This year’s Grammy Awards seemed to have a lot of talking points (although this woman would disagree), the biggest being the prized Album of the Year being presented to Canadian band Arcade Fire. When I heard this, two things sprung to mind:
- Fuck yes. Finally someone who deserves to win a music award actually wins.
- Really, though? For The Suburbs? Funeral and Neon Bible were better albums, but The Suburbs is the one to actually win?
It seems that my sense of shock paled in comparison to others, though, as cries of “Who the fuck is Arcade Fire?” or even “Who the fuck is The Suburbs” could be seen across Twitter and Facebook. These comments even inspired someone to create this website.
“OK,” I thought, “So people haven’t heard of them. That’s fair.” To me, Arcade Fire were never going to get any kind of mainstream recognition, so for them to win Album of the fucking Year, I was amazed. Yes, this was a shock, but the album was great, and deserves to be heard by more people. Moreover, if it was a shock to me, then I could entirely understand the lack of knowledge surrounding the band.
Still, what really struck me was that people weren’t upset because Arcade Fire’s album was bad (most hadn’t actually heard the album at all). Rather, people seemed to be upset that the most popular artist didn’t win. It stuns me that people don’t understand the concept of awards. Awards do not go to the most popular artist, actor, sportsman, or whatever. Awards (should) go to the most deserving person, regardless of how much recognition they’ve gained from media or the public. If awards were popularity contests, then Toy Story 3 should win Best Picture at the Oscars. Will it? No.
Obviously my opinion counts for very little, and I’m not going to be preaching to anyone in particular, but what really needs to happen here is recognition of what awards truly are. No disrespect to Eminem, or Katy Perry, or Lady Gaga, or whoever, but for mine, it’s about fucking time somebody recognised that there is good music out there that not everyone knows about. The Suburbs is definitive proof of that.
Oh, and if you haven’t heard it yet, do. It’s bloody good.
