1994–1997: Early years The members of Muse played in separate school bands during their time at
Teignmouth Community College in the early 1990s. Guitarist
Matt Bellamy successfully auditioned for drummer
Dominic Howard's band, Carnage Mayhem, becoming its singer and songwriter. They renamed the band Gothic Plague. They asked
Chris Wolstenholme – at that time the drummer for Fixed Penalty – to join as bassist; he agreed and took up bass lessons. The band was renamed Rocket Baby Dolls and adopted a
goth-
glam image. Around this time, they received a £150 grant from
the Prince's Trust for equipment. In 1994, Rocket Baby Dolls won a local
battle of the bands, smashing their equipment in the process. Bellamy said, "It was supposed to be a protest, a statement, so, when we actually won, it was a real shock, a massive shock. After that, we started taking ourselves seriously." The band quit their jobs, changed their name to Muse, and moved away from Teignmouth. The band liked that the new name was short and thought that it looked good on a poster. According to journalist Mark Beaumont, the band wanted the name to reflect "the sense Matt had that he had somehow 'summoned up' this band, the way mediums could summon up inspirational spirits at times of emotional need".
1998–2002: Showbiz and Origin of Symmetry in 1998 After a few years building a fanbase, Muse played their first gigs in London and
Manchester supporting
Skunk Anansie on tour. They had a significant meeting with Dennis Smith, the owner of
Sawmills Studio, situated in a converted water mill in
Cornwall. He had seen the three boys grow up as he knew their parents, and had a production company with their future manager
Safta Jaffery, with whom he had recently started the record label
Taste Media. The meeting led to their first serious recordings and the release of the
Muse EP on 11 May 1998 on Sawmills' in-house
Dangerous label, produced by Paul Reeve. Their second EP, the
Muscle Museum EP, also produced by Reeve, was released on 11 January 1999. It reached number 3 in the indie singles chart and attracted the attention of the radio broadcaster
Steve Lamacq and the magazine
NME. Later in 1999, Muse performed on the Emerging Artist's stage at
Woodstock '99 and signed with Smith and Jaffery. Despite the success of their second EP, British record companies were reluctant to sign Muse. After a trip to New York's CMJ Festival, Nanci Walker, then Sr. Director of A&R at Columbia Records, flew Muse to the US to showcase for Columbia Records' then-Senior Vice-president of A&R,
Tim Devine, as well as for American Recording's Rick Rubin. During this trip, on 24 December 1998, Muse signed a deal with American record label Maverick Records. Upon their return to England, Taste Media arranged deals for Muse with various record labels in Europe and Australia, allowing them control over their career in individual countries.
John Leckie was brought in alongside Reeve to produce the band's first album,
Showbiz (1999). The album showcased Muse's aggressive yet melancholic musical style, with lyrics about relationships and their difficulties trying to establish themselves in their hometown. in Denmark, July 2000 During the production of their second album,
Origin of Symmetry (2001), Muse experimented with instrumentation such as a
church organ,
Mellotron, animal bones, and an expanded drum kit. There was more of Bellamy's falsetto,
arpeggiated guitar, and piano playing. Bellamy cites guitar influences such as
Jimi Hendrix and
Tom Morello (of
Rage Against the Machine), the latter evident in the more
riff-based songs in
Origin of Symmetry and in Bellamy's use of guitar
pitch-shifting effects. The album features a cover of
Anthony Newley and
Leslie Bricusse's "
Feeling Good", voted in various polls one of the greatest cover versions of all time. It was released as a
double A-side single, "
Hyper Music/Feeling Good".
Origin of Symmetry received positive reviews.
NME gave it 9/10 and wrote: "It's amazing for such a young band to load up with a heritage that includes the darker visions of
Cobain and
Kafka,
Mahler and
the Tiger Lillies,
Cronenberg and
Schoenberg, and make a sexy, populist album." Maverick, Muse's American label, did not consider Bellamy's vocals "radio-friendly" and asked Muse to rerecord "Plug in Baby" for the US release.
Origin of Symmetry has made appearances on lists of the greatest rock albums of the 2000s, both poll-based and on publication lists. In 2006, it placed at number 74 on
Q magazine's list of the 100 Greatest Albums of All-Time, while in February 2008, the album placed at number 28 on a list of the Best British Albums of All Time determined by the magazine's readers.
