Plug In Baby
by Muse

Album: Origin of Symmetry (2001)
Charted: 11
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • "Plug in Baby" is about evolution in the wake of modern technology. Speaking to Rock Sound in 2001 about the song's meaning, lead singer and guitarist Matt Bellamy said: "There's the good side and the bad side [to technology]; abandoning all individuality, becoming a collective whole via cables, and genetically engineering bodies that can exist out in space, or the loss of individualism."
  • Matt Bellamy used a Hugh Manson custom electric guitar, with a built-in Z Vex Fuzz Factory set for the classical-influenced intro riff. The song helped Bellamy establish himself as one of the most innovative guitarists of his generation.
  • On the show Muse: The Making of Origin of Symmetry, which aired on the UK radio station Xfm, Matthew Bellamy described this song as: "A feeling of not being connected to each other, but we are, and it's a feeling of the mind evolving from the body, but when that happens you just get this yearn to do something physical and feel something sensational."
  • The song began as a piece played during the soundcheck during the band's 1999 tour supporting the Foo Fighters, with the piano intro written later. >>>
    Suggestion credit:
    Zachary - State College, PA
  • This song came top of a 2010 poll compiled by Total Guitar magazine in to find the Best Guitar Riff of the 21st Century. It was followed by Velvet Revolver's Slither in second place and Avenged Sevenfold's Afterlife in third.
  • The song title came from an unlikely place. "We got the name for the song 'Plug in Baby' from an Argos catalogue," Matt Bellamy told Absolute Radio's Dave Berry. "This was back in the late 90's or 2000's. It was like a baby monitor and it was called a 'Plug in Baby'. We saw that, we thought that's a great song name, let's just use that."

Comments: 8

  • Pierce from Wimberley, Txamazing guitar and awesome vocals great song
  • Jeanette from Grong, NorwayMaybe it's about love, and his guitar. It sounds to me that it can be about a girl he loved, but it didn't went out very well, or maybe she didn't think he was good enough with his guitar. Anyway, he found his love in his guitar. That's what I think :)
  • Nady from Adelaide, AustraliaI thought this song was about his guitar???where in the hell does it even mention blowup dolls??thats bullsh*t.
  • Will from Baghdad, Iraqthink about it.... plug in baby.... in unbroken virgin realities.... its about sex, porn, blow up dolls

    think about it
  • Kandice from Corona, Cathe song is about porn, seriously, it is!
  • Laura from Plymouth, United Kingdomwritten about a band members addition 2 his laptop
  • Mark from London, EnglandMatt Bellamy's father, George, played in The Tornados who had a UK and US number one with Telstar.
  • Amy from Adelaide,apparently its either about societys increasing dependance on technology and electronic devices... or as the song fact thing says, his love for his guitar.

    matt = god. or doctor who.
see more comments

Editor's Picks

Creedence Clearwater Revival

Creedence Clearwater RevivalFact or Fiction

Is "Have You Ever Seen the Rain" about Vietnam? Was John Fogerty really born on a Bayou? It's the CCR edition of Fact or Fiction.

JJ Burnel of The Stranglers

JJ Burnel of The StranglersSongwriter Interviews

JJ talks about The Stranglers' signature sound - keyboard and bass - which isn't your typical strain of punk rock.

Sub Pop Founder Bruce Pavitt On How To Create A Music Scene

Sub Pop Founder Bruce Pavitt On How To Create A Music SceneSong Writing

With $50 and a glue stick, Bruce Pavitt created Sub Pop, a fanzine-turned-label that gave the world Nirvana and grunge. He explains how motivated individuals can shift culture.

Famous Singers' First Films

Famous Singers' First FilmsSong Writing

A look at the good (Diana Ross, Eminem), the bad (Madonna, Bob Dylan) and the peculiar (David Bowie, Michael Jackson) film debuts of superstar singers.

Lou Gramm - "Waiting For A Girl Like You"

Lou Gramm - "Waiting For A Girl Like You"They're Playing My Song

Gramm co-wrote this gorgeous ballad and delivered an inspired vocal, but the song was the beginning of the end of his time with Foreigner.

Elton John

Elton JohnFact or Fiction

Does he have beef with Gaga? Is he Sean Lennon's godfather? See if you can tell fact from fiction in the Elton John edition.