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40 minutes ago, Florian Saucer Attack said:

Yeah I know.

I was just calling Arcade Fire a Canadian based band because three of them aren't actually from Canada 

They're a Canadian band but not a Canadian-based band.

Win and Will are Texans but the rest of the band are Canadian, the band formed and started out in Canada and then Win became a Canadian citizen too.

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2 hours ago, dentalplan said:

Ehh. I think that's like the shouts for The Cure headlining the Other Stage. The appreciation for their live show means they should always have enough of a cult following to see them comfortably headline festivals - don't really need a Glastonbury slot.

A hunch but I can see them packing it in in the next five years and growing in significance while they're no longer active, leading to a huge reunion down the line.

I think the cure are way bigger though and have been bigger for a long time. I don’t think AF have graduated into a legacy status where they can take a long time off and come back where they were.

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Funeral is in my all time top 5 albums.

Neon Bible and Suburbs are both ace, next two… less so.

Theyre still a fantastic live band though, and personally I don’t care if they’re no longer “headliner status”. I’m just glad they did it.

Would love to see them come back with an album close to the standard of their early stuff.

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I think Reflektor is just as good as Neon Bible, and Disc 2 of Reflektor is just as good as The Suburbs. The flow and consistency of Disc 2 is great and I just wish they'd kept that style for Disc 1. The run of Porno - Afterlife - Supersymettry is amazing, and obviously the title track is fantastic.

My ranking is: Funeral, Suburbs, Reflektor, Neon Bible, Everything Now

Neon Bible feels like the left overs from Funeral. If Funeral is Kid A, then Neon Bible is Amnesiac, and as Radiohead have shown, the album of B-sides just isn't as good. Yeah Reflektor isn't perfect, but the change in style with a few songs that are top tier Arcade Fire more than makes up for its flaws. It's an 8/10.

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I fucking love Everything Now and Reflektor. Even if I accept that every album has been getting steadily worse, that's the flattest of slopes imaginable and I'm not sure that I even do, because I think The Suburbs is my least favourite album. And I think it's fucking ace.

To my ears, they're a very, very consistent band. Which I suppose actually is a controversial opinion.

And they're great live, which isn't controversial.

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To add to the above, the songwriting may have dropped off slightly, but they sound better than ever. Funeral is just a bit too shouty and ramshackle for my tastes, those songs sound better live these days. I know that's kind of part of the appeal - the energy of it, but I do wish it had been recorded better.

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1 hour ago, Matt42 said:

I think the cure are way bigger though and have been bigger for a long time. I don’t think AF have graduated into a legacy status where they can take a long time off and come back where they were.

The Cure aren’t that big a name though. They’re a cult act with revered albums and a renowned live show - much like Arcade Fire.

The Fire are 100% going to be a legacy act if they aren’t already. I don’t think they’ll be as big as their post-Grammys bump but they should always have enough about them to headline festivals around the world and do their own large shows. Having two of the most acclaimed albums of the century and a solid live rep separates them from chuffing Razorlight and whoever else once headlined festivals then slid into obscurity.

Edited by dentalplan
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  1. Funeral
  2. Suburbs
  3. Neon Bible
  4. Reflecktor
  5. Everything Now

Funeral is one of the greatest albums of the 21st century, Suburbs is also fantastic. I enjoy both Neon Bible and Reflektor, although there is a noticable drop-off in quality from the previous two. There's not much between them but I bump Reflektor down for having a bit too much filler. I didn't really enjoy EN aside from Creature Comfort and We Don't Deserve Love.

So yeah, I'd argee with TwoHats that they are actually pretty consistent across the piece.

Edited by SwedgeAntilles
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11 hours ago, dentalplan said:

The Cure aren’t that big a name though. They’re a cult act with revered albums and a renowned live show - much like Arcade Fire.

The Fire are 100% going to be a legacy act if they aren’t already. I don’t think they’ll be as big as their post-Grammys bump but they should always have enough about them to headline festivals around the world and do their own large shows. Having two of the most acclaimed albums of the century and a solid live rep separates them from chuffing Razorlight and whoever else once headlined festivals then slid into obscurity.

The Cure have singles played on the radio. You'll still catch Love Cats, Friday, I'm In Love, Close to Me, and maybe InBetween Days on fairly mainstream stations.

I can't think of a single song from AF that has made such a leap. They are popular, but I can't see them evolving into a beloved legacy act.

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51 minutes ago, maelzoid said:

The Cure have singles played on the radio. You'll still catch Love Cats, Friday, I'm In Love, Close to Me, and maybe InBetween Days on fairly mainstream stations.

I can't think of a single song from AF that has made such a leap. They are popular, but I can't see them evolving into a beloved legacy act.

Funny you should say that as Wake Up getting a run out on 6music right now. Does that count as mainstream though?

All this chat has made me want to listen to them properly later actually.

