Showbiz was recorded between April 1999 and May 1999. However, the album included some older songs in Muse's repertoire, many of which can date as far back as 1996. Most of the songs on Showbiz had already been written at least by 1997. The songs featured on the album were among the "fifty or so" that Matt Bellamy had written before entering the studio. The band selected the songs which they deemed to be the more conventional and "straight-forward" to make up Showbiz. While the songs contain an eclectic and diverse sound featuring subtle classical, jazz, blues, Latin, and world music influences, they have a distinct and cohesive alternative rock aesthetic. The more experimental material was left out of the album to be included as B-sides in the single releases. A few of those songs were later featured on the compilation album Hullabaloo Soundtrack.

John Leckie, the producer of the album, started attending Muse's concerts in the latter half of 1998. Leckie was based at Sawmills recording studio, where the owner Dennis Smith had given the band free recording time the previous year, from which the Muse EP had resulted in 1998. He built up a relationship with the band during this time, coming to say that he'd "want to work with the band if ever they could afford him". Leckie had not worked with many bands for quite some time prior to doing so with Muse. The recording was finished by 15 May 1999.

The sleeve design was criticised by Muse biographer Ben Myers, who wrote that it was "just plain strange. Ill-advised. Tacky, even" and "recalled the sort of artwork that Eighties prog-rock revivalists like Marillion used or, worse still, the doodlings of a sci-fi obsessed A-Level art student" instead of "the work of an exciting, new, distinctly modern band."^[6]

Showbiz drew mainly positive reviews. Several critics drew comparisons to Radiohead. Leckie, who also produced Radiohead's 1995 album The Bends, dismissed the comparisons, saying: "In the late 90s, any British band that sang passionately and played guitar was going to get compared to Radiohead."^[13] He said he chose to produce Muse after Radiohead because he had "intentionally looked for something different".^[13]

Neva Chonin of Rolling Stone wrote that Showbiz "matches Thom Yorke's penchant for majestic agony – screams and the word self-destruction pepper the title track – but with an edge that's quirkier and decidedly more ragged than their elders".^[10] Brent DiCrescenzo of Pitchfork said in his review that "Muse expertly boil down Radiohead into punkish radio nuggets", but asked: "Despite this promise, where can they go from here?"^[9] In a less favourable review, NME said that "Showbiz is not as clever as they think it is ... 'Unintended' and the title track are overwrought, prone to excruciatingly bad pseudo poetry".^[8] Edna Gundersen of USA Today wrote that the album "offers smart, seductive rock that's sophisticated but not stuffy, fun but not frilly", and that the songs "get a boost from the handsome voice of Matthew Bellamy, who builds tension by vocally snowballing from a hushed intensity to full-throttle wails".^[14]

Notes edit

Additional reading edit

• Beaumont, Mark (2008). Out of This World: The Story of Muse. London: Omnibus Press. ISBN 978-1-84772-377-2.