10 Rare Muse Songs You've Probably Never Heard

Muse have been one of those rare rock bands that have actually been able to maintain a firm hold on the mainstream. Despite most of rock and roll being all but dead on the charts, this power trio moved past any of their Radiohead plagiarisms and came out on the other side as one of the greatest stadium rock acts of the past century. However, when you reach the top thanks to only a handful of songs, it doesn't really tell the full story.

From one album to the next, there have been some amazing Muse cuts that always seem to fall under the radar for most fans. While it's easy to just digest the albums in full, there are even some choice cuts that are reserved for B-sides, one-off singles, and even the occasional goof for good measure. That's not even mentioning the live show, where they have been known to stretch out songs to include different bits and pieces of rock from days gone by.

To put it in perspective, even their cover songs sound amazing, with every other rendition sounding like they fully inhabited their favorite artists and are spitting the music back out in their unique Muse way. As opposed to another chant-along chorus or prog rock epic, this is where the riffs start to get a bit more interesting.

Muse have always had a bit of their sound trailing into other styles of music. From the classical ambitions that arrive in Matt Bellamy's delivery to the raw metal riffs from Chris Wolstenholme, the story of Muse is far from being that of a one trick pony. Before they were accepted into the big leagues though, their cover of House of the Rising Sun helped set everything in motion.

Granted, it's not necessarily a new idea to cover this traditional tune, with everyone from Bob Dylan to the Animals finding their way to it back in the '60s. However, the real devil is in the delivery on this one, as Bellamy blows up these traditional chords into something else entirely. While the best-known version by the Animals felt like it was going in a darker direction, the way that Muse take this to another plain truly feels like the end of the Earth as we know it.

Even though this kind of thing could just be considered a one-off, the fact that it arrives ever so rarely in the group's setlist to this day shows the real power that they actually put behind this thing. House of the Rising Sun isn't a song many rockers need to familiarize themselves with, but maybe you need Muse to help you realize how awesome it was to begin with.