Muse is one of the biggest bands in the world today. They're also kind of a joke. A light joke. A ribbing. For a long time, I identified firmly as a Muse fan, then allowed myself to shed that label and to fade, but I was only kidding myself. I was a little embarrassed because this wonderful, innovative, wildly popular band is, in and of itself, excruciatingly embarrassing most of the time.

And that's why I'm here to teach you how to roll with the punches and admit you fucking love Muse. How can you not? They are, for the most part, inoffensive and pleasant young men who make good songs. They might not be "cool" or "indie" or "very good at all some of the time," but they're one of the best bands out there.

Muse... That band from Twilight?

Look, when you're a British brand trying to break into America and a multi-million-dollar franchise asks to clear your music, you say yes.

I remember that one kind of sexy pop-rock song, and the one that sounds like an apocalyptic soccer chant.

Oh yeah, you mean "Supermassive Black Hole" and "Uprising." Those got a lot of radio play.

Those are pretty good, I guess, even if the lyrics are super lame.

Herein lies the secret to Getting the Fuck Over It and Loving Muse™. They are as talented as they are embarrassing. The music fucking rules, but don't look for anything deeper in the songs than basic emotional beats and a general political despair. It's dad rock, but also dads don't like it. Embracing the weird twilight zone Muse operates in, bouncing between both "holy shit" and sometimes just plain "shit," is essential to the overall experience.

Gotta say, it kind of sounds like you hate this band.

I roast because I love. Muse has pulled off some of the greatest mainstream music of the 21st century, and is one of the last great live acts. They also do shit like this, and you just gotta roll your eyes.

How many times have you seen Muse live?

Classified.

So they're good but not good? I know plenty of bands who are just good. Why the fuck should I care?

This is a stadium-rock act made up of three weirdos fronted by a completely harmless conspiracy theorist who believes in aliens and can manipulate a guitar into producing sounds and effects like nothing you've heard before.

Okay, and who's this guy?

I'm talking about one Matt Bellamy, a skinny dude from Devon, England, with a booming voice, a booming-er laugh, and a glass-shattering falsetto. He's the frontman of the band, responsible for the guitar and lead vocals and piano. (Boy, does he rock the piano.) Elsewhere, Dom Howard is on drums, and Chris Wolstenholme is on bass.

Cool name.

Cool name.

Lot of noise for just three guys.

Lot of noise.

So what makes Muse different from other mega-bands like U2 or The Killers?

I'm hesitant to use the word edgy, but they certainly don't have as clean a history, or path to success. The Muse legacy is littered with fucking up and fucking around. From the now-legendary video of Dom making fun of Slipknot so hard that Matt nearly threw up from laughing:

To Muse's persistent penchant for fucking with any TV show host who dares ask them to lip-sync:

Unlike a lot of huge global acts, Muse grew into its hyper-popular current form slowly but steadily. Their first three albums, Showbiz, Origin of Symmetry, and Absolution, built them a devoted fanbase and some modest hits. You most certainly know songs like "Time Is Running Out" and "Hysteria" from Absolution, even if you think you don't. Somewhere around 2006–2007, after the release of their album Black Holes and Revelations, things kicked up a notch and they were catapulted into A-list-band territory. Muse had bona fide, lab-grown hits like "Supermassive Black Hole" and "Starlight," and a certified prestige spaghetti Western banger in "Knights of Cydonia." In July 2007, eight years after they first debuted with Showbiz, they sold out London's new Wembley Stadium, becoming the first band ever to do so.