Knights of Cydonia

"Knights of Cydonia" is a song by English alternative rock band Muse and is the closing track on the British release of their 2006 album Black Holes and Revelations. The song's title comes in part from the region of Mars named Cydonia, famous for the "face on mars". The radio edit version was first aired on KROQ-FM radio on 6 June 2006, and released to other radio stations in the United States on 12 June 2006. The song was released as the third single from Black Holes & Revelations in the UK on 27 November 2006, debuting at No 10 in the UK Singles Chart (see 2006 in British music). It also hit the No. 10 spot on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart in the United States, becoming their third top-ten hit on that chart. The song was described by BBC Radio 1 DJ Annie Mac on 27 October 2006 as ‘six minutes and seven seconds of pure genius’. In 2007, Eve of Summer recorded a remix. The song is also featured in the video game Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock. It was also played on NBC during the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing right after Michael Phelps won his eighth gold medal and broke Mark Spitz's record of "number of gold medals won in one Olympics".

The first live performance of "Knights of Cydonia" took place at a BBC Radio 1 event, Radio 1's Big Weekend, held at Camperdown Park in Dundee on 13 May 2006. Also performed at this event were "Supermassive Black Hole" and "Starlight", the first two singles from Black Holes and Revelations. Live performances of "Knights of Cydonia" feature Bellamy's intro falsetto much more loudly and clearly than its studio counterpart, along with Howard's introductory drum pattern being included in the performance. Recent live performances have featured an introduction of Ennio Morricone's "The Man With the Harmonica" from Once Upon a Time in the West where Wolstenholme plays a harmonica piece; other additions include Bellamy playing an extra guitar part during the solo at the end of song, as well as the coda of "Space Dementia" played as a finale.

On 26 January 2008, "Knights of Cydonia" was announced as the number-one song in Australia's 2007 Triple J Hottest 100. The song was also ranked No. 18 in the Triple J Hottest 100 of All Time, 2009. It was also ranked No. 53 on Rhapsody's list of the Top 100 Tracks of the Decade. In October 2011, NME placed it at number 44 on its list "150 Best Tracks of the Past 15 Years".