Their second album, Origin of Symmetry (2001), incorporated wider instrumentation and romantic classical influences and earned them a reputation for energetic live performances.

The Resistance (2009) and The 2nd Law (2012) explored themes of government oppression and civil uprising and cemented Muse as one of the world's major stadium acts.

He had seen the three boys grow up as he knew their parents, and had a production company with their future manager Safta Jaffery, with whom he had recently started the record label Taste Media.

[10] The meeting led to their first serious recordings and the release of the Muse EP on 11 May 1998 on Sawmills' in-house Dangerous label, produced by Paul Reeve.

It reached number 3 in the indie singles chart and attracted the attention of the radio broadcaster Steve Lamacq and the magazine NME.

[13] Upon their return to England, Taste Media arranged deals for Muse with various record labels in Europe and Australia, allowing them control over their career in individual countries.

[15] During the production of their second album, Origin of Symmetry (2001), Muse experimented with instrumentation such as a church organ, Mellotron, animal bones, and an expanded drum kit.

NME gave it 9/10 and wrote: "It's amazing for such a young band to load up with a heritage that includes the darker visions of Cobain and Kafka, Mahler and the Tiger Lillies, Cronenberg and Schoenberg, and make a sexy, populist album.

A double album, Hullabaloo Soundtrack, was released at the same time, containing a compilation of B-sides and a disc of recordings of songs from the Le Zenith performances.

[28] Muse undertook a year-long international tour in support of the album, visiting Australia, New Zealand, the United States, Canada, and France.

[36] In 2003, the band successfully sued Nestlé for using their cover "Feeling Good" for a Nescafé advertisement without permission and donated the money won from the lawsuit to Oxfam.

[54] The tour continued across Europe in July 2007 before returning to the US in August, where Muse played to a sold-out crowd at Madison Square Garden, New York City.

[55][56] They headlined the second night of the Austin City Limits Music Festival on 15 September, and performed at the October Vegoose in Las Vegas with bands including Rage Against the Machine, Daft Punk and Queens of the Stone Age.

[55] Muse continued touring in Eastern Europe, Russia, Scandinavia, Australia, and New Zealand in 2007[50] before going to South Africa, Portugal, Mexico, Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Brazil, Ireland, and the UK in 2008.

[58] Muse performed at Rock in Rio Lisboa on 6 June 2008, alongside bands including Kaiser Chiefs, the Offspring and Linkin Park.

[62][63] During the recording of Muse's fifth studio album, The Resistance, Wolstenholme checked into rehab to deal with his alcoholism, which was threatening the band's future.

[69] The Resistance beat its predecessor Black Holes and Revelations in album sales in its debut week in the UK with approximately 148,000 copies sold.

[78] Muse provided the lead single for the film The Twilight Saga: Eclipse, "Neutron Star Collision (Love Is Forever)", released on 17 May 2010.

After U2 canceled their headline slot following their singer Bono's back injury, their guitarist, the Edge, joined Muse to play the U2 track "Where the Streets Have No Name".

[80] For their live performances, Muse received the O2 Silver Clef Award in London on 2 July 2010,[81] presented by Roger Taylor and Brian May of Queen.

[91] In an April 2012 interview, Bellamy said Muse's next album would include influences from acts such as French house duo Justice and UK electronic rock group Does It Offend You, Yeah?.

[106][107] After self-producing their previous two albums, the band hired producer Robert John "Mutt" Lange so they could focus on performance and spend less time mixing and reviewing takes.

The following day, they released a lyric video for "Psycho" on their YouTube channel,[110] and made the song available for instant download with the album pre-order.

[139][140] A film based on the album and tour, Muse – Simulation Theory, combining concert footage and narrative scenes, was released in August 2020.

[144][145] On 9 March, Muse posted a 35-second clip across various social media platforms depicting large busts of the band members being torn down.

[22] In 2006, Pitchfork described Muse's music as "firmly ol' skool at heart: proggy hard rock that forgoes any pretensions to restraint ... their songs use full-stacked guitars and thunderous drums to evoke God's footsteps".

Bellamy's compositions often suggest or quote late classical and romantic era composers such as Sergei Rachmaninov (in "Space Dementia" and "Butterflies and Hurricanes"), Camille Saint-Saëns (in "I Belong to You (+Mon Cœur S'ouvre a ta Voix)") and Frédéric Chopin (in "United States of Eurasia").

[186] As a guitarist, Bellamy often uses arpeggiator and pitch-shift effects to create a more "electronic" sound, citing Jimi Hendrix and Tom Morello as influences.

[190] Most earlier Muse songs lyrically dealt with introspective themes, including relationships, social alienation, and difficulties they had encountered while trying to establish themselves in their hometown.

[citation needed] Books that have influenced Muse's lyrics include Nineteen Eighty-Four,[191] Confessions of an Economic Hitman by John Perkins,[192] Hyperspace by Michio Kaku,[193] The 12th Planet by Zecharia Sitchin,[194] Rule by Secrecy by Jim Marrs[195] and Trance Formation of America by Cathy O'Brien.