Analysis Of Muse Album Covers.

Muse have released 5 Studio albums and one album full of B-side tracks and live recordings from a gig they played in Paris. Here is the album artwork...

Muse - Showbiz

          Here we can see a woman who is dressed up like a celebrity, dancing on a different planet, we can see the earth in the background. With an album title like showbiz, this suggests a bold statement about celebrities and the world of showbiz.

Muse - Origin Of Symmetry

          For this album cover Muse asked several different artists to create a piece of artwork with the title 'Origin Of Symmetry' they then chose the one they preferred for the cover and the rest make up the inside booklet in the CD.

Muse - Hullabaloo

          This is the B-sides album and the only cover that Muse themselves feature on.

Muse - Absolution

          This cover depicts 'Judgement Day' the band said that they liked the idea of everyone being taken to be judged but the one man left behind looking up to the sky left behind, looking like he wonders why he has been left behind. This suggests conspiracy.

Muse - Black Holes & Revelations

          This cover depicts 4 men on the surface of mars sat around a table with 4 horses on. The band have said they liked the theme of 'men are from mars.' This also suggests conspiracy.

Muse - Resistance

         The artwork for the resistance is based upon 3 songs in the album. A 3 part symphony named 'Exogenisis.' The songs are about humanity destroying earth and sending an astronaught into space to inherit another planet.

          Two themes that runs thoughout all of the album art is the 'space' theme and the 'conspiracy' theme. They all seem to have some sort of relation to these certain themes. The artwork is all very colourful and striking which not only reflects the band as a personality (being very extravagant) but it also helps lure fans in as it is all very easy on the eye. It also helps them distance themselves from other bands with a similar genre.

         

          As Matt Bellamy, lead guitaris and vocals of Muse is an avid conspiracy theorist, there is bound to be some conspiracy based themes in the album art. This is a reflection of what the songs that make up the album may be about or a reflection of the bands personality too.

Codes And Conventions Of Music Videos In The Genre Of Our Song

          A big part of music videos of the 'Alternate Rock' Genre is a band performance. In the majority of alternate rock music videos there is a strong band performance which usually is in keeping with the tone of the song. For example, a upbeat pacy song would have a enegetic band performance whereas on the contrary a slow paced song would have a more relaxed or condensed performance.

         

         These music videos also feature a storyline that intercuts with the bands performance. This storyline is usually very distinct depending on the band. In Muse's case they have very crazy storylines, often space themed or conspiracy based. All these elements halp make the band and the videos themselves very memorable and appealing to the fans of the band and others interested in the genre. Usually they wear their own clothes, there aren't many of muse's videos where they wear unusual clothing. Other bands also follow this convention, it's only in rare cases where vey abstract and unusual costumes are used, such as the 'spaceman' video i analysed. So this is one of the conventions we will stick to with our video, the band members will wear normal clothing that they would ususally wear.

         Alot of the time bands use popular culture and cinematic references. These can be included in the lyrics of the song or the video, in some cases both. For example with Muse, they have the 'Dr Strangelove' theme in 'Time Is Running Out' or the fact that the video 'Knights Of Cydonia' runs out like a film. Other bands do this aswell, for example the band Weezer's video for the song 'Buddy Holly' Features the set and characters from the television show 'Happy Days'. We may consider using some of these references providing they fit in with the storyline for our video.

Link To Buddy Holly Video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kemivUKb4f4

Time Is Running Out Lyrics

I think I'm drowning,
Asphixiated,
I wanna break this spell,
That you've created,
You're somehting beautiful,
A contradiction,
I wanna play the game,
I want the friction.

You will be the death of me,
Yeah, you will be the death of me.

Bury it,
I won't let you,
Bury it,
I won't let you,
Smother it,
I won't let you,
Murder it.

Our time is running out,
Our time is running out,
You can't push it underground,
You can't stop it screaming out.

I wanted freedom,
Bound and restricted,
I tried to give you up,
But I'm addicted,
Now that you know i'm trapped,
Sense of elation,
You'd never dream of breaking this fixation.

You will suck the life out of me.

Bury it,
I won't let you,
Bury it,
I won't let you,
Smother it,
I won't let you,
Murder it.

Our time is running out,
Our time is running out,
You can't push it underground,
You can't stop it screaming out.

How did it come to this.

Oooh Oooh Yeah Yeah,
Yeah Yeah Yeah,
Oooh Oooh Yeah Yeah,
Yeah Yeah Yeah.

Yeah, you will suck the life out of me.

Bury it,
I won't let you,
Bury it,
I won't let you,
Smother it,
I won't let you,
Murder it.

Our time is running out,
Our time is running out,
You can't push it underground,
You can't stop it screaming out.

How did it come to this.

Oooh Oooh Yeah Yeah,
Yeah Yeah Yeah,
Oooh Oooh Yeah Yeah,
Yeah Yeah Yeah.

Analysis Of Music Videos From Bands Of A Similar Genre

The Killers - Spaceman


          This is a very abstract and 'out there' video. The camera follows the lead singer of the band around what seems like a party from something out of this world. It has a big space age feel about it. The lead singer of the band stated that the song and the video is about aliens. This links heavily to alot of Muse videos and could possibly be taken that space is a convention of the genre.
          There are many bright lights and colours throughout the video and the costumes suggest strong space themes.



Some Bands have a compilation of live performances and behind the scenes shoots as their videos. I think these are done to help the fans gain insight as to what goes on when the band aren't performing and its helps bring the fans closer to the band themselves.

Editors - Bones




Arctic Monkeys - Fake Tales Of San Fransisco