Muse – Newton Abbot Demo 1996-1997
This is for all the Muse Newbies out there who don’t know that there is a lot more to Muse than the 5 studio albums. Newton Abbot Demo, recorded in the late 1996 – early 1997, is the second earliest Muse demo in existence. Can you imagine that the guys were only 17-18 years old at that time? It was obvious even then that they were meant to go as far as they’ve gone and further. Muse have certainly not reached their full potential yet and it’s a pleasure to watch them grow artistically and musically year after year.
The tracks below were released in the Spring of 2008 after having been remastered by Paul Nicholson. There is a really long story about how this early Muse Demo came to see the light of day, and I am not going to waste your time with it now. Listen to the music instead:
Falling With The Crowd
Agitated
Coma
Balloonatic
Forameus
Boredom
Crazy Days
Sober
Jimmy Cain
Rain
Ashamed
Matt Bellamy Muse Rock for People 2010
July 20, 2010 at 17:06
Newbie here
Gonna listen to these tomorrow at work, thanks so much! I bow to you, oh goddess of Muse knowledge 
July 20, 2010 at 17:15
LOL!
July 20, 2010 at 17:27
Nat,
I’d love to hear or read the story behind this demo… Please!!
July 20, 2010 at 18:52
http://www.musewiki.org/Newton_Abbot_demo_(demo)
and:
http://www.musewiki.org/User:%DB%9E/Muse_Demo_Campaign
There’s more to it, but it’s mainly drama and beef, not something I’d care to repeat here.
July 21, 2010 at 02:18
They’re saying here that they were going to re-sell the tape after ripping it, is it now in possession of FireSka or did they auction it again?
Listening by the way, and indeed, Nirvana O.o
July 21, 2010 at 15:52
It’s been over two years now since all this took place, but I seem to remember that FireSka sold it to a private bidder.
July 20, 2010 at 18:06
these are on my mp3 player
I especially love Rain
July 20, 2010 at 18:54
lol, you are not a newbie! Rain is awesome, I really LOVE early Muse, – it’s insane!
July 20, 2010 at 19:57
I can hear Nirvana influences in a lot of these songs. My favorite is “Coma”:) Matt’s voice has really changed in control and tone since his teens.
July 21, 2010 at 00:10
Yes, the Nirvana influence in these is thick! I’ve heard bits and pieces of these before, but never all at once. Thanks for posting them!
July 21, 2010 at 07:11
I guess I’m not REALLY a newbie either (but newer than some
). I hadn’t gotten around to downloading these from the link you guys had given me. They are great! I’ve always loved Coma, and now I have a few other “favourites”!! As you know, I love early Muse – Showbiz is one of my favourite albums!! Some more great music highly worthy of a road trip!! 
July 21, 2010 at 15:54
Catherine, I have 469 Muse tracks on my mp3 player, we won’t be without music on our trip from MN!
July 21, 2010 at 23:24
July 22, 2010 at 07:44
they were really shite…….thank God they got better!and then they got shite again with the resistance
July 22, 2010 at 11:32
Thank you for teh DL link, it’s a key element in this blog.
And thank you for all te hard work and loads of infoooo!
July 24, 2010 at 07:57
i can’t seem to be able to open the downloaded file
any idea why?
July 24, 2010 at 08:55
Are you on Mac? That service doesn’t seem to be compatible with Macs…
July 24, 2010 at 13:30
It doesn’t work for mac, i downloaded the file, but haven’t been able to open it. It seems that you need to download a program that opens .rar files.
Btw thanks for the links
July 24, 2010 at 13:39
Download and install WinRar: http://download.cnet.com/WinRAR-32-bit/3000-2250_4-10007677.html
Once you’ve done that (the icon for your Newton Abbot Demo downloaded file should now look like a stack of books), right-click on that Newton Abbot Demo file and select ‘Extract To Newton Abbot Demo 1996-1997′. Once it’s done extracting, you will have a new folder titled Newton Abbot Demo 1996-1997, it will look like a regular ordinary folder on your desktop — inside it you’ll find 11 mp3 files, all properly tagged.
July 24, 2010 at 20:19
Thanks!!!
July 25, 2010 at 08:08
Oh yes I am on mac. Thanks so much!