Supermassive Black Hole (song)
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| “Supermassive Black Hole” | |||||
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CD cover
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| Single by Muse from the album Black Holes and Revelations |
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| B-side | "Crying Shame" | ||||
| Released | 19 June 2006 | ||||
| Format | 7", CD, DVD | ||||
| Genre | Alternative rock Disco-punk |
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| Length | 3:32 | ||||
| Label | Helium 3, Warner Bros. | ||||
| Producer | Rich Costey | ||||
| Muse singles chronology | |||||
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| Alternate cover | |||||
DVD
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| Black Holes and Revelations track listing | |||||
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"Supermassive Black Hole" is a song by English rock band Muse and is the third track on their 2006 album Black Holes and Revelations. The song was also released as the first single from that album on 19 June 2006, accompanied by the B-side "Crying Shame" (see 2006 in British music). The song has been available online since 9 May following a radio premiere the previous day. The single reached #4 in the UK Singles Chart, making it the highest charting single by the band to date. The track was mixed at Townhouse Studios, London. It was released as the third U.S. single on April 23, 2007.
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[edit] Influences
The song showcases the album's experimentation with other genres. "It's the most different to anything we've ever done," Matthew Bellamy told French magazine Rock Mag on 3 March 2006, "We've had some Belgian influences: Millionaire, dEUS, Evil Superstars, Soulwax... These groups were the first to mix R&B rhythms with alternative guitar. We've added a bit of Prince and Kanye West. The drumbeat isn't rocky, with Rage Against the Machine riffs underneath. We’ve mixed a lot of things in this track, with a bit of electronica; it’s different, slow, quite funky."[1]
Speaking about the album with NME, Bellamy said, "I was going out dancing in clubs around New York. That helped create tracks like "Supermassive Black Hole". Franz Ferdinand would have done it very well, with that dance type beat going on mixed with alternative guitar and I've always wanted to find that."[2]
The different style has met mixed reactions, and resulted in numerous comparisons of the main riff to those of Cameo's 1986 single "Word Up!" and Britney Spears' 2004 "Do Somethin'"[citation needed].
[edit] Track listings
- Promo CD PR015888
- "Supermassive Black Hole" - 3:32
- 7" HEL3001, CD HEL3001CD
- "Supermassive Black Hole" - 3:32
- "Crying Shame" - 2:35
- DVD HEL3001DVD
- "Supermassive Black Hole" (video) - 3:32
- "Supermassive Black Hole" (audio) - 3:32
- "Supermassive Black Hole" (making of video) - 12:04
- "Gallery"
[edit] B-side
The single's B-side, "Crying Shame", was first played 19 December 2004 at the Earls Court Exhibition Centre. The key was changed during the 2005 tour, and the studio track omits the riff found in the earlier live version. The lyrics also appear to have changed, and this is the first studio release in which lead singer Matthew Bellamy uses profanity.
Before the release of Supermassive Black Hole, it was widely rumoured that "Crying Shame" would be the first single from the new album. Thus forth, a huge internet uproar. Rolling Stone announced (and many websites carried this message) that it was to be the first single[3] [4], however these stories were soon proven to be false, with a message by Muse declaring "Crying Shame isn't going to be the first single." [5]
[edit] Music video
The single's accompanying promotional video shows the band playing in a small furniture shop, clad in masks. This is intercut with images of dancers in Zentai suits which are then unzipped at the end to reveal beings made of space. The video was shot by Floria Sigismondi, who is also known for directing music videos for bands such as Marilyn Manson, The White Stripes, Interpol, Incubus and The Cure. The concept for the video has been stated by Floria Sigismondi as a replication of a recurring dream she has experienced, in which dancers wearing masks of their own faces or mirrors and full body suits fill a dark mirrored room.[6]
[edit] Remixes and covers
The "Phones Control Voltage mix" of the song was released as the B-side on the vinyl single of Starlight. On the game FIFA 07 there was also an alternative version of the song, which features guitar and vocals slightly different from the original.
The song was covered by English Progressive metal band Threshold on the limited edition digipak of their 2007 album Dead Reckoning.
[edit] Chart performance
The song has been one of their most successful. It gave them their highest singles chart entry, selling 24,104 in its first week (downloads and physical).[citation needed] In total it has sold over 85,000 and was the 84th best selling song of 2006 in the UK.[citation needed]
The song went for adds on US radio at the end of April 2007. Its early supporters were S021 (Sirius Satellite Radio), KITS (San Francisco), and WFNX (Boston).[1]. By mid-May, many stations, including WBTZ (Burlington, Vermont), KJEE (Santa Barbara), S021, and WFNX, were supporting it. The song reached #6 on the US Modern Rock Tracks chart, making it the second highest charting Muse single in the US behind "Starlight". By early June, it was supported by 41 US alternative rock stations and also grew to receive major support from WEQX (Albany, New York) and WHTG-FM (Monmouth/Ocean, New Jersey). By late July, support for the song had spread to 63 US alternative rock stations, with this number rising to 72 by mid-August.[2]
[edit] Uses in Popular Culture
A section of the intro to Supermassive Black Hole is used during parts of the BBC television series The Real Hustle.
The song is also part of a Muse Track Pack as downloadable content for Activision's Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock. The track pack also contains the Black Holes and Revelations track Exo-Politics, and also Stockholm Syndrome from their 2003 album Absolution.
Additionally, the song is featured in an episode of the HBO show, The Sopranos, as a track being played at the Bada Bing! strip club.
[edit] References
- ^ (French) Rock Mag issue 65, 3 March 2006. Cited by Muse : première révélation surprenante !, Chocolate Cake, 4 June 2006
- ^ NME.com (2006). Muse reveal all about new album.
- ^ http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/9264477/from_the_police_to_pearl_jam?rnd=1139582651775&has-player=true&version=6.0.12.1465 Rolling Stone: Muse Break Out the Kleenex (middle of page)
- ^ Drowned in Sound - News - aMUSEing rumours: new LP in May?
- ^ muse : archives | microcuts.net | February 2006
- ^ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xMuHiDLzf3s , http://www.museabuse.com
[edit] External links
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