Posted on Monday 28 March 2005
Alright, so it’s only Time Canada, but still. I guess I’m shocked because I can remember when the band was still blogger hype and the album, Funeral hadn’t even come out yet. Even more shocking is that bands I like don’t appear on Time magazine. Sure Eddie Vedder did back in the early 90’s, but that was PEARL JAM; we’re talking about the Arcade Fire here. This is funny, because I’m betting that the majority of people who read this or the Time Canada article for that matter won’t know who they are, but they will.
I remember being back in Milwaukee on one of my countless trips back moving my stuff to my new home in Madison, and buying the record, asking for it by name, and the guy behind the counter had no idea who they were, only knew that they had one copy. I bought it and listened to it an endless amount of times in my newly emptied one bedroom studio in Milwaukee as I pack up my things and said goodbye to the only city I’ve really loved. I loaded it on my ipod, and it guided me from 43 South to Interstate 90/94 through the smell of yeast and beer, past Miller Park, and all the memories that Milwaukee held for me. I made a few phone calls, telling my two friends Mullins, and Jake about the disc, Jake caught on, and I’m not sure if Mullins has or not. Either way, Funeral is an amazing album, and deserves all the acclaim it receives.
I can also remember the night when the Arcade Fire was playing at Mad Planet in Milwaukee, and I had just recently relocated to Madison, and teetering on the edge of whether to make the hour plus drive. Well, work got the better of me that night, and as I left the office after 7pm there was no part of me that wanted to make that drive. It turned out to be a big mistake. No doubt the next time around will be amazing, but it definitely won’t be the same. I think the reason this album means so much to me is that it represents a new beginning in my life. The one thing that I’ve always loved about music is that it puts your life in chronological order for you. I can remember where and who I was with when I first heard this, etc. Like listening to Everclear’s “Sparkle and Fade with my friend Sadie in high school, I bet we played that disc a hundred times, and even though I haven’t listened to that album or band in years, every time I see something on TV or in a magazine about Everclear, I’m once again a high school sophomore just happy to be with my friend and to share music. The same goes with Pearl Jam (Yield specifically, and the song Black) and my friend Jake, I don’t know how many drives to and from Wisconsin Dells that Pearl Jam was the soundtrack for. Those brief moments when Jake would steer the Buick century back home on a semi warm Wisconsin night, and we’d exhausted all conversation, the music was there to fill our minds, and, at least for me, my memories.
For me, the Arcade Fire’s disc envelopes the change from one place to another and all the adjustments that come along with relocating. I suppose it could have been any album that I was really digging at the time, but it wasn’t, and therefore, it doesn’t matter if the Arcade Fire turn out to be a flash in the pan, this album will always mean a lot to me.
The Time magazine article is here, and you can but the Arcade Fire’s album, Funeral here.