Kerrang! placed the album at number 20 in its 100 Best British Rock Albums Ever! List and at number 13 on its 50 Best Albums of the 21st Century list. On 10 November 2001 the band appeared on BBC's
Later... with Jools Holland and performed "
Hyper Music" and "
Feeling Good". In 2002, Muse released the first live DVD,
Hullabaloo, featuring footage recorded during Muse's two gigs at
Le Zenith in Paris in 2001, and a documentary film of the band on tour. A double album,
Hullabaloo Soundtrack, was released at the same time, containing a compilation of
B-sides and a disc of recordings of songs from the Le Zenith performances. A double-A side single was also released featuring the new songs "
In Your World" and "
Dead Star". In 2002, Muse threatened
Celine Dion with legal action when she planned to name her Las Vegas show "Muse", as Muse had worldwide performing rights to the name. Muse refused an offer from Dion of $50,000 for the rights, as they feared it could harm their chances of breaking into the US market. Bellamy said: "We don't want to turn up there with people thinking we're Celine Dion's backing band."
2003–2008: Absolution and Black Holes and Revelations , Toronto in 2004. The international
Absolution tour included the band's first shows in North America since 1999. Muse's third album,
Absolution, produced by
Rich Costey, Paul Reeve and John Cornfield was released on 15 September 2003. It debuted at number one in the UK and produced Muse's first top-ten hit, "
Time Is Running Out", and three top-twenty hits: "
Hysteria", "
Sing for Absolution" and "
Butterflies and Hurricanes".
Absolution was eventually certified
gold in the US. Muse undertook a year-long international tour in support of the album, visiting Australia, New Zealand, the United States, Canada, and France. On the 2004 US leg of the tour, Bellamy injured himself onstage during the opening show in Atlanta; the tour resumed after Bellamy received stitches. In June 2004, Muse headlined the
Glastonbury Festival, which they later described as "the best gig of our lives". Howard's father, William Howard, who attended the festival to watch the band, died from a heart attack shortly after the performance. Bellamy said: "It was the biggest feeling of achievement we've ever had after coming offstage. It was almost surreal that an hour later his dad died. It was almost not believable. We spent about a week sort of just with Dom trying to support him. I think he was happy that at least his dad got to see him at probably what was the finest moment so far of the band's life." Muse won two MTV Europe awards, including "Best Alternative Act", and a Q Award for "Best Live Act", On 2 July 2005, they participated in the
Live 8 concert in
Paris. In 2003, the band successfully sued
Nestlé for using their cover "Feeling Good" for a
Nescafé advertisement without permission and donated the money won from the lawsuit to
Oxfam. An unofficial DVD biography,
Manic Depression, was released in April 2005. Muse released another live DVD on 12 December 2005,
Absolution Tour, containing edited and remastered highlights from their Glastonbury performance unseen footage from their performances at London
Earls Court,
Wembley Arena, and the
Wiltern Theatre in Los Angeles. " at
Reading and Leeds Festivals on 28 August 2006 In 2006, Muse released their fourth album,
Black Holes and Revelations, co-produced once again with Rich Costey. The album's title and themes reflect the band's interest in science fiction. The album charted at number one in the UK, much of Europe, and Australia. In the US, it reached number nine on the
Billboard 200. The band's main touring itinerary started with a tour of North America from late July to early August 2006. After the last of the summer festivals, a tour of Europe began, including a large arena tour of the UK.
Black Holes and Revelations was nominated for the 2006
Mercury Music Prize, but lost to
Arctic Monkeys. It earned a
Platinum Europe Award after selling one million copies in Europe. The first single from the album, "
Supermassive Black Hole", was released as a download in May 2006. In August 2006, Muse recorded a live session at
Abbey Road Studios for the
Live from Abbey Road television show. The second single, "
Starlight", was released in September 2006. "
Knights of Cydonia" was released in the US as a radio-only single in June 2006 and in the UK in November 2006. The fourth single, "
Invincible", was released in April 2007. Another single, "
Map of the Problematique", was released for download only in June 2007, following the band's performance at Wembley Stadium. , Germany in October 2007 Muse spent November and much of December 2006 touring Europe with British band
Noisettes as the supporting act. The tour continued in Australia, New Zealand, and Southeast Asia in early 2007 before returning to England for the summer. At the
2007 Brit Awards in February, Muse received their second award for Best British Live Act. They became the first act to sell out the newly rebuilt
Wembley Stadium when they performed two dates there in June 2007. Both concerts were recorded for a DVD/CD,
HAARP, released in early 2008. In 2018,
HAARP was named the 40th-greatest live album of all time by
NME. The tour continued across Europe in July 2007 before returning to the US in August, where Muse played to a sold-out crowd at
Madison Square Garden, New York City. They headlined the second night of the
Austin City Limits Music Festival on 15 September, and performed at the October
Vegoose in Las Vegas with bands including
Rage Against the Machine,
Daft Punk and
Queens of the Stone Age. On 12 April, they played a concert at the
Royal Albert Hall, London in aid of the
Teenage Cancer Trust. Muse performed at
Rock in Rio Lisboa on 6 June 2008, alongside bands including
Kaiser Chiefs,
the Offspring and
Linkin Park. They also performed in
Marlay Park, Dublin, on 13 August. A few days later, Muse headlined the 2008
V Festival, playing in Chelmsford on Saturday 16 August and Staffordshire on Sunday 17 August. On 25 September, Bellamy, Howard and Wolstenholme received an
Honorary Doctorate of Arts from the
University of Plymouth for their contributions to music.
