For my first entry, I thought it fitting to look at a song I have been listening to quite often lately. Uprising by Muse is the first song on their newest album The Resistance. As a whole, this album is a work of musical art. Some may find Matthew Bellamy's vocals to be unnerving or hard to get used to, but his vocal range is something deserving of much credit, and Uprising is an excellent example of that.
The song starts with a very solid beat that could go any number of directions. This is accompanied by a very unique sounding keyboard. Now, I am no music expert, so I won't get in over my head here. The guitar work by Bellamy here is nothing fancy, but who said you need fancy to be effective. This is not a fancy song, although it sticks to the "epic" sound and feel of hit Muse songs fans have become used to. Christopher Wolstenholme's bass in this track is also somewhat simplistic, but once again serves the purpose the song needs it to serve for the right feel. The beat drummed out by Dominic Howard heard at the beginning of the song keeps pounding and pulsing throughout the duration of this track. It has almost a military march quality, which is very fitting to the part of the song I am most interested in: the lyrics.
The first line of this song "Paranoia is in bloom" fits the opening of this album very well. A image of the sort of recent sprouting an overwhelming feeling of paranoia the general public has been fed by superiors and the media is brought to mind. And much like the song states "They'll try to, push drugs that keep us all dumbed down / And hope that, we will never see the truth around," a speculative person of this day and age may get the feeling that those in some position of power are attempting to keep the general public hidden from any less than honorable activities going on behind closed doors. This opens up a very complicated vision of Muse as a band. Are they political? Are they left leaning? Do they even care?
I know people seem to steer clear of political music, or songs with political agendas, but some more universal and important ideas can be extracted from seemingly "uneducated leftist rhetoric" as some might say. In these first few lines, Muse has managed to already bring forth the idea that perhaps we should examine our assumptions in what is true and what is false in all things. I think they would encourage the individual to hold the same revealing candle up to their lyrics, and judge them how you might, this is a big idea of great importance. Whether you trust people in power or not, being encouraged to think for yourself and acting on it cannot be harmful.
The following section goes "Another promise, another seed / Another, packaged lie to keep us trapped in greed / And all the, green belts wrapped around our minds / And endless, red tape to keep the truth confined." This is a direct comment on the promises and ideas we are fed from those whom we are supposed to trust and the advertisements for things we think we need. Now this may sound like a comment coming from a very bitter, uneducated, hippy of sorts, but think about it. Why should we trust what we hear from advertisements? If you were in the position of a person trying to sell a product (say a teeth whitening product, for example) through advertising, and you could make double the money by saying your product is endorsed by some guy who apparently has his dental license, why wouldn't you? Morals? Who's to say? Maybe it really does work, but maybe it doesn't, that's why it is important to keep questioning, because you never know when you are going to be taken advantage of. Once again, it couldn't hurt.
Back to the music, this launches the song into its very powerful chorus (perhaps not as powerful as the second and third time around, but powerful nonetheless): "They will not force us / They will stop degrading us / They will not control us / We will be victorious." This chorus took me a few listens to sound as powerful as it is, but this is where Bellamy's vocals really shine. He slightly exercises his talent of the use of falsetto here. This helps the chorus be empowered to move its listener to actually care that maybe injustice has been done unto them by their superiors. Some of the power of the chorus lies in the systematic, poetic, timed delivery of the words.
And perhaps one of my favorite lines from songs I have been listening to recently comes from the next verse: "Rise up and take the power back / It's time the, fat cats had a heart attack / They know that, their time's coming to an end / We have to, unify and watch our flag ascend." What an image. The fat cats of big business, or the government, or whatever you want to apply it to having a heart attack from their over-consumption and their greed. How hackneyed is that idea? But it is rediscovered with excellent imagery from Muse. Also the unifying and watching our flag ascend is a powerful image that has some old war hero archetypes connected to it, but brings the image to a modern flag flying of the middle and lower classes.
To sum this up, this song is the perfect way to start off an excellent album. So many big ideas compressed into one five minute section of musical talent. I would highly recommend this song to anyone interested in a rock style of music with some electronic influences. A stomach for political undermining wouldn't hurt either. The song never gets very raucous or loud, but it has some drive and a solid beat.
Vocals: 88/100
Drums/Percussion: 79/100
Guitar: 76/100
Bass: 75/100
Lyrics: 93/100
Overall: 85/100
