Nineteen Eighty-Four

Nineteen Eighty-Four (sometimes written as 1984) is a classic dystopian novel by English author George Orwell. Published in 1949, it is set in the eponymous year and focuses on a repressive, totalitarian regime, lead by the dictational leader "Big Brother". The story follows the life of one seemingly insignificant man, Winston Smith, a civil servant assigned the task of perpetuating the regime's propaganda by falsifying records and political literature. Smith grows disillusioned with his meager existence and secretly dreams of rebellion, and begins a relationship with his colleague Julia. The two make contact with the Brotherhood - a mysterious resistace group - but the two are eventually captured and tortured by the party.

The novel has become famous for its portrayal of pervasive government surveillance and control, and government's increasing encroachment on the rights of the individual. Since its publication, many of its terms and concepts, such as "Big Brother", "doublethink", "newspeak", "2+2=5", "Room 101", and "Thought Police", have entered the popular vernacular. The word "Orwellian" itself has come to refer to anything reminiscent of the book's fictional regime.

Muse and Nineteen Eighty-Four

Matt Bellamy has stated on many occasions that Nineteen Eighty-Four is one of his favourite books and has been the source of inspriation for many Muse songs. Most notably, numerous songs on The Resistance were inspired by the book. For instance, United States of Eurasia (which was additionally inspred by The Grand Chessboard: American Primacy And Its Geostrategic Imperatives by Zbigniew Brzeziński), makes reference to the state of Eurasia and a perpetual and meaningless war from the book, and Uprising reflects Winston's desire for rebellion and hatred of the party. Resistance was also heavily inspired by the book, with the song more or less acting as a direct retelling of the relationship between Winston and Julia (made more obvious by the name dropping of "thought police" in its lyrics).

In 2024, Matt collaborated with composer Ilan Eshkeri to create the score for the Amazon Audable audiobook adaptation of Nineteen Eighty-Four. The score includes reworkings of both Uprising and Resistance.