Muse - Knights Of Cydonia (Video)

NOV 27 2006 · 12:00

Muse - Knights Of Cydonia (Video) (2006) Director: Joseph Kahn Era: Mid-2000s Alternative Rock Video Renaissance (2006) - Peak era of ambitious, cinematic, big-budget music video storytelling; a final flourish before YouTube disrupted the commissioning model. Tier-1 archival artifact representing the apex of the cinematic music video form. A canonical work in both Muse's discography and Joseph Kahn's directorial output, the video functions as a self-contained genre film that rewards close reading on multiple intertextual levels. Its combination of massive cultural impact, documented production history, confirmed directorial provenance, and aesthetic ambition makes it essential for any comprehensive study of 2000s music video culture, British rock visual identity, or the career of one of the medium's most significant directors. Context: Released in 2006 alongside Muse's fourth studio album Black Holes and Revelations, 'Knights of Cydonia' arrived at a cultural moment defined by post-9/11 political anxiety, the global War on Terror, and widespread disillusionment with institutional power, themes the song's anti-authoritarian lyrics directly addressed. The video's schizophrenic genre mashup of spaghetti western, kung fu film, and low-budget sci-fi channelled a generation raised on VHS cult cinema and early internet remix culture. Muse's willingness to release a six-minute track as a US single, audacious by commercial radio standards, was matched by an equally audacious video budget and scope. The production landed at the precise moment when YouTube (founded 2005) was beginning to democratise music video consumption beyond MTV gatekeeping, making the video's viral spread via MySpace and early streaming emblematic of the platform transition era. Director notes: Directed by Joseph Kahn. Shot over five days: three days on location in Romania (on the set remaining from the production of Cold Mountain), one day in London, and one day in Red Rock, California. The video was made available for public viewing on 11 July 2006. Cinematography by Christopher Probst. Produced by Richard Weager under HSI Productions for Warner Bros. Records. The video is structured as a full short film with opening and closing title cards bearing faux Roman-numeral copyright dates (MCMLXXXI / 1981 in the opening; 2081 implied at close). Kahn layered references to spaghetti westerns, low-budget kung fu films, Star Wars, Planet of the Apes, The Matrix, and Sergio Leone's filmography. A director's cut containing an edited sex scene was released separately on Kahn's own website. A promotional competition launched on Muse's MySpace on 16 September 2006 invited fans to identify 15 film references hidden in the video.