‘Drones’ by Muse- Review- Is Anybody Listening?

Released: 5th June 2015

Official Site:
http://muse.mu/home.htm


Our freedom’s just a loan
Run by machines and drones
They’ve got us locked into their sights
Soon they’ll control what’s left inside

Don’t try to hide it, don’t tell me it’s not there

You’ve got strength
You’ve got soul
You’ve felt pain
You’ve felt love
You can grow (you can grow)
You can grow (you can grow)
You can make this world what you want
You can revolt
You can revolt
You can revolt.’ (Revolt)


Matt Bellamy is being very direct in what he is saying here. I don't need to interpret it. I don't need to spin it. I don't need to analyse it. Just read the lyrics.

Go to YouTube, find the song, and check out the comments. What are the Muse fans saying about it? Here are some random examples:

‘F****** awesome. Full of energy and spirit, got a real nice queen vibe. All the hipsters/haters can fuck off back down their mum’s basement.’

‘I'm having nightmares about Matt chasing me while singing this silly chorus D:’

‘I looooove this song!!  But I need help, there's a part in the chorus that reminds me of and very famous old song (like in the 60s or something), but I cannot remember which one! Has anyone any idea? It's the part when he says "You can grow (you can grow!), You can grow (you can grow!) at 1:13 thanks!’

Take this one song, the message, and then the entire ‘Drones’ album as a whole, and Muse fans reaction to it, and it’s pretty much the same. They go straight into fanboy/girl mode, defending the songs, attacking ‘haters’ and then detailing why the song is good because it reminds them of something else that is also good.

That’s okay. I agree with them, the songs are good, and they remind me of other good songs too.

BUT WHAT ABOUT THE THINGS HE IS ACTUALLY SINGING ABOUT????

There’s no discussion going on about that, and when it is brought up, it’s dismissed like his actual words and thoughts are completely irrelevant, even though these people are supposed to be passionate, loyal fans of his band.

So why aren’t the fans discussing what their favourite band are actually singing about?

Before I give my opinions on that, here’s a quick break-down of some of the best songs on the album, and what they are actually about.

1- Dead Inside- A good guy is turned into a selfish, cold-hearted person through his contact with a person who is ‘dead inside.’ At the end of the song the protagonist is ready to serve the system of human enslavement, death and war. He is ready to become a drone pilot.

2- Psycho- About the army indoctrination cult training process that prepares soldiers for mass slaughter and obeying orders (Nazi style).

3- Mercy- The song’s protagonist looks for forgiveness, explaining that he was trying to infiltrate the system, to change it from the inside, but has seen that this is impossible. He now wants out of it, and forgiveness for what he has done whilst serving the system.

4- Defector- The song’s protagonist loudly declares that he is a free man, unable to be brainwashed and manipulated by the anti-human control system, or ‘society’ as a whole.

Meaty stuff, don’t you think? So, again, what do the fans make of it? Go again to YouTube, pick any video and tell me what you are reading. I’ll do it now. I’ll pick one song at random, and type out the first comment that I see. Here we go:

Psycho (first comment, 24 likes):

I love the music...
Matt says: I gonna break you. 
Lol.... 
He is intense... 


So, why no discussion? Why aren’t the fans discussing the song lyrics, at all? Their hero is belting out his heart and soul, and telling them what is happening in the world NOW, and their reaction is largely banality and LOL jokes. What is going on here?

Here’s my opinion:

Muse fans are not stupid. They love the band, but they are mainstream people. They watch television, they vote, they go to school and college, they work, they have children, they like cool music, they want to rock out to a catchy tune.

In other words, they are normal, everyday people. They are not rebellious, and they don’t want to think about horrible things that are happening in the world around them. They are stuck in ‘little-me’ mode. They want a good job, friends, relationships and to be happy, and if they have to become a Drone pilot to do this, then that’s just fine, they’ll do it.

They’ll pay their taxes, support the latest wars and believe what their betters tell them to believe. They love Muse, but they are just a band, nothing more than that. They are entertainment, you don’t have to listen to what he is saying, just enjoy the cool tunes, high notes and guitar parts.

This is the attitude not just of a Muse fan, but of an indoctrinated mainstream media programmed slave, a person that will not rebel, not because s/he is stupid, but because s/he has chosen to live a life of DELIBERATE IGNORANCE. It’s a choice to accept slavery and to try to make the best of it. It’s a choice to not care about anybody in the world beside themselves, their families and any friends that they are particularly fond of this week. It’s the mindset pushed by the corporate whore mainstream media, pushed because it maintains the status quo, pushed because it turns people into mindless animals, easily controlled, and easily culled when the time comes.

