There are a lot of things that distinguish human beings from well-developed artificial intelligence devices or fictional robots. One of those things is the general belief that humans function in more mysterious ways than something artificial can be coded to do. The most distinctive feature of a human being’s brain from an artificial mind is that humans go through experiences, good or bad, while an AI is coded to perceive those experiences instead of organically living through them.
The mystery of the human race is how the brain takes in experiences and traumas and works with them to live a certain life until it comes to an end. Artists use these experiences, either consciously or subconsciously, to create pieces of artwork. So do musicians and those in any other field that allows people to express themselves. This is what Muse has done for the world throughout their career and continues to do so.
They put forward strong and deep topics that their listeners can relate to most of the time. Matt Bellamy is the main creator of Muse’s songs, and it’s safe to say that they are designed to invite the listener into a supermassive black hole, but a black hole that they would enjoy. Bellamy’s head is full of creative things mainly inspired by existence itself. But in a 2018 interview on BBC, the musician said that his childhood traumas caused by watching horror movies at a young age stayed with him until today.
Bellamy had this to say about his traumas:
“When I started making the album, I purchased a virtual reality headset and gaming system. I’ve never really been much of a gamer – but it blew me away, the feeling of transportation into an alternate world. I found that really fascinating. That correlated with my interest in the TV series Black Mirror and my love of sci-fi – and so it triggered memories of my childhood in the 80s.
When I was eight or nine, I watched a few films that perhaps I shouldn’t have watched at that age – ‘Aliens’ or ‘The Thing,’ or ‘Blade Runner.’ And those films had a bigger impact on me than I realized. So the first song on the album, Algorithm, is my invented soundtrack to a sci-fi film from the 80s.”
When they released their album ‘Simulation Theory’, the band put forward movie-like sounds, powerful lyrics, and music videos that were inspired by science fiction. This is how the band managed to stay relevant, according to Bellamy. The singer said that rock music started to become lonely, so they attempted to adapt to the changing times and create something in coherence with the generation yet still stay true to rock.
Regarding their music, Bellamy said:
“The challenges are largely the same. It seems like every two or three years the world is a different place so we’ve always attempted to make ‘rock’ still have a meaning or a purpose or a sense of being. We are trying to bring technology and the instruments that we play together to create a symbiosis rather than opposing forces.
And because the technology is always changing and the political landscape is always changing, the language we have to work with is changing all the time, as well.”
The second you put on the album and give a brief listen to the songs, you will probably feel like you’re in a movie. This was Bellamy’s goal when he created the songs. The receptions were mostly positive and it was indicated that this was the least complicated album of Muse ever which opened up a new chapter for the band. Even though he phrased it as being bound to childhood trauma of being exposed to horrifying movie scenes at an early age, he managed to turn it into creativity and continue to draw people into his supermassive black hole to show his true self.
