Feb 262007
Crowded House has settled on Matt Sherrod, drummer for Beck’s band, to fill the seat left by Paul Hester. Read what Neil Finn has to say here.
The Arcade Fire, the Canadian band that shouts from the same mountaintop as U2 yet shuns the spotlight, played Saturday Night Live the other night and treated audience members to a few more songs after the show went off the air. Not that they care to get the word of this act of generosity out to the public!
Perv Alert! A new Avril Lavigne video has hit. Begin justifying how Lavigne’s music is “really not bad compared with all the other manufactured kiddie pop out there.”
The Arcade Fire on SNL looked like REM’s ‘Losing My Religion’ video come to life. Not bad, but they seem part of a trend for bands to express uplifting, folksy messages onstage, like those people in the colorful robes and the Decemberists. Much different than the tough, ‘cool’ stance so many of us grew up buying into. Maybe it’s a good thing if the young are really so upbeat and earnest.
Quit hating on the kids, dude. First, you’re lumping AF in with other large group ensembles, a fairly arbitrary classification, at best. Second, AF resemble more the Mekons (an underrated band if there ever was one), carrying on a tradition that grounds whatever “message” being espoused, in an absolutely concrete sense of reality. Third, I detected the use of the same minimalist chord structures that “tough” and “cool” bands like VU employed.
I don’t think it’s necessarily that Arcade Fire “shun” the spotlight, more that it’s their “gimmick”. I really do like them, but you can’t really “shun” the spotlight when people are crying out your name every five seconds when saying, ‘Oooh, it sounds just like the new (insert band here).’ It’s less intense of a shun than the whole Belle & Sebastian thing was anyway… And that new Avril Lavigne? I can see one million tween girls running out and shoving nerdy girls into golf ponds everywhere because Avril said it was cool to steal someone else’s boy. Really though, this song seems so tame for her style though, almost too bubblegum – not that I’m like, an *expert* or anything *cough, cough*. Oh god. I’m choking.
Who’s hating on the kids, ‘dude’? I found those that Arcade Fire performances kind of refreshing if a little bit of a shock to the system. At 46 years old, I’m not always able to process new rock trends as readily as you young whippersnappers might. Give me a break. I thought they were good, just a lot happier and less-threatening than rock bands of my youth were. Where’s the guy who says ‘Sheesh!’ when I need him?
By the way, when referring to ‘tough’ and ‘cool’ bands, I wasn’t referring to a band I’d never seen like the VU. I was referring to any of dozens of big rock and punk bands from the ’70s that I did see. I’ve also seen The Mekons, and their loose, fun, rambunctious stage presence seems a lot less…can I say ‘hokey’ without getting called ‘dude’ again?:) All the members of Arcade Fire play with a joie de vivre that I found shocking AND, admittedly, refreshing. Sorry if I wasn’t more clear.
Sorry, I might have read your post a bit too quickly. The reference to REM’s “Losing MY Religion” I thought was fairly “loaded,” however.
Having just started listening to Aracade Fire, it’s like hearing all of these cool influences that few have tried to imitate, much less combine, like The Mekons and This Heat.
I think this band is going to have some real staying power.
Dr. John, I got the same sense regarding the “Losing My Religion” reference, but I’ll take Townsman Tom at his word. I caught those performances, and I see what I think Tom means (shoot – no pun intended), but I’ve also heard their latest album and been pleasantly surprised. They might be one of the first of all the recently touted bands to stick around through the ’00s. They seem to have some depth, and they have a major U2/Power to the People vibe, which sounds like something we’d all snigger at but really isn’t the worst trait to have in rock (ask any old Who fan).
And peace to you, good doctor! I was only sending mixed messages because I was so mixed on the subject:) I’ll have to pick up this album.
I think I see what you mean, but the Decemberists are “uplifting”? With the murder ballads and all?
I like the Arcade Fire, but the sound mix on SNL, as it often is, was atrocious. All you could hear on the first song was the organ, and you could barely hear the hurdy-gurdy in the second song at all!
I will forever respect the Arcade Fire, even if they did nothing else ever, just for “Power Out,” simply because that song has THEE hardest-rocking glockenspiel part ever.