I had some friends that went to a Murder By Death show in Colorado (I think, it was at the same hotel in which Kubrick filmed The Shining). It was a black tie affair and they recreated the final picture after the show.
This verse is All my presents are broken, before they're open And the promises, the second they're spoken I know I've been different My skin keeps shedding My mother was crying on the day of our wedding Trumpets of angels call for my head I fight through the ether and I quit when I'm dead If you want to know who'll be there in the end When you bury me baby, I'll still be your friend
With most of my formative music listening years coinciding with what felt like a particularly significant time in punk and indie music really establishing a hold in the mainstream, I've for the most part always laughed when people got mad at a band for "selling out." Like, if the music's good the music's good and I don't care who's putting money behind promoting it or how a band is somehow lessening themselves by reaching for a more widespread audience. But to anyone wondering why it's cool to hate on Arcade Fire now, this (and the Reflektor rollout/thematic content of that album) are perfect examples. They're basically the opposite of what made them appealing on Funeral. I really can't think of a band that has fared worse at navigating the path from underdog breakout to world fame. It might be that the core of their sound - the grandiosity, the 'this is super important!' lyrics - don't play as well from the main stage as they do when they're coming from a band that still feels like they're trying to prove something... ...or they might just kinda be navel-gazing a-holes.
If anything, I'd argue that this album roll out shows they really don't give a shit who likes them and who doesn't. The Suburbs was a low-key middle finger to the indiesphere
I mean if you sat down with the lyrics to Neon Bible and thought "I wonder what would happen if you gave this band 10 billion dollars" the Reflektor/Everything Now roll outs are pretty easy to imagine.
Yea like a tweet I saw. Arcade Fire are going full Misty. They're trolling everyone, and everyone is taking the bait.
How many music writers on twitter do you think were still mid-meme when the 45 minute news cycle of #DressCodeGate ended?