Muse (Band)

Bury the Muse: Let's Stop Denying Women Full Credit For Their Music

If I had to pick one story in all the history of music to illustrate everything I love and hate about pop, I would choose the one about Veronica Bennett and her one-time partner, Phil Spector. What's great about Bennett and Spector is the music they made together: "Walking in the Rain," "Why Don't ... More >>

Muse Does Stadium Rock Sincerely at Oracle Arena, 1/28/13

Muse Band of Skulls Monday, Jan. 28, 2013 Oracle Arena Better than: Matt Crawley wailing in his best falsetto atop the roof of Downton. From its earliest records to the present day, Muse has maintained the sound and presence of a band that plays arenas. Over nearly two decades it has refined an ep ... More >>

Sizzle & Fizzle: Highs and Lows from the Last Week in S.F. Music

Worst New Song of the Week: Muse's "Madness"

You may recall that we weren't terribly kind about Muse's song for the London Olympics. Mostly because it resorted to obvious sports cliches and sounded like the theme tune to Flash Gordon. And the theme tune to Flash Gordon only works within the context of being played over and throughout a movie t ... More >>

Dizzee Rascal's "Scream" Shows the World How to Soundtrack the Olympic Games

See also: * Muse's Official Olympic Song "Survival" Is Decidedly Not a Victory for the World * Five Olympics Theme Songs That Are Especially Terrible (Because Most Are Fairly Terrible) * Olympics 2012: Underworld and the Chemical Brothers Raise Hopes for Good Music at London Games On Monday, yo ... More >>

Olympics 2012: Underworld and the Chemical Brothers Raise Hopes for Good Music at London Games

Having already established that official Olympics anthems are often tours de merde -- a reality that British maximalists Muse did more than their share to demonstrate with this year's contribution -- we'd all but given up hope for good tunes to soundtrack the sweat, tears, heartbreak, and triumph o ... More >>

Five Olympics Theme Songs That Are Especially Terrible (Because Most Are Fairly Terrible)

Originally, we were going to do this list as a top five. But then it became apparent that Olympic theme songs are always so incredibly awful, it becomes difficult to figure out who did the worst job. When we started compiling this, in honor of the fact that the Olympics start in London at the end of ... More >>

Sizzle & Fizzle: Highs and Lows from the Last Week in S.F. Music

Muse's Official Olympic Song "Survival" Is Decidedly Not a Victory for the World

Does Muse know what a song is? There's admittedly some prior evidence that the three kings of grandimediocrity do, but then there's also "Survival," the band's new, "official" song for the 2012 London Olympics, which sounds less like a thoughtfully arranged piece of music and more like random mash-u ... More >>

Arthouse Movie Listings June 13-19, 2012

One Last Spin: A Look Back at the Year in Bay Area Music

Things Music Critics Hate: Foster the People, Cage the Elephant, Young the Giant, Portugal. The Man, Etc.

Foster the People: Not bad. But also not that good.​ Music criticism is as much an affliction as an occupation -- especially these days, it's far more reliable as a sickness than a paycheck. Things Music Critics Hate is an occasional series that will attempt to diagnose and explain the broadly ... More >>

Long Live the Triptych: Five Great Series of Three Rock Songs

In visual art, it's called a triptych -- a piece divided into three connected sections or panels. The individual panels could, in theory, stand on their own, but each adds meaning and significance to the other two, creating a single work that is more than the sum of its parts. We don't have a name ... More >>

Thirteen Lesser-Known Artists You Should See at Outside Lands 2011

From SF Weekly's latest print music section: tUnE-yArDs is one act you shouldn't miss at Outside Lands​Outside Lands Must-Sees: You're obviously going to catch the headliner sets at this weekend's Outside Lands Festival, so we'll assume you're already more than familiar with Arcade Fire, Muse ... More >>

Surprise! Friday's Rickshaw Stop Special Guest is tUnE-yArDs (Not Muse)

Relax, Merrill, the secret's out!​ So yeah, the hackers fucked with Muse's Facebook page, duped us, and disappointed you. But look at the bright side: The special guest for Friday's Outside Lands night show at the Rickshaw Stop is no longer a secret -- and it's awesome! Cue the ukuleles, drum ... More >>

Is Muse Playing at the Rickshaw Stop on Friday? Facebook Says Yes, Promoter Says No

Muse: Apparently not playing the Rickshaw on Friday.​ Those of you watching the lineup for this year's Outside Lands night shows may have noticed a little bit of interesting verbiage for Friday's bill at the Rickshaw Stop. The lineup is advertised as Vetiver, Extra Classic and "surprise specia ... More >>

5 Things to Like About the Outside Lands Festival Schedule

Outside Lands: Now without (hopefully) the painful decision-making!​ The schedule for this year's Outside Lands festival hit the web earlier today. But you can stop gritting your teeth and clutching the edge of that desk: Although many festival schedules are an exercise in painful decision-mak ... More >>

Adele Is Coming Back, But Now You Must Choose: Greek Theatre Or Outside Lands?

