This post is done out of spite. On my way to my wedding reception on Saturday, I was listening to Chicago Public Radio's program, "Sound Opinions", a talk show on rock music hosted by the critics from the Tribune and Sun-Times. After an interesting show on the use of instruments outside the regular rock idiom - the autoharp, the didgeridoo, the marimba - they did their usual bit of reviewing recent releases. One was the latest by the British band Muse. They panned it, calling the music and lyrics self-important, without that necessity of rock, a sense of humor and that favorite of rock critics, a sense of irony and distance.
As if David Bowie wasn't a pompous blowhard who takes himself too seriously. As if Bono wasn't a pretentious nincompoop at times. As if Bob Dylan didn't take his music, and by extension himself, seriously.
This is the kind of thing I just detest about rock critics.
In honor, then, of this panning by two rock critics, here are three offerings from Muse, the biggest band yet to break in America (they're huge in Europe).
From the aforementioned panned release, The Resistance, this is "Uprising":
From a DVD recorded during a sold-out two-day stint at Wembley Stadium in London, this is "Knights of Cydonia":
If you think the stage set is a bit over the top, consider some of the stuff U2 has done. . .
