Arcade Fire disses U2?? (old news?)

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gvox

gvox

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No clue if this has already been discussed to death, just stumbled on it but it seems rather bad form from a band that benefited greatly from U2 "marketing the fuck" out of THEIR music...like, oh, 130 times or so!!! How many people would have had Wake Up even on their radar had it not been the Vertigo tour intro song? I can't recall it getting major radio play before the tour, and I live in Canada, where they come from....can anyone else? I mean, yeah, it was out there, but I think a real case could be made for the fact that it's popularity and by extension, radio requests, increased exponentially because of U2.

Anyways, the article:

(Dotmusic) -- Arcade Fire have accused U2, Oasis, and the Rolling Stones of being obsessed with taking over the world, calling it "a total crock of sh-t".

The Canadian indie heroes release their new album Neon Bible next month, but have insisted they will never force their music down people's throats.

Accusing his rock peers of "marketing the f--k" out of their music, Fire frontman Win Butler suggested the groups in question might as well be selling toasters.

He said: "It's not like we shun success, but at the same time we don't want to shove it down people's throats. In the UK there's this kind of rock star competition. I don't know if U2 started it, or the Stones or Oasis, but a lot of bands think in terms of: 'I'm going to be the biggest band in the world. F--k all those bands who've got no ambition.' think that's a total crock of sh-t.

"There's nothing less interesting to me than the idea of marketing the f--k out of something so people are forced to like it. Some bands are just manipulating people to buy music. That's how 90 percent of the record industry works! It's basically the same as selling a f--king toaster or a cruise package," Butler told the U.K. music paper NME.

Neon Bible is released on March 6.
Click to expand...

as seen at:

http://www.macphisto.net/article787.html

Maybe Winn should just shut the fuck up and make 12 more great records..

:lol:
 
I remember this article being posted here a while back (maybe a few months ago?) but I'm too lazy to do a search. Heh.

But yeah, bad form on Win's part, methinks. He obviously wasn't too offended by it to open for one of the bands he bashes, eh? :wink:
 
He is a Twat from a crap band. Av never been manipulated into buying music by u2 or anyone else. Having sed that, Bono did persuade me to fork out on a new toaster once:wink:
 
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Ok well that was a big waste of 5 minutes of my life lol

Bottom line is they got a leg up from U2 and by extension U2's marketing machine.

Sure, they had to live up to the hype with talent and a decent second album, as opposed to other bands that opened for U2 like, say, coughInstitutecoughpuke...but without that leg up it is arguable just how far they would have gotten outside Canada...there's ALOT of bands in Canada that never break it big in the US...but with a name like U2 behind you...wait...that's leveraging the power of marketing!

the horror!
 
Is this our weekly "oh noez someone said something bad about U2 let's hate them!" thread? :yawn:

I can't say I give a shit what Arcade Fire thinks about U2.
 
Oh God....again.

It was originally in NME. They apparently misquoted him. He wrote a message on his website as soon as it was released saying this. These papers have a way of making stuff worse that it really is. Yes, Win is a bit of dick sometimes I think but who cares, the music is amazing. Bono is a bit of a dick sometimes too!

To some of the other posts: Neon Bible is amazing. The end of Wake Up is amazing. Cant WAIT to see them live...but that is for another forum. :)
 
Dusty Bottoms said:


Wow I don't buy this at all.
Click to expand...

Well ya don't have to agree, but realistically speaking, how many people would have given that album a listen had they not been made aware of Wake Up by it's inclusion a. at a U2 show they went to b. on a bootleg they listened to or c, and probably more frequently, from the Vertigo Live in Chicago DVD? I know I likely would not have, their style of music isn't my first preference.

Furthermore...would U2 have asked them to open had Wake Up not recieved the reception it did from U2 fans? I'm not so sure. "Wake Up" was not recieving the kind of independent attention (when I say independant I mean regular radio rotation) that say "Welcome to Jamrock" by Damian Marley or any of Kanye West's stuff was.

Personally when I listened to the first album I thought...Wake Up, great epic..but that feeling was IMMENSELY enhanced by the feelings/emotions I experienced when I heard that song in the context of it introducing a highly anticipated U2 show....one or two other songs I liked, and the rest was rather forgettable, just not my style.

Sure, they may have eventually made it on their own, and Neon Bible is a good album, but to say that they didn't experience any benefits from U2 is a bit naive, imo.

ETA: I like the ending of Wake Up, it's a cool nod to the 80s that I miss so much :)
 
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bono_man said:
They apparently misquoted him. He wrote a message on his website as soon as it was released saying this.

Cant WAIT to see them live...but that is for another forum. :)
Click to expand...

Hey can you post up a link to that, I'd love to read it.

As for them being great live, I've heard that from people who's opinions of live acts I hold in extremely high regard, they say they are the band to see this year...so I do hope to catch them one day, I missed them when they opened for U2 in Montreal as I arrived after their set.
 
gabrielvox said:


Hey can you post up a link to that, I'd love to read it.

As for them being great live, I've heard that from people who's opinions of live acts I hold in extremely high regard, they say they are the band to see this year...so I do hope to catch them one day, I missed them when they opened for U2 in Montreal as I arrived after their set.
Click to expand...

You know what..... I got to like Arcade Fire after seeing them open for U2 in Montreal. It was GREAT performance in my opinion - beyond what i had expected (not to mention it was pretty cool that they walked out on stage to "Where the streets......"). HOWEVER, AF's show in Toronto (couple of months ago) was .... JUST ok. It really wasn't what I had hoped for. IMO, they have some good stuff... I wouldn't say that I like most of their songs. And in all honesty, it got me thinking that the reason they seemed so great in Montreal is because they performed in front of 20,000 U2 fans who have given them quite a support... and the whole vibe and the Bell Centre was AWESOME. But as soon as you put Arcade Fire in a 2,000-3,000 people venue, everything is a whole lot different.
 
picturefm9.jpg


:)
 
That's fucking awesome, Gibby! :lmao:

I like how you underlined Wrong in the background. :wink:
 
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coolian2 said:
Wake Up - good (until that weird ending)
Everything else - nothing special
Click to expand...

brilliant response to win's comments.
bullet/water proof.
i guess he's been proven wrong afterall.

good job.
 
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