Annotations for Thought Contagion

Lyric: It’s too late for a revolution
Annotation:
There is no stopping it, because it already is happening, and it has been like that for a while.

Lyric: Welcome to the infinite black skies
Annotation:
This line could be interpreted in numerous ways: (1) This could be a reference to  Olber’s paradox which suggests that space cannot simultaneously be infinite and dark. Explicitly, if the universe is infinite, it must also contain infinite stars and thus infinite light which would presumably illuminate the universe, making it bright. Thus, according to this theory, “infinite black skies” is a paradox and an example of thought corruption (doublethink).  (2) The infinite black skies could refer to a mental void, implying that the population is thoughtless and impressionable. (3) This could also refer to nuclear warfare.

Lyric: Oh-woah-oh-woah-oh-oh-oh
Annotation:
The “woah” throughout the song were originally created with a theremin, which is clearly heard in the intro.  Matt Bellamy stated that: It occurred to me that the theremin melody would be a cool, anthemic sort of vocal part, so Chris and I did about ten passes on that to create this sort of crowd effect on the vocal.

Lyric: Thought contagion
 Thought contagion
Annotation:
By the use of the term  contagion the narrator compares thoughts and ideologies to a virus and how it can spread between different organisms. This analogy, according to  Matt Bellamy through an  interview with  Rolling Stone, shows how We’re living in an age where these sort of ideologies, people’s belief systems, whether they are true or false, are getting a lot of air time, especially ones on the false side. […] sometimes in life you will come across situations where someone who is a bit ideological or believes things that are not true in any way will sometimes have more power than you, over you or get more airtime. I think that’s really what the song is about. It’s about how other people’s false belief systems can infect your own and sometimes even affect your feelings. People are usually pursued and moved by ideas that already fit in with their points of view or generate a strong emotion (regardless of whether the idea is correct or not). Muse calls out to the idea that we must not spread these ideas based on false statements regardless of how many people take a part of the following. Ironically, as this song presents an idea, that of not blindly following other’s thoughts, the song as it on itself serves the purpose of thought contagion. This video explains the whole idea of thought contagion:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rE3jRHkqJc&

Lyric: Brace for the final solution
Annotation:
This is a reference to the  Final Solution, which was the Nazi plan for the extermination of the Jews during WWII. In the context of the song, it shows how our independent thoughts are doomed, and one can’t do anything but to brace for their imminent destruction. It leads the listener to believe that other thoughts will eventually consume ours, regardless of their veracity. This is possibly a reference to the rise of the alt-right and neo-nazis.

Lyric: You’ve been bitten by a true believer
 You’ve been bitten by someone who’s hungrier than you
 You’ve been bitten by a true believer
 You’ve been bitten by someone’s false beliefs
Annotation:
As mentioned in Muse’s  interview with  Rolling Stone, this line summarizes what Bellamy is saying with the song: Sometimes in life you will come across situations where someone who believes things that are not true in any way will sometimes have more power than you, over you or get more airtime. I think that’s really what the song is about. It’s about how other people’s false belief systems can infect your own and sometimes even affect your feelings. Being “bitten” by someone’s false beliefs is evidence that they have affected, and this is reflected in the music video, where vampires are literally biting people, turning them into beings like themselves.