Edited by Zoo Music Girl
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39 minutes ago, maelzoid said:

The Cure have singles played on the radio. You'll still catch Love Cats, Friday, I'm In Love, Close to Me, and maybe InBetween Days on fairly mainstream stations.

I can't think of a single song from AF that has made such a leap. They are popular, but I can't see them evolving into a beloved legacy act.

 

3 minutes ago, Zoo Music Girl said:

Funny you should say that as Wake Up getting a run out on 6music right now. Does that count as mainstream though?

All this chat has made me want to listen to them properly later actually.

I think @Zoo Music Girlhas hit on an important point. We have become a bit more American in our approach to music with specialist stations etc and that will no doubt have an impact on music going forward. Bands like Arcade Fire, The National and Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds will probably never enter the collective consciousness in the way that they could have even 20 years ago but they'll still have a large following. 

 

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1 hour ago, maelzoid said:

The Cure have singles played on the radio. You'll still catch Love Cats, Friday, I'm In Love, Close to Me, and maybe InBetween Days on fairly mainstream stations.

I can't think of a single song from AF that has made such a leap. They are popular, but I can't see them evolving into a beloved legacy act.

Rebellion (Lies) got a lot of radio airplay didn't it? 

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46 minutes ago, balti-pie said:

i dont mind Arcade Fire, they seem alright enough, they just remind me of Flaming Lips without all the ridiculousness - and let me ask you, what is the point of less ridiculous? i want MORE ridiculous. 

They bring a fair amount of ridiculous live. I always describe them as a carnival band. 

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1 hour ago, blutarsky said:

Rebellion (Lies) got a lot of radio airplay didn't it? 

Not really. And it certainly doesn’t crop up these days

2 hours ago, Zoo Music Girl said:

Funny you should say that as Wake Up getting a run out on 6music right now. Does that count as mainstream though?

Not really. 6 is pretty niche.

I wonder if we’ll get an Absolute Noughties station at any time. But even when that decade becomes fodder for nostalgists like the 90s has done recently, I suspect you’re far more likely to hear Hearsay than AF.

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15 minutes ago, maelzoid said:

I wonder if we’ll get an Absolute Noughties station at any time. But even when that decade becomes fodder for nostalgists like the 90s has done recently, I suspect you’re far more likely to hear Hearsay than AF.

Already exists 😄

Absolute 00s, Absolute 10s and Absolute 20s for new stuff

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They clearly got to the level where they can headline arenas and Glastonbury somehow.

I can’t see those fans leaving in droves because they were never just a ‘flavour of the month’ act. They were headlining arenas on the second album iirc and have maintained since.

If the argument is that they won’t reach new audiences and maintain in the long run because they’re not on Radio 2 then who gives a shit? Radio is dying.

Edited by dentalplan
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16 minutes ago, dentalplan said:

They clearly got to the level where they can headline arenas and Glastonbury somehow.

I can’t see those fans leaving in droves because they were never just a ‘flavour of the month’ act. They were headlining arenas on the second album iirc and have maintained since.

If the argument is that they won’t reach new audiences and maintain in the long run because they’re not on Radio 2 then who gives a shit? Radio is dying.

Yeah they did arena’s on the Neon Bible tour and then obviously headlined R&L and did more arenas when touring The Suburbs. For all they’re not a particularly big name outside of indie/rock music fans, it’s easy to ignore how big they are and always have been within that group. I’d say they peaked between 2010-2014 in terms of popularity but it’s not like they’ve dropped off much since then, they were still playing arena’s and headlining festivals when touring Everything Now. 

I don’t think they’ll be asked back to headline anytime soon, they were probably the smallest headliner in the last decade or so anyway, but I’d be amazed if they drop down to headlining the Other stage.

I’m struggling to think of a similar example from the last decade of an act who’ve rose up to headliner level pretty quickly on the back of a big, acclaimed act without much of a crossover hit. 

As you said earlier, I think they’re perfectly primed to be a legacy act in 10-15 years. Funeral and The Suburbs are very much classics within their genre and that will go a long way to ensuring they’re always a pretty big band.

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6 hours ago, Smeble said:

No idea if this is controversial or not but Weird al yankovic is nowhere near as funny as he thinks he is.

No ‘comedy’ music that tries to be funny is as their main selling point is actually funny. Weird Al, Steel Panther, Tenacious D, Alestorm, The Midnight Beast etc. etc. 
 

Whereas a band like Type O Negative, for example, are hilarious. 

Edited by Andre91
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On 10/13/2021 at 1:13 PM, balti-pie said:

i dont mind Arcade Fire, they seem alright enough, they just remind me of Flaming Lips without all the ridiculousness - and let me ask you, what is the point of less ridiculous? i want MORE ridiculous. 

I've not thought of it that way, as I adore both bands I must like the ridiculous. 

In fact I'm so ridiculous I'm tempted to say I like the Flaming Lips more than Arcade Fire. The Lips have undoubtedly made poorer albums than anything Arcade Fire have, but their last two are glorious...

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