60: Muse - Knights Of Cydonia

When Matt Bellamy, Chris Wolstenholme and Dominic Howard emerged on a platform in the middle of Wembley Stadium in June 2007, walked along a gantry to the stage, and burst into the opening chords of 'Knights of Cydonia', that song's importance in the canon of Muse's discography became immediately apparent. It's their call to arms, uniting the brotherhood of Muse fans in a whirlwind of screaming vocals, feedback-heavy slide guitars, and military drum rolls.

The final track off of 'Black Holes And Revelations' reached #10 in the singles charts in December 2006. Matt Bellamy has explained that the song's meaning is to teach people to stand up for themselves and make their own destiny. This is most apparent as the song reaches its peak, with Bellamy singing "no one's gonna take me alive, the time has come to make things right, you and I must fight for our rights, you and I must fight to survive". It's fairly inspirational stuff.

The splendid album cover also links to the track. The four men pictured are the Knights, four guys who each represent a part of the apocalypse, each wearing a suit which represents an ailment of humanity. Cydonia is a region of Mars where some believe life has existed. These themes of apocalypse, the human condition and the possibility of alien life are central to the Muse ethos, and nowhere are they more strongly verbalised than in 'Knights of Cydonia', arguably their finest hour.