2009–2013: The Resistance and The 2nd Law " at the
National Indoor Arena, Birmingham, England on 10 November 2009. During the recording of Muse's fifth studio album,
The Resistance, Wolstenholme checked into
rehab to deal with his
alcoholism, which was threatening the band's future. Howard said: "I've always believed in band integrity and sticking together. There's something about the fact we all grew up together. We've been together for 18 years now, which is over half our lives."
The Resistance was released in September 2009, the first album produced by Muse, with engineering by
Adrian Bushby and mixing by
Mark Stent. It topped album charts in 19 countries, became the band's third
number one album in the UK, and reached number three on the
Billboard 200. Reviews were mostly positive, with praise for its ambition, classical influences and the three-part "
Exogenesis: Symphony".
The Resistance beat its predecessor
Black Holes and Revelations in album sales in its debut week in the UK with approximately 148,000 copies sold. The first single, "
Uprising", was released seven days earlier. On 13 September, Muse performed "Uprising" at the
2009 MTV Video Music Awards in New York City. ,
Oakland, California, on 11 December 2009
The Resistance Tour began with
A Seaside Rendezvous in Muse's hometown of Teignmouth, Devon, in September 2009. It included headline slots the following year at festivals including Coachella, Glastonbury,
Oxegen, Hovefestivalen,
T in the Park,
Austin City Limits and the Australian
Big Day Out. Between September and November, Muse toured North America. Muse provided the lead single for the film
The Twilight Saga: Eclipse, "
Neutron Star Collision (Love Is Forever)", released on 17 May 2010. In June, Muse headlined
Glastonbury Festival for the second time. After U2 canceled their headline slot following their singer
Bono's back injury, their guitarist, the
Edge, joined Muse to play the U2 track "
Where the Streets Have No Name". For their live performances, Muse received the O2
Silver Clef Award in London on 2 July 2010, presented by
Roger Taylor and
Brian May of
Queen. Taylor described the trio as "probably the greatest live act in the world today". On 12 September 2010, Muse won an
MTV Video Music Award in the category of Best Special Effects, for the "Uprising" video. On 21 November, Muse won an
American Music Award for Favorite Artist in the Alternative Rock Music Category. On 2 December, Muse were nominated for three awards for the
53rd Grammy Awards on 13 February 2011, for which they won the
Grammy Award for Best Rock Album for
The Resistance. Based on having the largest airplay and sales in the US, Muse were named the
Billboard Alternative Songs and
Rock Songs artist for 2010 with "Uprising", "Resistance" and "Undisclosed Desires" achieving 1st, 6th and 49th places on the year-end Alternative Song chart. On 30 July 2011, Muse supported Rage Against the Machine at their only 2011 gig at the L.A. Rising festival. On 13 August, Muse headlined the
Outside Lands Music and Arts Festival in San Francisco. They headlined the
Reading and Leeds Festivals in August 2011. To celebrate the tenth anniversary of their album
Origin of Symmetry (2001), Muse performed all eleven tracks. Muse also headlined
Lollapalooza in
Chicago's
Grant Park in August 2011. In an April 2012 interview, Bellamy said Muse's next album would include influences from acts such as
French house duo
Justice and UK
electronic rock group
Does It Offend You, Yeah?. On 6 June 2012, Muse released a trailer for their next album,
The 2nd Law, with a countdown on the band's website. The trailer, which included
dubstep elements, was met with mixed reactions. On 7 June, Muse announced a European Arena tour, the first leg of
The 2nd Law Tour. The leg included dates in France, Spain and the UK. The first single from the album, "
Survival", was the official song of the
London 2012 Summer Olympics, and Muse performed it at the Olympics
closing ceremony. Muse revealed the
2nd Law tracklist on 13 July 2012. The second single, "
Madness", was released on 20 August 2012, with a music video on 5 September. Muse played at the
Roundhouse on 30 September as part of the
iTunes Festival.
