This morning, out of nowhere, Flaming Lips ringleader Wayne Coyne tore the Arcade Fire a new asshole, accusing the beloved Canadian indie rockers of being pompous pricks who treat everybody — crew, fans, Oklahoman psych-pop bands — like shit. Blogging on his band’s site, Win Butler expresses disbelief about the situation. He only met Wayne once years ago, so WTF? Then he drags Beck into it. The full statement…
Via arcadefire.com:
Wow,
I can’t believe I am actually writing to defend my band’s “real” personality. I wish I could not respond to something like this, but the reality is, is that people will be asking me questions for the next 5 years. I also fear that people will base their opinion of our band on the media quotes of a guy who doesn’t even know us.The only time we have ever shared a stage with the Flaming Lips was our last show on the Funeral tour at a festival in Las Vegas (over 3 years ago)…we arrived the morning of the show from Brazil, slept all day and awoke into some kind of surreal Vegas jet-lag dream in which we were playing after the Flaming Lips…how strange…I was really excited to meet Wayne. Clouds Taste Metallic was a huge record for me, and growing up in the weirdness of Houston, I always imagined Oklahoma City to be in the same universe. I was really nervous to meet him and I felt a little weird that we were playing after them. We traded a little hello, but he was a hard guy to get a read on. Steven Drodz was super nice, and I felt good after talking to him…
So…I am not sure Wayne is the best judge (based on seeing us play at a couple of festivals) if we are righteous, kind and goodhearted people like The Edge and Justin Timberlake (who I am sure he knows intimately as well). I can’t imagine a reason why we would have been pompous towards The Flaming Lips, a band we have always loved, on that particular night, all those years ago. Unless I was way more jet-lagged then I remember, I hope I was less of a “Prick” then telling Rollingstone that a bunch of people I don’t know at all are really a bunch of assholes.
As a closing note, the main point that I am offended by in this whole thing is for Wayne to say we treat our audience like shit…At times like these I am comforted by knowing that even though Wayne slammed Beck all those years ago, he seems like a really nice guy to me. I guess everyone has a different idea of what being pompous means.
Win
Re: Beck, Win’s referring to a 2003 Guardian interview:
“Beck had issues… don’t print anything bad – actually, I don’t care … I just don’t get it when the slightest thing goes wrong before a gig and the artist is, like, fuck this. … Honey, it was totally disappointing. It’s a total devastation to know that he’s not a relaxed Californian stoner. When you hear his songs, you think he must really have some tender feelings, but then you find out it’s a made-up thing.”
You can read that here. In it he also describes the Verve as atrocious and egotistical and calls Richard Ashcroft a “pompous fool.” Noticing a pattern here.
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Honestly, this settles it for me. That guy there, that’s the Win Butler I know, and his response had far more damn class than Wayne Coyne’s little notice-me rant deserved.
Nice Guy Coyne shouldn’t feels the need to keep proving that there’s nobody else as nice as he.
what a bunch of losers we’ve become as humans. bring on the nukes.
Can you all feel that? It’s the 80% agreement with Wayne side now shifting to an 80% agree with Win now the other side has made it’s case. We’re like little kids in a soccer game, all following the soccer ball back and forth across the field.
I don’t think 80 percent was ever on Wayne’s side
tell it to the marines, win.
Huh?
So the takeaway is that our music heroes act like 13 year old little girls on MySpace. I guess I don’t really care.
I love this feud! Best thing to happen to Stereogum since Ryan Adams!
Agreed – this is hilarious
Question. Who gives a shit?
The hundreds of people who commented on the initial story.
how did this comment get so many negative votes? is this really that important?
Wayne Coyne doesn’t deserve such a polite and classy response to his accusations. Arcade Fire are truly nice people. They don’t deserve this shit.
I don’t know…
“the reality is that people will be asking me questions about it for the next 5 years”
“Justin Timberlake (who I am sure he knows intimately as well)”
‘I hope I was less of a “prick” than telling RS that a bunch of people I don’t know at all are really assholes”
… some parts like that came off as pure venomous to me- not exactly classy. He should have cooled off a bit before writing this. I’m just saying- I doubt that Win is an asshole (I don’t think you can easily define people as just asshole/non-asshole), but he does come off as a bit hot-headed in this post.
Those are just his hot-blooded Texan roots: ‘Yee-haw!’
