What do you guys think about the band Muse?

I think they are fucking amazing. Some of their songs that are awesome: Starlight, Stockholm Syndrome, Citizen Erased, Time is Running Out, Plug-in Baby, Exo-Politics, In Your World, Sunburn, Supermassive Black Hole, Micro Cuts (perhaps my favorite of theirs), Screenager, Hysteria, Dead Star, The Small Print, Thoughts of a Dying Atheist, to name a few of my favorites.

It's a trio alternative rock/electronic band from England. It's got a lot of inspiration from classical music, particularly Rachmaninoff, and a lot of it is damn heavy with a guitar style inspired by Rage Against Machine's Tom Marinello. There's a lot of synth and piano in the music. Actually, the lead singer and guitarist of the band, Matthew Bellamy, is extremely proficient at piano, and was trained at a young age in classical music. So some of the songs have lengthy and quite intricate piano solos.

Much of the music is dark and heavy, but there's also a poppy and bright element to some of their songs like Starlight (rather poppy, but awesome song nonetheless) and Supermassive Black Hole (sounds a bit like some of Michael Jackson). So many of their songs have unbelieveably catchy choruses and riffs. You gotta watch out for the guitar riffs. Their songs have been given awards because of some of their awesome guitar riffs alone, notably in the songs Plug-in Baby and Stockholm Syndrome. The band is definitely better to listen to if you're a musician.

Right now, I'd say my favorite song is Citizen Erased.
and...
That's all I have to say about them for now.

much better live, much prefered absolution to their new album

I haven't seen them live yet, but will when I have the opportunity. From what I've seen on Youtube, however, they sound amazing.

This is a live recording of a song called Micro Cuts that sounds better than the studio recording. He's got this awesome grunt/scream thing he does before the chorus that gets you really pumped.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aXokqiSKi9I

At the end there's this awesome breakdown, where he goes ballistic on the guitar. It's amazing how good it sounds considering he's jumping around and playing a part that requires significant dexterity. That's a damn hard thing to do, being a musician myself. Being able to jump around and be crazy while at the same time being rhythmically and tonally precise. But Bellamy pulls it off perfectly.

I liked Showbiz, especially Cave.
Everything after that was synth shit.

i'm someone who would say that their taste in definatley glued to baroque, yet on hearing micro cuts (as has been mentioned) i was truly taken aback. it alludes to the tragic aria tradition of composers such as handel,purcell etc. check out cecilia bartoli on u tube uuuuuuuuuuuummmmmmmmmmmm........

Hmm. I just went to Tower Records' going-out-of-business sale and had a chance to buy a Muse CD for half price. I passed it up because I already had four by bands I had already actually heard and knew I liked (Mars Volta, Lacuna Coil, Thom Yorke and Black Stone Cherry). I only knew about Muse from a newspaper review. I hope I won't be sorry.

If you get the chance, Fraggle, check out this link. It is a pretty good indication of how talented the band is.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qsvdFzYMzVo

That's pretty good stuff, thanks for the link. I'll have to keep them on my list. Fortunately I'm happy with the CDs I did buy. No one can rock us retired hippies quite as well as Radiohead and The Mars Volta.

I passed it up because I already had four by bands I had already actually heard and knew I liked (Mars Volta, Lacuna Coil, Thom Yorke and Black Stone Cherry).

Mars Volta, or The Mars Volta?

My mistake. They seem to be one of those bands where you have to include "The." Like "Eurythmics" must never have it.

I still alphabetize their CDs under M.

I haven't heard much Muse actually. I think I wrote them off as a radiohead cover band... but was I too hasty?
Please direct me to some muse songs that don't sound like radiohead - they are good, but "butterflies and hurricanes" is a straight thom yorke rip-off. Except thom yorke has more soul.
I'm sure they have other music that doesn't sound like that - if not, I vote "derivative".

I had them pinned as Radiohead copyists too at first. But the more I heard the more I liked. They're derivative, it's true - but what band these days isn't? There's nothing new under the sun. Take this as a given and give them a proper listen. They do have talent.

I think I wrote them off as a radiohead cover band... but was I too hasty?
To say the least.

I hate Radiohead (okay, Paranoid Android and Karma Police are awesome, but overall, Radiohead is incredibly, tediously, boring), but I love Muse. I can see a few similarities. Thom Yorke and Matthew Ballamy both often sing in falsetto. Both have dark sounds. Superificially, they might seem a bit similar, but even that is a bit of a stretch. They're not that alike.

Muse is a bit more poppy, and dare I say, vastly more talented than Radiohead. The songs are more complex, have greater sound variety and more awesome riffs and choruses that make you want to kick cute kittens.

Please direct me to some muse songs that don't sound like radiohead
Starlight, Stockholm Syndrome, Citizen Erased, Time is Running Out, Plug-in Baby, Exo-Politics

As for the Muse being derivative... if that's true, I haven't heard of a band that's anything quite like Muse--although they've been likened somewhat to Queen. Compared to most bands, I'd say they're fairly original, though there are a few songs that are obvious derivatives... like Supermassive Blackhole. It's like Michael Jackson. Kinda funky.

I haven't heard much Muse actually. I think I wrote them off as a radiohead cover band... but was I too hasty?
Please direct me to some muse songs that don't sound like radiohead - they are good, but "butterflies and hurricanes" is a straight thom yorke rip-off. Except thom yorke has more soul.
I'm sure they have other music that doesn't sound like that - if not, I vote "derivative".

I'm more a fan of rock than I am of electronic stuff. I liked Radiohead's first two albums more than their others, for instance.

But I think Show Biz is a pretty great album, as they're not using as much soulless keyboard instrumentation. Not so melodramatic.