts from which to choose, but you gotta love the reappearance of the hero's girl at that 4:14 climax in full on space princess outfit, riding a unicorn, while kung-fu masters practice their kicks and a cyclon projects the bands image in the desert. Or something. Unbelievably awesome stuff.