Some Duran Duran covers come in with a wrecking ball. Others arrive with reverence, like they’ve booked a guided tour of the original. The latter is Muse doing Hungry Like the Wolf.
The original, released in 1982 by Duran Duran on Rio, is basically a legend. Duranies would argue it’s our Stairway to Heaven… leave it alone, it’s just fine the way it is. Perhaps that’s why Muse decided to keep their cover fairly close to the original. They understood the assignment.
Their version doesn’t really deconstruct anything. It’s not a cover that’s trying to reinvent the wheel.
Muse’s Matt Bellamy and Nick at the 10th anniversary party for Love Magazine in London, 2018.
Muse Uprising
Formed in Devon in the mid-1990s, Muse consists of Matt Bellamy (vocals, guitar, keys), Chris Wolstenholme (bass, backing vocals), and Dominic Howard (drums). Over the years they’ve built a catalogue that swings from alt-rock to full orchestral-scale drama, with tracks like Plug In Baby, Time Is Running Out, Starlight, and Uprising turning them into one of those bands that can comfortably go from radio staples to arena-sized existential crisis in about three minutes.
In interviews, Muse have often been pretty open about their broad influences. Bellamy has talked about growing up on a mix of rock theatrics and pop precision, where bands like Duran Duran weren’t “guilty pleasures,” just part of a world where hooks were engineered to hit immediately and unapologetically. That mindset shows here: respect the architecture.
