It shouldn't be allowed, of course. Counting a debut EP that was so limited edition the band themselves probably don't have a copy, this is the third (third!) time 'Muscle Museum' has been released. If Whitney Houston went about selling records like that, there'd be a public lynching. Still, people have been slow to realise what an important band we have in MUSE - a band who are not even close to fulfilling their true potential - and if it takes 'Muscle Museum' to make them realise, it should be out every second week.

It's also truly the mark of a great song that, after all these releases, 'Muscle Museum' still sounds wondrous. Like (gulp) Radiohead before them, there's a ragged fury to it that can only be refined and turned razor-sharp-dangerous with time.

This single is a good place to begin your love affair with MUSE. It could be the anthem of every struggling band who've ever faced discouragement, a furious, spitting, bitter riposte to those who never want anyone to do anything out of the ordinary. Such anger could never be born from anything but true experience (though singer Matt Bellamy won't explain further), and there's a real vindictive snarl to some lines here: "I have played in every toilet/But you still want to spoil it/To prove I've made a big mistake".
This is revenge in action. A two-fingered salute to everyone who still doesn't believe. An intrinsic promise that MUSE won't stop until they've forced you to understand.

Siobhan Grogan