After writing this week’s music review on Muse’s new album, “The 2nd Law” (see the next page), I realized how much I appreciate how diverse it is, not only with the incorporation of various genres, but with the instrumentation as well. I think it’s one of the most interesting and ambitious things Muse has done in a long time.
Unfortunately, not everyone agrees with me and has started labeling them as sellouts, complaining that they’ll never make an album as good as “Origin of Symmetry.” A lot of the hate came from the dubstep and more synth-oriented songs off of the album. People tend to see it as the band trying to cash in on the more recent fads of the music industry. And while I can see the reasons why someone would make this argument, I don’t agree with it nor believe that it is a bad thing.
Believe it or not, I actually don’t think all pop charts music is total crap. Well, okay, it’s mostly crap, but there are some good things to be taken from it. I like the energy it carries. It’s difficult to refrain from at least bobbing your head when one of those two octave dance rhythms is playing.
I like the fact that it’s all crafted with one single drum beat in the background. It keeps the pace nicely and provides the listener with a sense of familiarity as the song progresses. The music and the sound may change, but that beat is always the same.
I like that we can now make pretty much any sound we can imagine through a computer.  And while computers will never be able to take the place of instruments when it comes to the heart and feeling of the music, they make it much easier to create complicated pieces with many different layers.
I caught a little of all these things in Muse’s new album, and in turn, read many comments about them losing their touch, but if you ask me, it only enforces their abilities to make good music. They’re keeping themselves relevant in a constantly changing industry.
See, the problem isn’t that elements like the dance beat and heavy synths lead to bad music. The problem is the “artists” who don’t know how to utilize them to create quality songs. There’s nothing noteworthy about LMFAO, Ke$ha or Carly Rae Jepsen – their music is shallow, emotionless and unintelligent – but put the same kind of music in the hands of a talented individual/individuals and the result could be something that’s not only amazing, but also completely new as well. There are a few I’ve heard who have tapped into that potential, like Muse, but none that are really reaching mainstream audiences.
Music is a lot of experimenting and a lot of trial and error. Do you really think Queen had an exact idea of what they were doing when they wrote Bohemian Rhapsody, one of (if not) the greatest rock songs of all time? (If you don’t agree with this, then may the Gods of Rock have mercy on your sad soul.)
Musical innovation is difficult to achieve and should be applauded, even if the result doesn’t quite fit your personal tastes. Art is meant to change and evolve over time. That’s the whole point. It’s a reflection of both culture and people, things that are constantly changing and evolving. Muse may be “cashing in,” if cashing in means using the new trends of our culture and taking them in their own direction, but artists in general shouldn’t be criticized for trying something new. They should be criticized for not.