Not many things are certain in the world of music but one thing that is certain is that if media outlets ban a song from being played; that song is going to be a hit. The latest casualty of censorship is band Muse and their latest single which is currently being referred to as “Psycho”.

In response to a tweet from a fan, Muse’s frontman Matt Bellamy commented that the single was “Too offensive for radio”, and later hinted that politicians, psychopaths and brainwashing were all connected to the theme of the mysterious new single.

You have to admire Bellamy; he knows exactly what he’s doing. We don’t even officially know the title of the new single but our appetites are already whetted to find out what could possibly be so offensive. It’s the oldest trick in the book and will ensure success for the band’s latest offering.

Other artists have repeatedly used this tactic to boost sales because not being able to hear a song on the radio makes us want to rebel and try even harder to find out what it’s all about. One of the most famous examples of this is the song “Relax” by Frankie Goes to Hollywood. When it was first released, its progress in the charts was slow until the BBC decided to ban it from being played on all of their radio stations. Shortly after that it soared up the charts and became a huge number one hit and something of an embarrassment for the BBC.

It’s human nature; we will always want to “stick it to the man” and actively seek to defy when we are told that something is inappropriate and that we shouldn’t be listening to it.

The same model has been repeated time and again. A more recent example is the musical spat between Eamon and Frankie in the form of the songs “Fuck it (I Don’t Want you Back) and F.U.R.B (Fuck you Right Back). Obviously no radio station was going to play either of these songs due to the rather rude nature of the lyrics but this didn’t stop both songs from hitting number one with Britain’s youth giggling naughtily to themselves as they purchased the CD singles from their local Woolworths.

In short, Muse don’t have anything to worry about when it comes to the performance of their new single. If you ban it, they will come.