I remember listening to KROQ in the mornings (passively; it was more my wife's thing) and usually being underwhelmed by what passed for "modern rock", not to mention it seemed like they never grew tired of Nirvana, even fifteen years after their heyday. Every now and then something good sneaked into the playlist, like Queens of the Stone Age or the White Stripes. Generally what made these bands stand out was their lo-fi approach to music, usually delivered in three minutes or less. This is what makes Muse so strange: their first big hit stateside ("Knights of Cydonia", oddly the longest track of the entire album) was six minutes of highly-produced bombastic awesome. Right away I thought "holy $%&*! they finally went prog!"
Not entirely true. Muse didn't really represent or launch any sort of new space rock or progressive movement, but they were about as close as the record industry would let them get to that pariah genre. The track listing looks like the chapter names of a science fiction epic. My gut reaction is that it sounds a lot like Queen recorded a space rock opera using the most modern/futuristic equipment they could get their hands on. About the only thing lacking in the vision is some epic guitar solos, which the band seems to generally avoid (epic trumpet solos, however, are in play).
I really don't follow Muse anymore. The following album, The Resistance, was decent but nothing special, and I haven't made any effort to pick up anything else. I still haven't heard the earlier albums. Maybe they are more worth my time. Who knows?
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