"Pick me!"​ Anyone sick of hearing "Britney's back, bitch"? We didn't think so (who can tire of good, old-fashioned alliteration?), but that doesn't mean we should forget that poor, sick Adele has been gone. First, we announced in April that the British R&B superstar would be taking her act t ... More >>

A Guide to NorCal Music Festivals

Outside Lands 2011: Phish, Muse, Arcade Fire, Black Keys, Deadmau5, and More

Three days of this for 2011!​As promised, Outside Lands' avatar Ranger Dave announced the lineup this morning for the festivals fourth incarnation, to be held August 12-14, 2011. Your headliners: Phish, Muse, and Arcade Fire. Also playing: the Black Keys, Deadmau5, MGMT, Girl Talk, Decemberists, a ... More >>

The Dodos Have a Brawl in Ultra-Noir 'Black Night' Video

​Good week for sumptuous and slightly sinister black-and-white videos from San Francisco acts. This one, for "Black Night," the first song off of No Color (aha!), finds local duo The Dodos channeling equal parts Johnny Cash and Fleet Foxes over an ever-stranger, ever-tenser assemblage of split-sec ... More >>

The 2011 Grammys, A Timeline: Lady Gaga's Boob Armor, Who Is Lady Antebellum, and What the Hell is Cee-Lo Wearing?

In which we sit through three and a half hours of Grammys twaddle, so you don't have to: 8:01 p.m.: Show opens with an Aretha Franklin montage. Okay... 8:03 p.m.: Christina Aguilera, Jennifer Hudson, Florence Welch, Yolanda Adams, and Martina McBride perform "Natural Woman" together, then take i ... More >>

The Top 6 Most Irritating Uses of a Really High Note in a Song

The moral of this list? Just because you can do something doesn't mean you should do it. Nobody likes a show-off, and nobody enjoys shattered glass and burst eardrums. Here, then, are some proponents of high notes who really should've kept their vocal cords in check.6. Muse, "Micro Cuts"    ... More >>

Does Pandora Crush Your Soul, Or Free Your Mind?

It sees everything you like.​That's the question asked today in a New York Times piece by Virgina Heffernan, a self-described non-music-buff who finds the ability of Internet radio station Pandora to predict her tastes unnerving -- and also exciting.Her piece is a fascinating look into the philos ... More >>

Junius and Orbs Blast Out 'Emo-Metal', or Perhaps 'Progressive Space Rock', at Bottom of the Hill

Jules Pouguinf Junius​Junius Orbs Disastroid @ Bottom of the Hill August 29, 2010  Better than: Amelodic seismic activityI can't remember the last time I described anything as "mighty," but I also can't remember the last time anyone or anything earned it the way Junius doe ... More >>

Coachella Brings Pavement, Jay-Z, Them Crooked Vultures, Thom Yorke, and Girls Together

PavementMarcus Roth © 1999​Pavement's first West Coast date of its 2010 reunion tour was announced today, as the Coachella lineup went live with the indie rock giants as Sunday's big headliner. The news will likely send the group's many geeked out fans into organizing the So Cal caravans for the ... More >>

Friday Night: Not So Silent Night at Oracle Arena

Christopher VictorioEmily Haines of Metric​View more photos in Christopher Victorio's "Not So Silent Night @ Oracle Arena."Not So Silent Night w/ Muse, AFI, 30 Second to Mars, Vampire Weekend, and MetricFriday, Dec. 11, 2009Oracle ArenaBetter Than: What else is there to do on a rainy Friday night? ... More >>

Monday Morning Hangover: Drunk Santas, Lusty Ladies and Not So Silent Night

The Holidays are creeping up on us, and that not only means more drinking, but more drinking in Santa hats. Red and green tinged parties are hard to avoid right now, and we went to more than a few of them over the weekend.Hanna Quevedo​In some parts of the country, the beginning of the Christmas s ... More >>

December's best holiday music events

Here Comes Christmas: Your Seasonal Nightlife Picks

The Golden Girls, S.F.-style​It's a shame to start the holidays with so much news about shopping when there are plenty of other ways to milk December for all its worth.Personally, I'm a big fan of The Golden Girls - The Christmas Episodes. In the hands of comedic drag queens Cookie Dough, Matthew ... More >>

With The 8-bit Album, the Weezer tribute goes vintage.

Games Beatles fans play: The Fab Four’s amusement oeuvre

Juan Son makes quirky Mexican pop

Arthouse movie listings for March 18-24, 2009

1015 Folsom edges toward the live rock market

Love Like Fire

An Ocean in the Air (Black Ludella)

Reps Etc.