"Supermassive Black Hole" has been described as
alternative rock,
dance-rock, and
funk rock. Bellamy said that the song was "the most different to anything we've ever done." Influences included bands such as
the Beatles as well as several Belgian bands; specifically,
Millionaire,
dEUS,
Evil Superstars and
Soulwax. Bellamy said that "these groups were the first to mix
R&B rhythms with
alternative guitar. We've added a bit of
Prince and
Kanye West. The
drumbeat isn't
rocky, with
Rage Against the Machine riffs underneath. We've mixed a lot of things in this track, with a bit of
electronica; it’s different, slow, quite
funky." In an interview with
NME, Bellamy said "I was going out dancing in clubs around New York. That helped create tracks like 'Supermassive Black Hole'.
Franz Ferdinand would have done it very well, with that dance type beat going on mixed with alternative guitar and I've always wanted to find that." The guitar solo performed during the bridge was added at the behest of
Rich Costey, the producer of
Black Holes & Revelations. Muse were against the idea of adding anything to the bridge, but Costey overruled them during the mixing session after finding the bridge to be lackluster in comparison to the rest of the song.
Chris Wolstenholme, the band's bass player, brought a 4-string electric guitar from his hotel room to the studio and played a riff that was used as a guitar solo. ==Music video==