"The Suburbs"
Eminem was expected to rule the night at last weekend’s Grammy Award ceremonies. His comeback album, Recovery, was the best-selling record of 2010 and earned the rapper an industry-leading 10 nominations, including one for Album of the Year, a category for which he was the odds-on favorite. But in an upset that surprised everyone—including presenter Barbra Streisand apparently, who seemed caught off guard as she stuttered when announcing the winning record—the Canadian indie-rock band Arcade Fire snagged Grammys' most prestigious prize for their album, The Suburbs. The only group not signed to a major label, Arcade Fire represented the closest thing to the archetypal rock band in a category that included fellow nominees Eminem, Ladies Gaga and Antebellum (who, with five wins already under their belt, were on a serious roll), and pop tart Katy Perry.
Just before the band's big win, they delivered a ballsy performance of their song "Month of May," which was accompanied by a bunch of guys on BMX bikes. Arcade Fire—who between them play from a smorgasbord of instruments including guitar, drums, bass guitar, piano, violin, viola, cello, double bass, xylophone, glockenspiel, keyboard, French horn, accordion, harp, mandolin, and hurdy-gurdy—electrified the nationally televised broadcast, which over the years has become somewhat mired in computerized music, crazy outfits, and predictable outcomes. Judging by their faces, the seven members of Arcade Fire, who were still backstage when their name was called, were as surprised as the rest of us. As the feel-good moment of the night, it was refreshing to see genuine shock instead of the feigned variety viewers are more accustomed to. After a brief acceptance speech, dazed band members returned to their instruments and played "Ready to Start," a spontaneous encore that closed out the night. Priceless.
If you're scratching your head and wondering Arcade who?, well, you're not alone. The first words out of frontman Win Butler's mouth when he took the stage and grabbed the Grammy were "What the hell?" And there were many who shared that sentiment. Arcade Fire were second only to jazz bassist and vocalist Esperanza Spalding (who beat out teen sensation Justin Bieber for Best New Artist) for the outrage their win sparked and the flurry of online activity that resulted. After all, how had such a "no name" band managed to steal the spotlight away from Lady Gaga, the fame monster herself, not to mention Slim Shady, arguably hip hop's reigning king and heir apparent to the trophy. Why, even celebrities felt compelled to sound off. "Album of the year? Ummm never heard of them ever," Rosie O'Donnell tweeted. "Who the F$#* is Arcade Fire?!," Rainn Wilson wanted to know.
Arcade Fire's founders are the husband-and-wife team of Win Butler and Régine Chassagne, both of whom sing for the group while Butler is their chief songwriter. They formed the band in the summer of 2003 after Butler spotted Chassagne singing jazz standards at a local art exhibit at Concordia University. The five other members include Butler's brother Will, Tim Kingsbury, Sarah Neufield, Jeremy Gara, and Richard Reed Parry. All band members are multi-instrumentalists who switch duties throughout their live show, which is considered one of the best in the business. They have drawn comparisons to the Flaming Lips, with a sound described as a "phantasmagoric, dystopian tour de force" that seems to have originated from a lifetime of listening to The Cure, Talking Heads, and David Bowie.
While their win over more mainstream acts is certainly validating to the Montreal-based band, Arcade Fire have been transitioning from indie obscurity to more mainstream acceptance for years now. They built a solid following from their first two albums, Funeral (2004) and Neon Bible (2007), both of which were Grammy nominees for Best Alternative Music Album. The band have played all the major festivals including Coachella, Sasquatch!, Lollapalooza, and the UK's Reading and Leeds Festival, and sold out back-to-back nights headlining New York's Madison Square Garden last August. Arcade Fire were even featured on the cover of Time Magazine's Canadian edition in April 2005. But it's been the group's third effort, The Suburbs, which has sold close to 500,000 copies since it release in August 2010, that has proven to be their major breakthrough, topping several "best of" lists in 2010 and earning them their first #1 record on the Billboard 200. Yet no one saw this Grammy win coming. In fact, the founders of the group's own label, Merge Records, were on tour in Japan at the time of the live broadcast and didn't even attend.
"This was a major, major night for the independents," said Daniel Glass, CEO of Glassnote Records, whose band Mumford & Sons were nominated for Best New Artist along with fellow indie act Florence and the Machine. Elated by their win Sunday, Aracade Fire tweeted: "OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD. Thank you EVERYONE." Two days later the band were in London for the 2011 Brit Awards, where they beat out Cee Lo Green, Eminem, Katy Perry and Kings of Leon for Best International Album, and The Black Eyed Peas, Kings of Leon, The Script, and Vampire Weekend for Best International Group.
So for anyone out there who still knows next to nothing about this Canadian outfit, Win Butler advises you "Google it."
