RM - Further Research into Muse

Throughout Muse's career a number of videos have been created, using Goodwin's Theory of Narrative, Performance and Concept. However most artists tend to use two out of three of these.

"Muscle Museum" Single Cover

An example of a concept music video is "Muscle Museum", directed by Joseph Kahn. "Muscle Museum" was the third single from their debut album "Showbiz" (1999).

The concept idea is quite weird with the video focusing on residents of a suburb whom all start crying when the chorus starts for first time. This video also features a performance aspect.






"Muscle Museum" Music Video:

"Stockholm Syndrome" Single Cover

Muse have released two music videos for “Stockholm Syndrome” one for the UK and one for the US, both of these are performance based.

The UK version features the band playing the instruments whilst being filmed by a thermal camera.

The US version features the band performing live on an American chat show. Throughout the performance the studio the music video is located in turns into chaos with the audience running out, as the vulture flies above them – whom is owned by a guest on the show as well as this a monkey is also involved in the video. Another way the studio is turned into chaos is when the crew, presenters and guests start flying out of the room due to high winds.


Here is the UK music video for "Stockholm Syndrome":




Here is the US music video for "Stockholm Syndrome":

"Knights of Cydonia" Single Cover

An example of a narrative video is "Knights of Cydonia", directed by Joseph Kahn. "Knights of Cydonia" was the third single of their fourth album "Black Holes and Revelations".

“Knights of Cydonia” has been created so it appears to look like a short film which features opening and closing title. The narrative story focuses on the protagonist (“The Man with No Name”) fighting the villain (who is the Sheriff of “Cydonia”) to rescue his love interest (or prize). The location throughout the video is a small town called “Cydonia”, this is anchored at the beginning of the video (at 1:33 to be precise), and the population.

There is also a performance aspect throughout the video.


"Knights of Cydonia" Music Video:

"Neutron Star Collision
(Love Is Forever)" Single Cover

An example of a music video that uses archive material is "Neutron Star Collision (Love is Forever)", in the music video the archive footage used comes from "Eclipse", the third instalment of the popular franchise "Twilight". The music video also features a performance element of the band playing in front of screens showing the film material.

There is also another version of this music video to accompany the single, which contains no film footage at all. However the location remains the same but the screens have just been turned off. Therefore the music video has been transformed into a performance video from an archive material video.


"Neutron Star Collision (Love Is Forever)" Music Video, featuring footage from "Twilight":




"Neutron Star Collision (Love Is Forever)" Music Video, without "Twilight" footage: