“Hysteria” by Muse

"Hysteria" is the third single from Absolution, Muse's 2003 album, and it runs on a bass line that sounds like it's trying to tear its way out of the speakers. Christopher Wolstenholme's distorted bass is the engine, and it's so relentless that MusicRadar readers and Guitar World both voted it among the greatest bass lines of all time.

Matt Bellamy sings lead and plays guitar and keyboard, pushing his voice into the red as the song wrestles with an obsession that eats you alive, while Dominic Howard's drums and percussion drive the whole thing at a gallop. The three members share the composing credit, and Bellamy wrote the words. Muse produced it with Rich Costey, who also engineered it with Wally Gagel and did the mix. It's operatic and paranoid and heavy all at once, the band sounding like they're sprinting away from something.

It came out on 1 December 2003, following "Time Is Running Out", and it reached number 17 in the UK and number nine on the US Modern Rock Tracks chart.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.