In Muse’s 2012 album The 2nd Law, the song “The 2nd Law: Isolated System” includes voices in the background. These are a mix of lines specially recorded for the song and clips from real news broadcasts. Together, they make a dark and chaotic feeling.
The main voice — a clear woman’s voice explaining the second law of thermodynamics — belongs to Channel 4 news presenter Katie Razzall. Muse asked her to read a short text that matched the theme of the song. The text explains how in an isolated system, disorder (called “entropy”) can only grow. This idea is also the main theme of the whole album.
In the background, you can also hear other voices. These are real news clips, not made for the song. Fans have found out that these clips were taken from different radio and TV channels, all aired on March 29, 2012, between 6:48 PM and 7:10 PM. The band used them to make the song feel even more chaotic and real.
Some of the topics you can hear in those news clips:
- Crime: A report about gunshots heard at 3 a.m. in a low-income housing area.
- Economy and politics: Rising diesel prices (146.98 pence), struggles in the European Union, and poor families falling behind.
- Protests and activism: Speeches about trying to build a united opposition movement.
- Time pressure: A clip mentioning the phrase “beat the clock,” about working under constant deadlines.
Muse used these mixed voices to show how complex and overwhelming modern life can feel. The song isn’t just music — it’s also a picture of global problems and nonstop information.
Who would’ve thought that a Muse track could actually have subtle ties to physics? Yet, beneath the chaos, the song cleverly incorporates genuine scientific principles—the concept of entropy and the inevitable increase of disorder—blending artistic expression with real-world physics.”
In live shows, the band sometimes replaces these spoken parts with different sound samples. One of the best-known examples is a clip from a BBC documentary about “numbers stations” — mysterious shortwave radio broadcasts used for spying during the Cold War.
