20 YEARS AGO: Muse - Muscle Museum

Exactly 20 years ago today on 11 January 1999, a little-known band from the south of England released their second EP. It was so difficult to get hold of a copy at the time, that even Replay Records in Bath didn't have one in stock. In fact, they couldn't even find it through their usual distributors, and had to track one down especially for me. About a week or so later, the CD arrived and I picked it up for the sum of £5.99. The band was Muse, and the song was 'Muscle Museum'.

I first heard it being played on Radio 1's legendary indie show The Evening Session in late 1998. Initially it reminded me of Radiohead imagining a dark, explosive rendition of 'O Come All Ye Faithful', and after recording it off the radio, I hoped that this band wouldn't drift off into obscurity like many of the new indie bands of the time. Even though they were an obscurity and the EP was difficult to track down, the five track 'Muscle Museum' ended up at number 3 in the Indie singles charts. Rather than selling the CD to the Record and Tape Exchange years ago for the minuscule sum of 50p, I should've waited. Cheapest copies of the EP with its hand-numbered sticker now go for £130. The title likely derives from the fact that the words "muscle" and "museum" come immediately before and after the word "muse" in some dictionaries. On the original EP, the track is split into the more familiar single edit, and the acoustic instrumental 'Muscle Museum #2'. When the song was re-released in November 1999, one of the CD formats contained both of these combined into the "full length" version which can be heard below. The song was reissued as a single for a third time in 2000.

The Muse story begins at Teignmouth Community College in the early 90s when guitarist Matt Bellamy joins drummer Dominic Howard's band. They asked Chris Wolstenholme to join on bass, and after winning a local battle of the bands contest, the "Rocket Baby Dolls" changed their name to Muse. They played their first gigs in London and Manchester supporting Skunk Anansie on tour, and soon met with Dennis Smith, the owner of Sawmills Studio. This led to their first serious recordings and the release of the self-titled Muse EP in May 1998 on Sawmills' in-house Dangerous label. The buzz about them soon spread, and in late 1998 Muse signed a deal with American label Maverick Records. As well as producer Paul Reeve, the legendary John Leckie was brought in to produce the band's first album, Showbiz which came out in 1999.

The rest, as they say, is history.