Welcome back folks to our first entry in the new and improved SOTW. Before we get into things, I'd like to apologise on behalf of the whole crew for not posting last Thursday, for various reasons we were all unable to post. Enjoy!

General Info

Unnatural Selection was the 6th track on Muse's 5th album, The Resistance. The track had a working title of 'Billions of Digits Carved Into Tablets of Crystal', a phrase from Richard Dawkins which Matt Bellamy said asserted the idea that our DNA makes us almost computerised. The song debuted live on the 4th of September, 2009 and was most recently played on the 19th of March, 2015. The song was recorded in 2009, at Studio Bellini by Lake Como. The song beings with a church organ that gives way to a fast guitar riff and heavy drumming. Bellamy said "We just wanted to have at least one song that really is just a riff orientated track. The whole middle section is quite Seventies rock, almost Led Zeppelin-like. That one was a lot of fun." The song is one of their more fast paced pieces. Dominic has described the outro riff as 'clean Iron Maiden' in an interview and Chris declared it the rockiest on the album. The song seems to have taken inspiration from ABBA's Lay all Your Love On Me, Chopin, Mozart and System of a Down. The 5.1 surround sound edition adds a Queen-esque guitar solo at the beginning. The song was played as filler music when Australia covered the 2010/2011 Ashes.

Song Meaning

Chris has stated that he believes the song to be about David Icke's theory that the British Royal Family are descendants of giant lizards. Matt said the song was influenced by 'Black Swan' which has a 'winner takes all' stance, with Matt saying it's basically saying 'if you can't beat them, join them.' He also said the song is about luck, and how stuff such as where you are born impacts your life. Bellamy wrote this after the demonstrations against the Spring 2009 G-20 summit meeting in London during which an innocent bystander died after being pushed by a policeman. The lyrics such as, "I am hungry for an unrest/Let's push this beyond a peaceful protest," highlight the Muse singer's politics, which according to Rolling Stone, can be described as "aggressive scepticism."

Lyrics

They'll laugh as they watch us fall
The lucky don't care at all
No chance for fate
It's unnatural selection
I want the truth!

I'm hungry for some unrest
I wanna push it beyond the peaceful protest
I wanna speak in a language that they will understand

Dedication to a new age
This is the end of destruction and rampage
Another chance to raise and never plead again

Counter balance this commotion
We're not droplets in the ocean
Ocean

They'll laugh as they watch us fall
The lucky don't care at all
No, chance for fate
It's unnatural selection
I want the truth!

No religion or mind virus
Is there a hope that the facts would ever find us
Just make sure that you are looking out for number one

I'm hungry for some unrest
Well let's push it beyond the peaceful protest
I wanna speak in a language that you will understand

Counter balance this commotion
We're not droplets in the ocean
Ocean!

They'll laugh as they watch us crawl
The lucky don't share at all
No hope for fate
It's a random chance selection
I want the truth!

Try to ride out the storm,
I'll still make you believe
They are the special ones
(We have not been chosen)

We trust.
This is enough
You won't be the first
And you know that you won't be the last

Counter balance this commotion,
We're not droplets in the ocean
Ocean, ocean, ocean!

They'll laugh as they watch us fall
And the lucky they don't care at all
No chance for fate,
It's unnatural selection,
I want the truth, I want the truth,
I want the truth! I want the truth!

Live Versions

• Live Debut in Teignmouth, 2009
• Seattle KeyArena, 2010
• Rock Am Ring, 2010
• Personal Fest, 2013
• Recently played live in Belfast, 2015

Cover Versions

• Extended Guitar Cover by Marina Andrienko
• One Man Band Cover by Domstag
• One Girl Band Cover by Lau ft. Kevin Maxton

Statistics

Unnatural Selection has been played live 123 times, firstly in 2009 at The Den, Teignmouth and most recently at the Newport Centre in Wales, in 2015. The song was played 43 times in '09, 63 times in '10, 15 times in '13 and 2 times in '15.

Rate Song

Vote here for how you would rate Unnatural Selection, on a scale of 1-10, with 1 being the worst and 10 the best. Don't forget to comment what you voted in the comments!

Previously...

Here is a link to the introductory post if you're interest.

Next Time...

We are proud too say that /u/firepip has created a cool voting webpage for us! This allows you guys to rank the options for the song we're having next week. Vote for what you want to see next week here! We took the options from the comments section on the last post, so also comment which other songs you'd like to see in the poll next week down below, as well as what you voted for this week!

As always it's amazing to see the discussion on Unnatural Selection, so don't forget to comment what you gave it out of 10 and why. We are also trying to inspire creativity in these SOTW sessions now, so if you have a talent you'd like to share with us, be it music, drawing, writing, etc, then create a work inspired by Unnatural Selection (cover/essay/artwork) and make sure to post it in the comments. We'll be sure to shout them out next week!! We also love to see recommendations on how to improve SOTW in the comments. Special thanks to /u/firepip for the site and /u/quietprotag for suggesting US. Also, if your cover was mentioned in the 'cover versions' section and you'd like us to remove it, please do tell us and we'll be happy too.

Sources:

General Info and Song Meanings from musewiki

General Info and Song Meanings from songfacts

Statistics from setlist