Muse are an English rock band formed in Teignmouth, Devon in 1994, when Matthew Bellamy successfully auditioned for the role of vocalist and guitarist in Dominic Howard's band. They asked Chris Wolstenholme, who played drums at the time, to learn to play bass guitar for the band - Chris agreed and took up lessons. Under the name Rocket Baby Dolls and with a gothic/glam image, the group won a local battle of the bands contest, trashing their equipment in the process. "It was supposed to be a protest, a statement" remembers Bellamy "so, when we actually won, it was a real shock. A massive shock. After that, we started taking ourselves seriously." Shortly after the contest, the trio decided to forego university, quit their jobs and changed the band name to Muse. Eventually, the band met with Dennis Smith, the owner of Sawmills Studio, situated in a converted water mill in Cornwall, and it was this meeting that led to their first proper recordings and the release of an EP on Sawmills' in-house Dangerous label, with a front cover designed by drummer Howard. Second EP “Muscle Museum” reached number 3 on the indie singles chart, and Dennis Smith subsequently co-founded the music production company Taste Media with Safta Jaffery especially for Muse. Despite the success of their second EP, UK record companies weren’t keen, however US record labels flew Muse out to play showcase US concerts, and after a trip to New York's CMJ festival, they signed a deal with Maverick Records in December 1998. Upon returning from the US, John Leckie (Radiohead, Stone Roses, The Verve) was enlisted to produce the band's debut, “Showbiz”, and its 1999 release was followed by tour support slots for ”Red Hot Chili Peppers” and Foo Fighters in the US.

Second album, “Origin of Symmetry”, released in 2001, caused a bit of controversy as Maverick had reservations about Bellamy's vocal style on the album, considering it not to be ‘radio-friendly’, and asked Muse to change some of their songs prior to US release. The band refused and left Maverick, resulting in Maverick's decision not to release “Origin of Symmetry” in the US (the album was finally released in the US in September 2005 after Muse signed to Warner). The band also decided to release a live DVD, “Hullabaloo”, featuring live footage recorded during their 2 gigs on consecutive nights at Le Zenith in Paris in 2001 and a documentary film of the band on tour, and a live CD, “Hullabaloo Soundtrack”, a double album containing a compilation of B-sides and some recordings of songs from the Le Zenith performances (the song "Shrinking Universe" ws used in trailers for the 2007 film 28 Weeks Later”).

2003 saw ”Absolution” released, produced by Rich Costey (Phillip Glass, Fiona Apple). The album helped the band to win “Best Alternative Act” at the MTV Europe awards, and “Best Live Act” at both the Q Awards and the 2005 BRIT Awards. Other releases around this time included Vitamin Records releasing “The String Quartet Tribute to Muse” by The Tallywood Strings, an album of instrumental string versions of some of Muse’s songs, and a DVD, “Absolution Tour”, containing re-edited and re-mastered highlights from the band’s performance at the 2004 Glastonbury Festival, and previously unseen footage from London Earls Court, Wembley Arena, and the Wiltern Theatre in L.A. (2 songs, "Endlessly" and "Thoughts Of A Dying Atheist" are hidden tracks on the DVD taken from Wembley Arena). The only song from ”Absolution” not to appear on the live DVD is "Falling Away With You", which has never been performed live to date. ”Absolution” eventually went Gold in the US.

Fourth album co-produced by the band and Rich Costeym, was relerased in July 2006, entitled “Black Holes & Revelations”. It charted at number 1 in the UK, much of Europe, and Australia, and achieved number 9 on the Billboard 200. It was nominated for the 2006 Mercury Music Prize (losing out to Arctic Monkeys) and earnt a Platinum Europe Award after selling 1 million copies in the continent. Muse played 2 gigs at the newly rebuilt Wembley Stadium in June 2007, and these were recorded for a DVD/CD release titled “HAARP” (referring to the High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program – a scientific research program aimed at studying the properties and behaviour of the ionosphere), released in March 2008.

In September 2007, the band received an Honorary Doctorate of Arts each from the University of Plymouth for being recognised as "not only one of the most exciting live bands in the world, but also a band which pushes musical boundaries".