Saturday Night (Sunday Morning) Live:
Me, 12:29 AM, To Mark and Kerry: What arcade f did kinda ruins them for me. I'm shaking my head. I'm disgusted, honestly.
Mark, 12:30 AM, To Me: I am out, now I can't wait 2 see it!
Me, 12:33 AM, To Mark and Kerry: Sorry, snl, no big deal, I'm probs the only one to care.
Mark, 2:32 AM, To Me (I was asleep): The guitar smash on SNL turned Arcade Fire into legit superstars. Best band of their generation? Right now, yes. Amazing.
Me, 9:26 AM Sunday, To Mark: Cheap stunt. They're better than that and more orig. Lots of kids would have liked that guitar.
Mark says he'll be arguing his case later, but we're gonna have to agree to disagree: breaking that guitar made me lose respect for that band. When Nirvana did it, they were huge, and it was a commentary on consumerism, etc. When Arcade Fire did it the other night, it was a cheap, unoriginal cry for attention. My brother is a guitar teacher, and he won't even leave any of his guitars in his trunk when he goes to dinner, he brings them with him in case the car is broken into. I dunno -- that kind of respect seems more authentic to me. I think Arcade Fire should donate the cost of that guitar to a talented kid who can't afford an instrument, and next time they're desperate for press they should just tear up a picture of the f**king Pope.
In case you missed the stupidity:
UPDATE: 20 emails later...geez, let's agree to disagree, deal? I didn't say they suck, I said I lost respect. And yes, I saw the guitar strings break, and I think destroying it out of frustration would be even lamer (if it were possibly the case, which it's not. Let's not be naive.)
I changed the "celebrity douchebags" tag to "gleeful provocation." Let's just relax.
While I thought it was crazy dumb the first time I watched it, I realized the second time around that like 3 of Winn's guitar strings broke during the song. Maybe he was legitimately frustrated?
Is this still not a music blog?
Posted by: Max | February 26, 2007 at 12:44 PM
i think you have too much time on your hands if you are THAT concerned about arcade fire smashing their guitar.
Posted by: tom | February 26, 2007 at 01:10 PM
My issue is more, did he have to smash it like such a wuss?
And also: are those knickers?
Posted by: Pistol Whip | February 26, 2007 at 04:52 PM
I think arcade fire sounds like Church music. I also didn't feel the anger with that guitar smash. and why ruin a perfect guitar? He could've sold it for a boat load.
Posted by: Mike | February 26, 2007 at 07:22 PM
would like to uncharacteristically chime in here and agree with the overall sentiment (lame stunt)--but not with the title of the post. i may be in the minority but i love this album.
Posted by: cath | February 27, 2007 at 03:59 PM
He was just pissed - really pissed at his guitar - he destroyed it and then hit in against the stage like a wanker. No need to hate them simply for that, although I wish he lit it on fire and threw it at the over-rated Kenan Thompson.
Posted by: matt | February 27, 2007 at 05:24 PM
To be very clear, it wasn't just a guitar that he smashed. It was an acoustic guitar. Smashing an acoustic guitar is tantamount to having a mysterious vagina appear on your penis. It's like finding out that Ozzy bit the head off of a bat...a gummi-bat!
Posted by: Tyler | February 28, 2007 at 01:59 PM
I agree with a lot of what you said, but Nirvana was not commenting on consumerism. Kurt was high and self destructive (kill what you love, blah blah) -- but I was younger then too and it had a bigger impact on me as well. The best part of the Nirvana thing was Krist throwing his bass in the air and hitting himself in the head. That was so fantastic. I took it as a commentary on the fragility of skulls.
Posted by: gorilla | March 01, 2007 at 04:18 PM