(MUSE) Matthew Bellamy interview - 1on Pure

Pure FM

c. September 2009 

Q: When you give to an album this kind of title, it cannot be for free. 'The Resistance', it's against what? Against what do you want to resist? 

MATTHEW: Well um, I mean regarding what I was just saying with it...with it...I mean, I could speak about England, you know what I mean? In England, there's...there's...there's a desire for change. There, you know, just against the old way of thinking. The old fashioned constitution. The old fashioned Parliamentary system, you know? There is a resistance growing against this way of thinking. I mean on a...on a...on a grander scale, you could say that the corporate...the corporate erm domination of the erm, of The Western world and the Third World...erm...has been, has been sort of growing since the 1970's, 80's, 90's, and it's kind of like we are living in a situation where these corporations are like giants. You know, giants of power, who probably own whatever station you work for, they probably own the newspapers, they own magazines. They own all the natural resources in the Third World. You know, a lot...a lot of exploitation. I think the people are kind of maybe slightly....there's a slight resistance growing against this way of life, you know, this corporate way of life, this way of thinking. The idea that...the idea that the only way to be happy is to make money, you know, and uh, I think people are tired of this way of thinking. It's not the way...but, but also...if you look at places like Iran or China, North Korea...inside these countries there are real resistance movements, you know, like real resistance. Almost like similar to...comparable to the original Resistance, you know, but...I think in this album title I'm referring to kind of the what is happening maybe particularly in England. I think in England, you know, it is particularly isolated in this way that it's very, you know, the whole...England has got a very big invasion of privacy. You know, like with like these Anti Terrorist Laws, and uh, sort of taking away liberties, and you know, the fact that there's cameras everywhere. You know, you can't walk in the street, in London, without being on camera, you know? Everything you do is being watched. It feels like a sort of miniature version of 1984. And uh, I think people are just tired. People are just tired of it, you know.         

Music today...yet another tool for revolution? 

MATTHEW: Yeah, well, I mean for me, it's the...it's the....it's the only vehicle I use, you know...I mean, I'm not really a painter, and I'm not a...I'm not a politician, you know, I'm not erm an actor, I'm a musician, so obviously for me, it's uh...it's my chosen method of expressing myself, you know? So erm, I don't know if you are questioning...if your question is about whether music is a good method of communication? I think it can be. I think it can be. It depends. I think problems arrive. I think...you know...I would rather people listen to the music, than listen to me (laughs) You know? Because I think the music is more pure, and it has a more pure emotion. It is very difficult to verbalize erm, what you are trying to do in the music. That is always a problem with interviews, I think you have to be careful. You know, um, I wouldn't want people to really judge me on what I am saying now. I would rather they judge me on what the music is saying. 

We live in a strange time...music period, because um...in the...in the 60s, 70s maybe, there was a period where the general...the general media accepted rebellion from music, and they, they, they....well, they didn't accept it, they entertained it, they allowed it to happen. They allowed The Beatles to happen. They corporations which are owning the radio stations, TV stations, they will not allow this to happen, you know? Now! Uh, so I mean, there are many many artists who are...whose music is in some ways expressing uh, unhappiness with the system or, you know the way things are, but these things are never gonna really reach the consciousness of the general public because to be in the popular culture, you need to be very very shallow. This is now the...being shallow is now what is, the currency of popularity. Erm...so erm, I am surprised how popular we are really (laughter) I'm surprised maybe.    

Muse and Politics

MATTHEW: You could say that love stories, you know, relationship things is almost probably more dominant on the album than the political context. I mean...I think the album is...the album is a little bit like a sort of...what I was saying, it is like a miniature version of 1984. The idea that there is kind of like a love story with a political backdrop, you know? And I think some people, you know, some people when they feel...when you see, when you witness...the...you know,...what...how difficult it would be to change things, you have a tendency to just want recluse into you know, your love or your relationship, or your friends, and your, your...and go back to a more small world, you know? And because when you look, when you consider the big situation, it's daunting you know, and you sort of...it seems like too much to challenge. 

(HARD CUT)

Well, I dunno. I mean, how do you take on...how do you take on these kind of massive corporations that have organized things in a way? You know,,,,I mean, we...I'm sure if you ask every single person on the street, every single person will say, you know, what is happening in (for example, Nigeria) is not acceptable, you know, It's not acceptable that in a...a western corporation can go into the country, take all of the oil, and take all of the money from the oil, and take it away from the people who live in this country. I think, I mean, I think if you ask every person here. Every single person in the street. They will all say, 'this is wrong.' But it's happening. U don't know...I don't know how to change that, you know? It's difficult. It's difficult. It's difficult. There is definitely something going on which is out of our control. 

Q: In a song like 'Guiding Light', you said that you are 'lost', 'crushed' and 'confused with no guiding light left'. Don't you have one today? Uh, a model or a hero?  

MATTHEW (thinks): Umm...I don't know. I don't know really, umm...I think in that song, that's more like a love story. I think that's more like saying that when you feel like you are really, you know it's like a very simple statement where you sometimes feel like the person...your partner, your love...you know, is sometimes when you are feeling very troubled or you know having a bad time or something. There's sometimes...I think everybody sometimes has one person who they turn to, who helps them, or is someone who gives them some kind of comfort or something. I think this is a very straightforward love song.