Hyper Music (song)
| Muse song | |
|---|---|
| Name | Hyper Music |
| Album/single |
|
| Length | 3:20, 3:22 (XX Anniversary RemiXX) |
| Alternative titles | I Don't Love You |
| First live performance | 10th October 2000 (full), 1999 (riff) |
| Latest live performance | 2nd July 2016 |
| Recorded | Real World Studio Wiltshire 2001 |
| Writer/composer | Matthew Bellamy |
| Producer | John Leckie |
| Chart position | 24 |
| Song Nav | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Space Dementia | < | Hyper Music | > | Plug In Baby |
| Album Nav | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Showbiz (1999) | < | Origin of Symmetry (2001) | > | Absolution (2003) |
Description
Has a powering bass line. Quite bitter lyrics for an up-beat, up-tempo song. The riff is similar to Rage Against the Machine's Snakecharmer. There is a slower, more relaxed version of this song called Hyper Chondriac Music.
Matt said in an interview that the song it's about "Wanting to destroy a person you've loved"[1] he also said in another interview: "This one really rocks out, it's really full-on but the lyrics are just plain negative, just pure anger and disregard for affection, the opposite of ‘’Bliss’’. It's actually linked to a book I read called ‘Hyper Space’, which is about how all the laws of nature and physics combine in the 10th Dimension in pure mathematics to form one main theme"[2]
Composition
Hyper Music is a metal/heavy rock song with a moderately fast tempo of 122 bpm. Musically chaotic, the guitar-based intro is built around a dissonant D/F polychord. The verse is outlined by a frantic bassline climbing the D dorian scale, with hints of D harmonic minor.
Bellamy's vocal range spans from G3 to A5. The song contains Matt's highest falsetto note in a studio recording, as well as many A4's in the modal register, which is one of Bellamy's highest notes, making this arguably a very difficult vocal.
Hyper Music (XX Anniversary RemiXX)
On May 19th, 2021, it was announced that Muse will be releasing a remixed and remastered version of Origin of Symmetry, titled "Origin of Symmetry (XX Anniversary RemiXX)". This was released on June 18th, 2021.
The remix is largely the same as the original but with some alterations. One of the most notable is that Matt's falsetto backing vocals have more presence in the mix and the line ("Just to spit it in your face") is clearer and more hard hitting. Matt's background screaming during the outro is also far more audible in the remix compared to the original. The remix also has the guitar being panned to the left and bass to the right, which is the opposite of the original, along with touchups to the guitar, bass and drum tones.
Additional information
Could be about the same person as in Hate This and I'll Love You and Uno. Someone who was associated with the band before they made it, who Matt had reason to dislike. (On a similar theme Sunburn seems to be about a girl who was associated with them, who in contrast Matt regrets having to leave behind, because he sees her as a star).
Other readings of the song's lyrics have developed a hypothesis that this song is of an anti-religious nature. The lyrics could be a narrative from a messianic figure such as Jesus Christ. "Golden lies" could be those of priests, rabbis, etc. who "feed [God's] role" in the world. The lies not being that God/Jesus exists, after all he says "Who's returned from the dead? Who remains?" (somewhat rhetorical questions); the lies are more likely to be that he was here to save mankind, "I don't love you and I never did". The second verse deals with his reason for not wanting us, "You wanted more than I was worth" - a superhuman messiah that has evidently not saved us from our sins; "And you think I was scared" being a reference to Jesus' apparent fear of his upcoming crucifixion, in the Garden of Gethsemane (Mark 14, Luke 22: 43-44); "And you needed proof", something which our modern secular and scientific age begs for and which there is very little in any religion's defence. "Who really cares any more?" - it is over, God does not love us, he does not care, he has forsaken us and hence the suffering we see across the world.
The book Hyper Space by Michio Kaku is a foundation inspiration for the entire album, especially the title and Hyper Music can be seen as a direct reference to that book. The book's various metaphysical discussions about religion lend more weight to the religious reading of the song's lyrics.
Interestingly, a typo/mishearing of the lyrics is printed in the sleeve of Origin of Symmetry. The line, "Your golden lies feed my role," is printed as "Your golden skies feed my role". This is most likely due to early live versions of the song where Matt sings "skies" instead of "lies".
Live
Hyper Music was played mildly often throughout the Showbiz era in the form of a bluesy riff. It is believed this riff, which was played sometimes towards the end of concerts, provided the basis for this song. It was performed for the first time in October 2000 and played rather often from that point on until the end of the year, more often than other new songs from the same time period such as Shrinking Universe and Micro Cuts. The early version of Hyper Music featured notable screaming during the chorus, especially the Channel V performance. Performances of Hyper Music in 2002 saw a somewhat semi-return to the heavier vocal style seen in the early version from 2000, with Matt noticeably belting the chorus out a lot harder then he did with performances in 2001. Since it's return to live shows in 2011, the A4's during the verse are mostly sung in full voice by Bellamy, in contrast to older performances in which he sang this part in falsetto, and Chris sings the chorus instead of Matt. The song was not named until the Origin of Symmetry tour, going under the title "Untitled".
Lyrics
[Guitar Solo Open]
Your golden lies feed my role In this forgotten space race under my control Who’s returned from the dead? Who remains (just to spit it in your face?)
You know that I don’t want you and I never did I don’t want you and I never will
You wanted more than I was worth And you think I was scared, yeah And you needed proof Who really cares anymore? Who restrains (just to spit it in your face?)
You know that I don’t love you and I never did I don’t want you and I never will Waahhh
2000 version
Golden skies feed my role
In this forgotten space race under my control Who returns from the dead? Who remains to spit in your face?
You know that I don't love you and I never did You know that I don't love you and I never will
You wanted more than I was worth You needed time, you needed proof Who really cares anymore? Who remains to spit in your face?
You know that I don't love you and I never did You know that I don't love you and I never will