The 2nd Law was released worldwide on 1 October, and on 2 October 2012 in the US; it reached number one in the
UK Albums Chart, and number two on the US
Billboard 200. The song "
Madness" earned a nomination in the
Best Rock Song category and the album itself was nominated for the
Best Rock Album at the
55th Grammy Awards, 2013. The band performed the album's opening song, "
Supremacy", with an orchestra at the
2013 Brit Awards on 20 February 2013. The album was a nominee for
Best Rock Album at the
2013 Grammy Awards. The song "Madness" was also nominated for
Best Rock Song. The album listed at number 46 on
Rolling Stones list of the top 50 albums of 2012, saying "In an era of diminished expectations, Muse make stadium-crushing songs that mix the legacies of
Queen,
King Crimson,
Led Zeppelin and
Radiohead while making almost every other current band seem tiny." Muse released their fourth live album,
Live at Rome Olympic Stadium, on 29 November 2013 on CD/DVD and CD/Blu-ray formats. In November 2013, the film had theatrical screenings in 20 cities worldwide. The album contains the band's performance at
Rome's
Stadio Olimpico on 6 July 2013, in front of over 60,000 people; it was the first concert filmed in
4K format. The concert was a part of the Unsustainable Tour, Muse's mid-2013 tour of Europe. After self-producing their previous two albums, the band hired producer
Robert John "Mutt" Lange so they could focus on performance and spend less time mixing and reviewing takes. Muse announced their seventh album,
Drones, on 11 March 2015. The following day, they released a
lyric video for "
Psycho" on their
YouTube channel, and made the song available for instant download with the album pre-order. Another single, "
Dead Inside", was released on 23 March. From 15 March to 16 May, Muse embarked on a short tour in small venues throughout the UK and the US, the Psycho Tour. On 18 May 2015, Muse released a lyric video for "Mercy" on their YouTube channel, and made the song available for instant download with the album pre-order.
Drones was released on 8 June 2015. it returned to a simpler rock sound with less elaborate production and genre experimentation. It topped the album charts in the UK, the US, Australia and most major markets. Muse headlined
Lollapalooza Berlin on 13 September 2015. On 15 February 2016,
Drones won the
Grammy Award for Best Rock Album at the
58th Grammy Awards. On 24 June, Muse headlined the
Glastonbury Festival for a third time, becoming the first act to have headlined each day of the festival (Friday, Saturday and Sunday). On 30 November 2016, Muse were announced to headline Reading and Leeds 2017. In 2017, Muse embarked on a co-headlining North American tour with
Thirty Seconds to Mars, supported by
PVRIS. On 18 May, they released "
Dig Down", the first single from their eighth album. In November, they performed at the
BlizzCon festival. "
Thought Contagion", the second single, was released on 15 February 2018, accompanied by an 1980s-styled music video. In June, Muse opened the
Rock In Rio festival. On 24 February, they played a show at
La Cigale in France with a setlist voted for fans online, followed by a show at
Shepherd's Bush Empire, London, in which they played mainly older material and B-sides. A concert video,
Muse: Drones World Tour, was released in cinemas worldwide on 12 July 2018. On 19 July 2018, Muse released the third single from their upcoming album, "Something Human", followed by "The Dark Side" on 30 August and "Pressure" on 27 September. Muse released their eighth studio album,
Simulation Theory, with a focus on 80s-inspired synthesisers, on 9 November. The
Simulation Theory World Tour began in Houston on 3 February 2019 and concluded on 15 October in Lima. A film based on the album and tour,
Muse – Simulation Theory, combining concert footage and narrative scenes, was released in August 2020. In December 2019, Muse released
Origin of Muse, a box set comprising remastered versions of
Showbiz and
Origin of Symmetry plus previously unreleased material. For the 20th anniversary of
Origin of Symmetry in June 2021, Muse released a remixed and remastered version,
Origin of Symmetry: XX Anniversary RemiXX.
2022–2024: Will of the People On 13 January 2022, Muse released the single "
Won't Stand Down", which marked a return to their heavier early sound. On 9 March, Muse posted a 35-second clip across various social media platforms depicting large busts of the band members being torn down. Muse released their ninth album,
Will of the People, on 26 August 2022. It was promoted with the singles "
Compliance", "
Will of the People", "
Kill or Be Killed" and "
You Make Me Feel Like It's Halloween". The final single "
Ghosts (How Can I Move On)" was published as a collaborative version with Italian singer-songwriter
Elisa on 25 November 2022. The
Will of the People World Tour began in April 2022. The touring member
Morgan Nicholls was replaced by
Dan Lancaster on additional keys, percussion and guitar. Muse appeared on the song "1685" from the 2024 album
Telos by the electronic producer
Zedd. In August 2024, Wolstenholme announced a solo project, Chromes, and released the singles "Imaginary World" and "The Good Life".
2025–present: The Wow! Signal In February 2025, bassist Chris Wolstenholme announced that the band would be entering the studio "in the next couple of months" to work on new Muse material, and that fans could expect a new album in 2026. Later that year, Muse embarked on a European festival tour on 12 June 2025, and released the single "
Unravelling" on 20 June. In December 2025, Bellamy announced across Muse's social media that the band had been working on new music. In January 2026, Muse cancelled shows in February across South Africa, India, and the United Arab Emirates due to "unforeseen circumstances". They released a new single, "
Be With You", on 19 March 2026. The same day, Muse announced that their tenth studio album,
The Wow! Signal, will be released on 26 June. ==Musical style==