Who Knows Who

Infobox Song
Name = Who Knows Who


Type = Collaboration
Artist = Muse and The Streets
Released = 2 August 2008 (leaked)
Recorded = Start date|2008
Genre = Rap rock, alternative rock, hip hop, UK garage
Length = 3:23
Writer = Mike Skinner, Muse
Producer =
Audio sample? ="Who Knows Who" is a collaboration song by alternative rock band Muse and hip hop act The Streets. Never intended for official release, an early version of the song leaked onto the internet on 2 August 2008.cite web |url=http://muselive.com/forums.php?m=posts&q=33134 |title=Muse And The Streets - Who Knows Who |author=dopemc |date=2008-08-02 |accessdate=2008-08-07 |publisher=Muselive.com ]

History

The first link between Muse and The Streets was created when Muse bassist Christopher Wolstenholme broke his wrist playing football shortly before the 2004 V Festival and had to be replaced by then-Streets bassist Morgan Nicholls, [cite video |people=Cat Deeley (Interviewer), Christopher Wolstenholme (Interviewee), Dominic Howard (Interviewee) |date2=2004-08-21 |title=Muse-Hysteria+Interview w/Morgan Nicholls on bass |url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1EC-nP_ZvKI |publisher=YouTube |accessdate=2008-08-19 ] who still contributes backing vocals, keyboards and synthesizers for Muse's live performances. The two acts first shared a stage at the 2006 Reading and Leeds Festivals on 26 and 27 August, when Muse headlined the main stages. [cite web |url=http://www.readingfestival.com/history/index.aspx |title=Reading Festival History: 2006 |publisher=Reading Festival |accessdate=2008-09-05 Note: User must manually select navigation menu option "2006".] [cite web |url=http://www.leedsfestival.com/history/index.aspx |title=Leeds Festival History: 2006 |publisher=Leeds Festival |accessdate=2008-09-05 Note: User must manually select navigation menu option "2006".] They also both played at the 2007 Big Day Out festival, [cite web |url=http://www.bigdayout.com/history/pastlineups.php#2007 |title=Big Day Out 2007 - Lineup |accessdate=2008-09-05 |publisher=Big Day Out ] before Muse chose The Streets to play at the first of their two popular performances at Wembley Stadium on 16 June 2007. [cite news |url=http://www.nme.com/news/muse/29016 |title=Muse play Wembley Stadium mega gig |date=2007-06-16 |accessdate=2008-09-05 |publisher="NME" ] In 2008, Muse announced that they were planning a collaboration with Mike Skinner with the aim of creating "England's answer to Rage Against the Machine". [cite news |url=http://www.nme.com/news/muse/35892 |title=Muse plan collaboration with The Streets |date=2008-04-14 |accessdate=2008-08-07 |publisher="NME" ] Frontman Matthew Bellamy summed up his ambitions as "London rap-rock, just like a little one off. It might be a laugh!"

The leak

On August 2, a low-posting member by the name of "dopemc" uploaded an mp3 file entitled "Muse And The Streets - Who Knows Who" on the popular fan forum [http://www.muselive.com/ Muselive] . The post understandably garnered much attention, and users' reactions were varied; many people doubted the song's authenticity and/or simply did not like it, though many did. After much debate and discussion among fans, Muse released an official note on their website explaining that "The MP3 floating around on the message boards at the moment is a track we recorded with Mike Skinner a few months ago. The track was the result of a late night jam session and something we did for a bit of a laugh featuring a blues riff we have been playing live recently upon which Skinner recorded some vocals. It is not intended to be a serious release so we are happy for it to be leaked around unofficially. Hope you enjoy, Cheers. Matt, Dom & Chris." [cite news |url=http://muse.mu/index.php?sec=news-381 |title=Muse & The Streets |author=Thomas Kirk |accessdate=2008-08-07 |publisher=Muse ] [cite news |url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2008/aug/05/muse.streets.collaboration.leaked |title=Muse happy with leaked Streets collaboration |author=Sean Michaels |date=2008-08-05 |accessdate=2008-08-07 |publisher=Guardian] The "blues riff" in question is a variation on the main riff of Led Zeppelin's "Heartbreaker".

Skinner has since rubbished the song, saying "We did the track and it felt really genuine, but a bit of a laugh as well. Then the label started getting too excited by it, so I fucked it off. I didn't really think it was that good, anyway." [cite news |url=http://www.nme.com/news/the-streets/39497 |title=Streets and Muse collaboration ditched |date=2008-09-04 |accessdate=2008-09-05 |publisher="NME" ]

Personnel

*Mike Skinner – vocals
*Matthew Bellamy – guitar
*Christopher Wolstenholme – bass
*Dominic Howard – drums

References

External links

* [http://www.muse.mu/ Muse official website]
* [http://www.the-streets.co.uk/ The Streets official website]
* [http://www.muselive.com/ Muselive]