Who Is Arcade Fire? Tumblr Documents The Post-Grammy Confusion

Indie superstars Arcade Fire shocked everyone at the Grammys last night by taking home the Album Of The Year award, and not because they aren't amazing, but because apparently no one knows who they are. The Internet has been buzzing this morning with some "out of touch" people Googling, tweeting and Facebooking who/what Arcade Fire is and why they got an award if they're not Lady Gaga.

As a tribute to this public confusion, a Tumblr was started with the appropriate name 'Who Is Arcade Fire?' with all the funniest reactions (Brooklyn Vegan also did a good post). So far the Tumblr has confused reactions from the likes of Rosie O'Donnell and Dog the Bounty Hunter as well as regular folks who have never heard of Arcade Fire (or 'The Suburbs' as they are mistaken) and want the world to know about it.

See our favorite posts so far below and be sure to check out the rest. (Via Buzzfeed)

Comments

[AlxAlxdr]

11:02 AM on 02/21/2011

I was at a karaoke night in Salt Lake City and some hipsters sang a couple of their songs...and I got hooked...good thing they did the karaoke good....otherwise I would not be a fan..... first song I loved of theirs was No Cars Go.

[AlxAlxdr]

10:49 AM on 02/21/2011

I see even Stephen Colbert can't let the U.S. know who they are. I think they are a good group.

[Adam Haviland]

04:55 PM on 02/18/2011

Not knowing who arcade fire is doesn't make THEM obscure, it makes YOU ignorant...

[kramereng]

01:37 AM on 02/17/2011

Hipster attack re: Arcade Fire: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QeHV3tyNQ60&feature=player_embedded

[GaryNOVA]

08:57 PM on 02/16/2011

I saw them live in MD this year and I saw everyone from 14 year olds to 60 somethings. I'm 31 and they're my fav band of all time. I LOVE me some arcade Fire!!!!!!! congrats!!!

[Salanry]

12:59 PM on 02/16/2011

Q: How many hipsters does it take to screw in a lightbulb?
A: Don't worry about it, it's some obscure number you probably have never heard of...

[kramereng]

01:49 AM on 02/16/2011

Arcade Fire's album DEBUTED at #1 on the Billboard charts. So in no way are they an obscure band by any objective standard. If you haven't heard of them then...sucks for you.

[thefooligan5]

03:08 AM on 02/16/2011

I think they still weren't getting much radio play and publicity so that's probably why not too many people know about them.

[GaryNOVA]

08:54 PM on 02/16/2011

They don't play them on purpose AND I LOVE IT!!!!!!! Way to go arcade fire!!!!!

[MisteRational]

11:20 PM on 02/15/2011

I was surprised simply because I don't think they are that great. Good, sure, in an angst y kind of whiny way, but Grammy good?....

[SukiTheCat]

08:22 AM on 02/16/2011

what;s Grammy good? Lady gaga?

[Edward Murray]

03:55 PM on 02/16/2011

Hahaha!! YES.

[EnormeNuez]

09:45 PM on 02/15/2011

Many could say the same thing about Lady Antebellum. I wasn't familiar with them so I can guarantee that there were many who had no clue who they were. I find it very hard that the masses had no idea who Arcade Fire were/are, they've been nominated for the Best Alternative Music Album Grammy for all three of their studio albums.

I think people should get out beyond their comfort zone, not just to listen for bands like Arcade Fire, but on many other things.

[thefooligan5]

03:09 AM on 02/16/2011

Best alternative album is forgotten about as quickly as it is mentioned. Just like the oscars people are really only interested in the big players

[ebroadcast]

03:12 PM on 02/15/2011

and they're all a bunch of reetards

[effect]

02:44 PM on 02/15/2011

Eminem is a true poet. Perhaps not to everyone's liking, but a poet nonetheless. Bieber is at least musical after a fashion. Lady Antebellum has rocked some of the best harmonies in commercial music for a while now, Gaga is formulaic but powerful at times, and Katy Perry is a waste of perfectly good stage space.

All that said, Arcade Fire has never showed me anything. I cannot sit through even ONE entire number of theirs, owing to the irreconcilable conflict with my musical sensibilities. If you loved 80's grunge or techno, they are probably for you.

If this is what wins a Grammy nowadays, then we simply have to wait until the wheel turns and actual music reigns supreme once again.

[jonny macintosh]

03:11 PM on 02/15/2011

You are truly a fool.

[RichLilac]

03:33 PM on 02/15/2011

Your first paragraph is right on. The Grammys showcase a lot of new talent that night and I think that was the theme of the night, new talent.

[effect]

04:08 PM on 02/15/2011

Thank you, Rich. Arcade Fire aren't all that new, but I guess they lack some of the exposure of the Bigs. I just never had patience for the kind of sound they produce. Some love it, but I'm not among them.

My musical sensibilities come from growing up in a family of musicians (multiple generations on my mom's side - and my daughter and I did several of her original numbers at her funeral - not a dry eye in the house) and entertainers, having formal training and time on stage myself when I was younger, and raising two formally trained performing musician kids of my own. One teaches violin and the other sings, choreographs and dances.

So I have my tastes, and while very broad (Yma Sumac to Carl Orff to Simon & Garfunkel to Tom Leher to Green Day to Michael Jackson, Jackson Browne, Alan Jackson, Billie Holliday, Rascal Flatts, Kevin McHale, Harry Connick Jr., Michael Bublé, John Mayer, Andrés Segovia and on and on) they are not random.

[Parade Keegan]

01:35 PM on 02/15/2011

Love Arcade Fire, they surely deserve the recognition of a Grammy (a great jazz singer also won a grammy, unnamed here as this article isn't about her). The tweeters who are clueless about some of the Grammy Award Winers are the Bieber crowd so their lack of musical sophistication is understandable.

[manjectionist]

01:32 PM on 02/15/2011

Why do ignorant people have to be so proud of their ignorance?

[Charles Hamel]

03:19 PM on 02/15/2011

Because if they weren't they wouldn't be so ignorant.

They'd probably heed the call to go through the mild discomfort of enlightening themselves.

[thefooligan5]

03:10 AM on 02/16/2011

Because I know what I know and that's all I need to know

[BillMurraysBoot]

01:31 PM on 02/15/2011

I just feel bad knowing now that so many people never heard The Arcade Fire's first album...

[DasEnergi]

09:22 PM on 02/15/2011

Ans of course I assume you're actually speaking of their 2nd album, "Funeral".

[thefooligan5]

03:11 AM on 02/16/2011

The first was an EP so it's correct to say Funeral is their first album

[GaryNOVA]

08:58 PM on 02/16/2011

true. Funeral was my favorite but picking between the three is like picking favorites between my children. I use to sing my first born to sleep with Tunnels in 2005. Love it. Suburbs is a close second though.

[StoryTime]

12:31 AM on 02/17/2011

LOVE your avatar! Beeker, my fav!

[aphextwin07]

01:30 PM on 02/15/2011

lol @ idiots who have never broadened their horizons past Top 40 charts.

[Jackson Forrester]

02:26 PM on 02/15/2011

Arcade Fire has been in the top 40, bud.