Muse: US rightwing conspiracy theorists tried to hijack our music

[Turborama]

Matt Bellamy tells the Observer that his band turned down requests from political right to use the single Uprising in rallies

Muse have revealed the extent to which US politicians and political pundits have attempted to appropriate their music. In an interview to be published in the Observer on Sunday, singer Matt Bellamy discusses Fox News presenter Glenn Beck's embrace of their 2009 album The Resistance and the use of their hit single Uprising in rightwing conspiracy videos on YouTube.

"In the US the conspiracy theory subculture has been hijacked by the right to try to take down people like Obama and put forward rightwing libertarianism," Bellamy said. Defining himself as "a left-leaning libertarian – more in the realm of Noam Chomsky," he added: "Uprising was requested by so many politicians in America for use in their rallies and we turned them down on a regular basis."

Bellamy added that when writing lyrics, his motives are more therapeutic than polemical. "When I dabble in watching the news and reading about current events I tend to get a future negative view and that's something I've dealt with through music," he said. "It's quite possible I'm slightly paranoid. But I'd say making music is an expression of feelings of helplessness and lack of control that I think a lot of people can relate to."

Conservative pundit Beck is a long-standing fan of the Devon band, despite their labelling him previously as "a crazy rightwinger".

More: http://guardian.co.uk/music/2012/sep/28/muse-rightwing-conspiracy-theorists-music?cat=music&type=article

[Comrade_McKenzie]

1. Muse has always been my favorite band. Now I have even more reason to love them... nt

[Initech]

2. Silly Republicans. When will they learn all the good musicians are liberals?

[Dawson Leery]

3. Pat Boone has to have something the right wingers would like.

[longship]

4. My sister objects to Mozart's "Le Nozze di Figaro"

So said Emporer Joseph, sister of Marie Antoinette, the queen of France.

My favorite performance: Giulini conducting Le Nozze di Figara

Emporer Joseph II did not like this music because it was written by Beaumarchais, a French playwright during the pre-revolution. It is an exquisitely constructed political farce, my favorite opera.

Giulini, the orchestra, and the vocalists pull off the performance beautifully. This is how political satire is done. Mozart should be a Democratic operative.