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Cryptic messages
Many of Muse's albums, most notably Origin of Symmetry, have revolved around strange and often cryptic messages, sent by the band in a variety of ways.
One cryptic clue was discovered in the 1995 film Twelve Monkeys starring Bruce Willis. The protagonist is searching for clues on a wall and discovers the following images [1] & [2]. The same typeface & idea of a squashed face features here on Muse's first EP released in 1998 [3]. This similarity suggests that the artwork for Muse's debut EP was inspired by this film.
While they toured the U.S. in 2005, Muse left a long-running series of cryptic titles in their set lists, as alternate names for their new songs. These cryptic names turned out to be a series of anagrams. The Internet forums flared up, full of fans trying to solve the anagrams and figure out what they pointed towards. Finally, a lucky few fans figured out what they had to do: one of the anagrams ("cold aqua tomato") pointed to an email address (qua@aol.com, which is no longer active), while others gave details of passwords and subject headings. A mere thirteen people worked this out, and received replies from the band that pointed to a prize: a bicycle locked up in the U.S., its location and the combination to unlock it. The bicycle's seat was signed by the members of the band.
Muse created what seemed to be a giant treasure hunt, and in their future set lists more anagrams pointed towards more complicated methods of decryption, including caesar squares and the use of an Enigma M3 simulator. A second wave of fans complied to the demands of the clues, which involved writing the password on their bodies and including a picture in the email, and this time only four people were successful in getting a reply. [5]
More recently Muse posted messages alluding to the progress of the forthcoming album in a very indirect and cryptic way.[6] As details emerge about the record, it has only now become apparent what parts of these messages referred to.
Many of Muse's albums, most notably Origin of Symmetry, have revolved around strange and often cryptic messages, sent by the band in a variety of ways.
One cryptic clue was discovered in the 1995 film Twelve Monkeys starring Bruce Willis. The protagonist is searching for clues on a wall and discovers the following images [1] & [2]. The same typeface & idea of a squashed face features here on Muse's first EP released in 1998 [3]. This similarity suggests that the artwork for Muse's debut EP was inspired by this film.
While they toured the U.S. in 2005, Muse left a long-running series of cryptic titles in their set lists, as alternate names for their new songs. These cryptic names turned out to be a series of anagrams. The Internet forums flared up, full of fans trying to solve the anagrams and figure out what they pointed towards. Finally, a lucky few fans figured out what they had to do: one of the anagrams ("cold aqua tomato") pointed to an email address (qua@aol.com, which is no longer active), while others gave details of passwords and subject headings. A mere thirteen people worked this out, and received replies from the band that pointed to a prize: a bicycle locked up in the U.S., its location and the combination to unlock it. The bicycle's seat was signed by the members of the band.
Muse created what seemed to be a giant treasure hunt, and in their future set lists more anagrams pointed towards more complicated methods of decryption, including caesar squares and the use of an Enigma M3 simulator. A second wave of fans complied to the demands of the clues, which involved writing the password on their bodies and including a picture in the email, and this time only four people were successful in getting a reply. [5]
More recently Muse posted messages alluding to the progress of the forthcoming album in a very indirect and cryptic way.[6] As details emerge about the record, it has only now become apparent what parts of these messages referred to.
