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Muse’s Crowd-Sourced ‘Animals’ Video Occupies Greed-Ensnarled Dystopia

Muse, 'Animals,' video

It’s that time of year, when we discover the obvious inspiration behind Muse’s dubstep-pop “Madness” courtesy of a million NCAA tournament TV promos. As it happens, the ambitious U.K. arena rockers have also shared a new video for another track from 2012’s The 2nd Law, “Animals.” This one’s descending alt-pomp gloom constantly leaves the feeling singer Matthew Bellamy is about to break out in the part of “Paranoid Android” that goes “YOU DON’T REMEMBER, YOU DON’T REMEMBER, WHY DON’T YOU REMEMBER MY NAME” — except the filigreed guitar here is far more baroque, in a powdered-wigs sense, than anything from Radiohead. The eerie, animated video, the winner of a competition via Genero.tv, plays like a commentary on the European debt crisis, as suit- and tie-wearing beasts descend ravenously on the masses and then each other. “KIll yourself / Come on and do us all a favor,” a hall of Bellamys wails at a climactic moment. The words echo, of all things, Alabama rapper Yelawolf’s “Rack City” freestyle. Do ya think Glenn Beck is down with “Mistadobalina”?