My inner Muse-fan flinched at the mention of Radiohead.
And I disagree about the whole music scene being complete shit. Of course there are some shitty bands and artists in there, but is it all bad? Definitely not. But I do think that Arcade Fire didn't deserve the award. They're just average: no impressive vocals and no instrumental prowess, just like Rageissues mentioned. The award should've gone to either Eminem or Lady GaGa.
Let me start by saying I like both of these musicians, but here is why they didn't win. Lady GaGa is more about the attitude and the art show than the music. Eminem is trying to recapture his old sound and going backwards never really works. These kinds of efforts are certainly not award worthy.
Arcade Fire is a band that doesn't have a huge label with the money to throw at radio time, yet even without that exposure their album reached the number one spot on the charts. Say what you will about your opinions of their musical prowess, but you can't deny the significance of what their accomplishment means for the music industry at this time. That is why they won. Not because they paid someone off. Quite the opposite they got there despite all odds. They are a prime example of how things are changing and are getting recognized for it. This and that they sold a ton of records and got widespread critical acclaim should show the haters that your opinions are not universal.
never heard of them but if the list of who they are up against is the full list then some nails falling down s pipe has more musical ability
U2 sound the same in every song and Bono can't sing worth a crap. REM is dead, Coldplay is musically irrelevant now and were always boring, Radiohead is still boring and Muse will always kick their asses.
And if you think the Grammy Awards panel doesn't care, why do you think Bieber go beat out by a chick who half of us have never heard about? Probably cause he is an overhyped little prat who will fade into nothing in the next couple of years when people realize he is shit. At least they gave the best new artist award to someone who deserved it and isn't just another cash machine of the MTV lead music industry with crappy pop icons who are so bad they need to be shot.
---------- Post added 2011-02-15 at 02:09 PM ----------
Subject to opinion. Rush is still by far and away one of the most successful bands in Canadian music history, in fact I believe they are still the top selling Canadian act of all time, and when it comes to sheer musical talent and masters of their instruments, I don't think anyone comes close to being as good as them. The Guess Who are great, Bachman-Turner Overdrive was great and there are some great young bands coming out of Canada these days as well, the notion that we don't produce good bands is pretty silly as well. With more exposure, Arkells will be the next big band to come out of Canada, but they are on a small label and have only released one album, but they are huge on the indie scene here in Ontario and are starting to get attention across the country.
Seriously? Only with this (youtube.com/watch?v=83KR_UBWdPI) they already beat up 80% of what has been in the Grammys this century.
I am so glad that Arcade Fire won. Seriously, pop music and rap can go to hell.
Indie rock: honest, but boring. Very, very boring.
Still, if it were up to me, based on the nominees, Arcade Fire would probably come out on top. It'd be tough to choose between them and Lady Antebellum, though, since I have no love for either indie rock or pop-country.
do people really need this explained to them?
the reward is done by votes from members of the recording academy..
While the pop music fan base as a whole is significantly larger than the Arcade Fire voters, the pop voters split their votes between 3 different artists Eminem, Gaga & Katy Perry... while any voter that is into slightly more intelligent/artistic music and not pop-drivel had only 1 album on the list to vote for.
So while the pop fans are arguing which of the 3 turds is shinier, the true music fans were all united in voting for the only option on the list they really had.
Being against 3 huge "mega stars" actually helped Arcade Fire win, the old classic, divide and conquer.
for this exact same reason Esperanza Spalding (who?) won best new artist, because the voters that lean towards pop music were too busy splitting their votes between Bieber vs Drake.
It was a good day for music fans.
Last edited by tremulant; 2011-02-16 at 02:26 AM.
no good will come out of this thread. I'm an Eminem fan so ofc i was upset thinking that Recovery was a pretty good album (not his best).
What makes my day is all of you who say "only arcade fire is music" "everything else sucks" "we are smart becouse we like arcade fire".
From what i've read Recovery was also the best selling album of the year and also had the longest running nr1 of the year. Those for me are proof enough that the award was not chosen corectly. Oh well, it's not worse than 2002 when The Eminem Show got the crap beaten out of it by the legendary *cough* Norah Jones.
Also as some1 stated earlier i belive, the band live perfomance did not impress me not one bit, i mean come on, go watch eminem's one the same night and then go back. Still think Arcade Fire should have won? No? tought so.
pretty happy that they won. I also think they did indeed deserve it, and it made it more interesting that a less recognised band won the award.
Arcade Fire* not THE Arcade Fire.
---------- Post added 2011-02-16 at 04:03 AM ----------
You're one to talk. Trying to state facts that aren't there (the part I quoted you on before you mention all the shit about the other stuff I didn't quote).
Arcade Fire picked a less popular song to play. Why? Because that is who they are. It would be cliche for any artist to play their most popular song, like Ready to Start which gets a lot of radio play. I wish they had played Empty Room, that is personally one of my favorite songs from the album. But what can ya do. I don't think they are a great live band, but a live performance should not dictate whether they deserved the award. Was The Suburbs their best album? Maybe not, but Recovery wasn't the best album by Eminem, though it was better then most other rap albums out last year. Relapse is still better, but I think when it comes the two, it came down to musicality and songwriting. Anyone thinking Katy Perry or Lady Gaga had any hope in hell of winning against artists who are better song writers and better lyricists, is kidding themselves.
In essence, what Arcade Fire played had no bearing on them winning the award, there is a separate category for live performances and those are recordings.
I'm not a huge fan of the band (and honestly haven't heard all that much of their work), but based on their Grammys performance: No, they didn't deserve it. They were the least enjoyable sounding of the bands, not to mention their nauseating light-show which most likely resulted in thousands of epileptic seizures. The lead singer also had a lame/hipster-ry haircut, and that doesn't bode well for them.