Okay, I'm Gonna Try And Explain It. If This Doesn't Make Sense, I Have A Sheet Of Notes Explaining It

Okay, I'm gonna try and explain it. If this doesn't make sense, I have a sheet of notes explaining it I can post, but my handwriting sucks so I'm gonna try this first. I'll put it under the cut cause it'll probably be quite long.

Happy to explain though, if people have further questions about Muse/Matt Bellamy's use of harmony feel free to ask! I love music theory so I'm straight up doing this for fun, but it's all really interesting and if you know what to look for you can see classical influence in most of their songs, even ones you might not expect.

So, in a scale you have 7 notes, eg. CDEFGAB. Chords are built based off these notes, eg. C, E, G makes a C major chord, D, F , A is a D minor chord. The pattern of major/minor chords in a major scale is this: major, minor, minor, major, major, minor, diminished. It's often written in roman numerals, where capitals are major chords and lowercase are minor chords. Diminished chords are lower case with a small circle next to them or in italics (here I'll be using italics).

So the pattern goes I, ii, iii, IV, V, vi, vii. (eg. C, Dm, Em, F, G, Am, Bdim)

In a minor key, the pattern is more complicated, but assuming it's a natural minor: i, ii, III, iv, v, VI, VII (eg. Cm, Ddim, Eb, Fm, Gm, Ab, Bb)

Cadences are used in most kinds of music, but I would say generally more deliberately in classical music, since there's this attitude in popular music I think where it's 'cool' not to know any music theory and it makes you a 'better musician' because you don't stick to the 'rules'. There are 4 main types (in a major key):

Perfect: V-I. Solidifies a key and sounds quite final, so are often used at the end of phrases/pieces and after a key change.

Imperfect: anything-V; often I-V.

Interrupted: V-anything except I; often V-vi.

Plagal: IV-I. Also called the 'amen cadence' as it's used in a lot of religious music.

Matt has also used regular plagal cadences. There's one at the end of Drones when 'amen' is sung.

A minor plagal cadence is used more often in popular music I think? Basically, you 'borrow' the minor 4th chord from the tonic minor, which is the minor that has the same starting note as the current major key you're in. Eg. C minor is the tonic/parallel minor of C major. In C major, a minor plagal cadence would be Fm-C, whereas a normal plagal cadence would be F-C.

Minor plagal cadences sound ABSOLUTELY DEVASTATING like the entire world is ending.

Examples in Muse songs can be found in the following (and probably more, these are just ones I've found in my analysis so far).

Aftermath: at the end of the chorus over 'the loneliness has gone' (this should be illegal).

Citizen Erased: in the outro over 'erase all the memories' and 'I've seen all I'll ever need' (double illegal)

Explorers: In the verses over 'to seek the new and unknown This planet's overrun' and lyrics in that position in the following verses

Falling Away With You: At the end of verses over 'maybe I just misunderstood', 'memories I will never find', the first 'I think our lives have just begun' (followed by a 'faux' minor plagal at the repeat which goes to E instead of C, giving us a perfect cadence into the chorus), 'I hope I won't forget a thing', 'Nothing will ever stay the same' and then again at 'Making the same mistakes again' with the 'faux' minor plagal on the repeat. The final one is right at the end of the song on both 'memories I will never find'. (Peak devastation, I think that's a big chunk of why this song is so utterly heart-wrenching; the placement of minor plagal cadences over already devastating lyrics).

Falling Down: Start of verses over 'I'm falling down' or lyrics in the same place.

Liberation: In the chorus over/in-between 'take you down/we intend to'

Soaked: Verses towards the end over 'it's not the first time' into 'it's not the worst crime' and 'take shelter' into 'and hide forever'.

I hope this somewhat makes sense, and if it doesn't let me know and I can try explaining it in a different way or post the sheet I made when planning this post.

Damn, Matt Bellamy sure does love using minor plagal cadences to make me want to RIP MY SOUL OUT MY BODY AND THROW IT AT THE SUN.

I reckon most Muse songs that just utterly devastate you have a minor plagal cadence.

(I am also guilty of using minor plagal cadences in my own songs bc they also sound nice).

Happy Trans Day of Visibility to trans people everywhere. 🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍⚧️

Trans people deserve to live, and they deserve to do so in peace. Trans people are valid, loved, and cherished.

🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍⚧️

I am officially embarking on the Reapers solo. I can already do most of it, but I never quite managed the first half.

He also uses effects pedals I don't have so... that's fun.

CONTACT YOUR GOVERNMENT AND DEMAND A CEASEFIRE FOR PALESTINE:

For Eu look up: Voices in Europe for peace

For Usa look up: US campaign for Palestinian rights

BOYCOTT LIST: Hewlett Packard Inc (HP Inc), Chevron (including Caltex and Texaco brands), Siemens, Carrefour, AXA, SodaStream, Ahava, RE/MAX, PUMA, Coca Cola, Starbucks, McDonalds and Isreali produce in your supermarkets

OTHER RESOUCES: https://Arab.org/clicktohelp/ https://gazaesims.com https://www.foa.org.uk

word

Tbf that is exactly how the riff sounds.

Sometimes riffs are just like that yknow.

"It started with the riff, just like, jaoow, paka-waoo waoo."

Muse on writing Break It To Me

it drives me bonkers the way people don't know how to read classic books in context anymore. i just read a review of the picture of dorian gray that said "it pains me that the homosexual subtext is just that, a subtext, rather than a fully explored part of the narrative." and now i fully want to put my head through a table. first of all, we are so lucky in the 21st century to have an entire category of books that are able to loudly and lovingly declare their queerness that we've become blind to the idea that queerness can exist in a different language than our contemporary mode of communication. second it IS a fully explored part of the narrative! dorian gray IS a textually queer story, even removed from the context of its writing. it's the story of toxic queer relationships and attraction and dangerous scandals and the intertwining of late 19th century "uranianism" and misogyny. second of all, i'm sorry that oscar wilde didn't include 15k words of graphic gay sex with ao3-style tags in his 1890 novel that was literally used to convict him of indecent behaviour. get well soon, i guess...