‘Drones’ by Muse, is an anti New World order/globalist/neo-liberal/corporate hegemony concept album. I was always going to appreciate the lyrics, but there’s passion, defiance, fight, emotion and a lot of really good tunes in there as well. The album, tells a story, even though Muse fans are unwilling or unable to hear it at the moment, so to get the best out of it, put on your headphones and listen to the entire thing from beginning to end. This is how you will get the most out of it, and that’s what Muse fans should do as well.

Your rock God hero is trying to tell you something about truth, morality, the human experience and the world as it is today. He is telling you that all of that wacky ‘conspiracy’ stuff is real, and that you are a part of it, and that you help it move along with your quiet acquiescence and feelings of weakness and learnt helplessness. He’s telling you to wake up, telling you that you are stronger than you think, telling you to fight against the new world order beast, but only by recognising that it exists at all will the true fight begin. That’s where most Muse fans are right now. They don’t want to look under their own beds, because they fear what they WILL find there. Matt is yelling, but how many people really want to hear what he is so loudly, passionately, eloquently and beautifully saying?


Rating: 10/10 (Are you turning into a human drone?)

Comic review: Green Lantern Corps #38- Chairman Mao would love this one

Writer: Van Jensen
Artist: Bernard Chang
Publisher: DC Comics
Released: 14th January 2015


Green Lantern Corps #38 is introducing a new story arc, so there are a couple of questions bubbling underneath the simplistic surface narrative. It’s trying to intrigue you, trying to get you hooked. But for me the most important thing about the book is that the structural framing to the narrative is full of the usual assumptions that you get in a mainstream corporate/globalist comic book today.

Flying around the galaxy to help poor victim-suspect-civilians.

It’s the same old things, the same old nonsense that I moan about all of the time here on my blog, so I’ll keep this review short. Frankly, it deserves neither my time, nor yours.

Okay, the structural framing devices. It’s your standard Police state assumptions.

The book starts with some army cult drilling, repeat slogan, repeat that you are the good guy, now go out into the world and Police it for the good old neo-liberal value systems that we all adhere to. Protect the poor innocent civilians. Centralised governmental systems are there to help you. Lawbreakers are bad. Drugs are bad (but only the illegal ones), now let’s fly around the universe to protect people.

No thinking is allowed, no agendas are involved. It’s all about the rule of law. Who is making the law? It doesn’t matter, just follow your orders and uphold arbitrary laws that you don’t need to morally inspect for yourselves to have true, individual moral responsibility for your actions. Put on your uniform, and get to work.

All of the good guy characters in this book are order following soldiers/police. A female order follower just wants to protect her children. Not from government, of course. Government is good. She’s going to protect the children (public) from drug dealers. Isn’t she a good person? Errr no, she’s an order follower. But weren’t the Nazi’s good order followers as well? Yes, they were, but don’t mention that, and so the wheels of the comic book ignorance machine continues to turn and the global Police state is welcomed with opened arms.

Do you see how it works? Is writer Van Jensen a secret member of the illuminati then? No, he is not. He’s just a jobbing writer, more interested in the story than his themes, and if he continues to produce Police state supporting work like this he’ll continue to be employed in mainstream comic books. That’s how it works. No conspiracy, just a career, and an exciting narrative where the police state agents help the poor innocent intergalactic civilians who cannot help themselves.

Agent of the state John Stewart gets his orders from the communist elite

No more Green Lantern Corps books for this reader. I’ve already wasted far too much of my time on this. I don’t hate the book, and I’m sure that Van Jensen will assemble an exciting narrative journey as the story progresses, but I don’t need to read further confirmation of statist assumptions that you get in the mainstream corporate whore media.

I don’t care if the story is exciting, or whether or not the characters have interesting or difficult times. A book that frames itself around unquestioning support for statism and the Police state has nothing to offer for somebody like myself.

Let me make this clear. Green Lantern Corps #38 is not a bad comic, the art is functional, and the structure of the story is well thought out, giving the reader a delicious hint at the close of the book that things might not be what they seem on the surface. That’s good story-telling, but I don’t want to read about agents of the Police state, so sorry, it’s not for me.

Hand it out to young police or army cadets. This book is for them. It will feed into their delusions of heroism, and make them eager to put on the uniform and get out there and start obeying some orders and protecting the poor innocent victim/civilian-suspects who cannot help themselves. That’s it, no more words. If you like centralised control systems with order following agents unquestioningly serving their masters then get the book, if you don’t like that Chairman Mao, communist world-view, then don’t.

Rating: 3/10 (must-read book for fans of centralised control systems)