English, baby!

Muse

Date: Mar 29 2010

Themes: Alternative, Music

Grammar: Past Perfect Tense

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Intro

1. Learn Vocabulary - Learn some new vocabulary before you start the lesson.

Go Super to Listen

2. Read and Prepare - Read the introduction and prepare to hear the audio.

Go Super to Listen

Suddenly, your radio is taken over by an alien transmission. You hear strange beeping sounds and then the words, “They will not control us. We will be victorious.”

No, it’s not a message from outer space. It’s a British trio, Muse. This band has been popular in the UK for a long time, but their new song, “Uprising,” has an inspirational quality that is getting it played at sporting events, on TV and the radio, even if it’s a little weird.

Beren thinks Muse’s brand of weirdness is nothing new, just something new to the mainstream. Listen to her discuss it with Jason.

Dialog

1. Listen and Read - Listen to the audio and read the dialog at the same time.

2. Study - Read the dialog again to see how the vocab words are used.

Jason

Beren

Jason: You know what song I’ve been hearing just over and over and over on the radio?

Beren: What song?

Jason: “Uprising” by Muse.

Beren: Yeah, man. It’s all over. I’m surprised. I remember when nobody knew who they were, like a year ago, even.

Jason: I know. And now it’s, like, everywhere, you know. And it’s kind of unusual, quirkystuff to be that mainstream.

Beren: Like the weird proggy, synth-heavy sound that you just don’t hear anymore. It’s like total throwback music I think to like ‘70s prog or late ‘60s.

Jason: It sounds kind of scary to me almost. It’s like a sci-fi movie or something like that.

Beren: Totally. And so, I remember when their first album came out I think in ‘99 and you couldn’t get it in the US.

Jason: Really?

Beren: It was an import only and it’s awesome.

Jason: How did you know about them in ‘99?

Beren: Um, that album came out in ‘99 and I was actually overseas in 2000 and that’s when I found out about them. I didn’t know who it was because it sounded old. I thought it was some old band I had never heard of. At that time…

Jason: How do you think they did it? How did they get to be so popular, going from a pretty localized band in the UK to being worldwide?

Beren: They stuck with it for 10 years. I don’t know another explanation. It doesn’t really make sense. And I think honestly I like their older stuff a little better.

Jason: Oh do you?

Beren: Yeah.

Jason: Oh, I’ll have to check it out. Does it have a lot of the classical influences and stuff that their new…

Beren: Not classical, like symphonic influences, more like classic Brittish, straight up rock and roll.

Jason: So more classic influences than classical.

Beren: Exactly.

Grammar Point

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Quizzes

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Lesson MP3

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Discussion

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Jason has been hearing the song “Uprising” by Muse on the radio a lot. He likes it because it sounds weird to him, like something out of a sci-fi movie. The song is so unusual that he’s surprised how popular it is.

Beren is surprised too. She remembers when she first learned about the British trio in England in 2000. You couldn’t even buy their albums in the US at the time. She liked what she heard, though. The music reminded her of prog rock from ‘70s.

Since one of the main instruments Muse uses is a synthesizer, or a keyboard, some parts of their songs sound a bit like classical music. But Beren says their old songs sound more like classic rock bands such as Rush than classical music like Beethoven.

Have you heard “Uprising” on the radio yet? Which do you prefer, classical music or classic rock?