The most streamed song by the Devon trio Muse is Uprising, from 2009, a stomping rocker that trumpets the power of the masses over those that try to keep them in check. “They will not control us and we will be victorious,” sang frontman Matt Bellamy. Today, as the band releases its ninth album, he might not sound quite so sure about handing over the reins. Sure, the Will of the People, the title of both the album and its opening track, is what gave us the Black Lives Matter and #MeToo movements, but it also gave us the Capitol riots and Boaty McBoatface.
The song sounds wild-eyed and hysterical, Bellamy singing “Let’s push the emperors into the ocean,” over a sleazy glam rock riff. “We’ll throw the baby out with the bathwater,” he adds. Ten songs later, the cacophonous final number couldn’t offer a blunter conclusion. It’s called We Are F***ng F***ed.