Nicely measured response from Butler, I think.
And yes, definite pattern emerging from Coyne. He’s done himself no favours in my eyes.
They should just fuck , WIN is the pussy bottom
Wayne Coyne is a fool.
Win wins!
Wait Win, Steven Drodz? It’s Steven Drozd. That’s how you know he’s really pompous, he assumes he knows how to spell people’s names. Not even a google search to clear it up, how arrogant. Fuck Win Butler, Wayne Coyne is a national treasure.
All these comments here should start with either “TEAM WAYNE” or “TEAM WIN”, I mean if we’re gonna discuss this juvenile subject, we better get down to that level, right?
RIght, now how can I get a touchdown rather than a field goal in comment points?
I think we should all agree to slap Coyne upside the head with one of those giant novelty hands next time we see him, tell him to stop being such a pissytwat.
not me
HUGS! JUST HUG AND MAKE IT ALL BETTER!
Ha. It looks like he deems his post the best, and therefore put “Win” in the end. Anyway, I can see where Win is coming from, but honestly he is also making himself look bad by arguing back and taking backhanded jabs at Wayne. That’s pretty low. He could have been the bigger man and said, this upsets me because I’m a big fan of The Flaming Lips… and kept it at that sentiment. Then we would all feel bad for him and say Wayne was an asshole for saying that to a music publication. Bottom line: I think these are both rock stars with some inherent ego. It goes with the job. You can’t not have some fucking ego when millions of people adore you. I just wish they wouldn’t have any petty little ego fights like this…
Danielle, check out the responses in the other article. Nearly everybody agreed with what Coyne said purely because it was Coyne saying it. Win Butler’s a nice freaking dude, believe me, but he and his friends were getting roasted over something somebody else said to a magazine. In the absence of a response, people were losing their damn minds.
Somebody even suggested – with absolutely no basis in this reality or any other, I promise you – that Win Butler once assaulted his wife on stage in full view of an audience at a well attended show, and this has somehow never surfaced before ever. Seriously. That’s beyond reasonable tolerances, tjhat’s ludicrous. And whatever about what Coyne thing, the guy has a right to defend his hard-earned good name from a bunch of internet weirdos letting their imaginations run away with them.
Point taken, and I agree. I had actually only read the first ten or so comments on that original post, and the wife comment did make me scratch my head but since it got so many thumbs up’s I assumed there must be some truth to it. So yeah, you’re right… and I can understand why Win would try to defend himself. He could have done it a little better, but then again he could have done much, much worse. He is being himself in his post- you can tell- and I respect that.
I WAS THERE. IT happened. He literally poked her off stage with a bass. It’s amazing that, through fandom, people forget about it, that it didn’t matter because the rest of the show was great. But, it happened. Period.
He did shove his wife with a bass. I just watched the video of it right now.
TEAM WIN – At the end of the day, I know for a fact that Win Butler would never, ever have said this about Wayne Coyne if roles were reversed, and that’s all I need.
And Coyne should get off right here about pretending he’s some martyr for Arcade Fire’s beleagured audience. Dude, WE’RE Arcade Fire’s audience, and you know what, they’ve always done right by us as far as I’m concerned. Douche.
I feel Win’s pain to even have to comment on this crap. But atleast he did it with class and didn’t sink to Coyne’s level. Well done, Win.
A pretty mature response. I feel most artists would have done an all caps myspace blog.
It annoys me that both of them make an effort to say, “Don’t get me wrong. I love their music.” Nuff with the civility.
What Wayne said. I’m altogether serious in saying that I met Win on one unfortunate occasion and would hope that he was having one of the worst days of his life or else he’s an intergalatic douche helmet. Apparently Mr. Coyne met him on another occasion and shares my impression.
Valid reasoning. Hopefully Coyne’s ego has been sufficiently stroked after Win’s praise.
on an aside, i don’t think him being a big music name justifies his condemnation of all of these artists, AKA, shut the fuck up and make a record
its just kinda funny whenever someone acts like a complete asshole in their attempts to inform people that they think someone else is an asshole.
TEAM WIN:
Coyne seems like even more of a cunt now. Bands needing to “let the world in” on how douchey other bands are? Why? Did he really feel he was doing the right thing in that case, even if he HAD a good reason to (because meeting someone once is not even close to sufficient).
Don’t get me wrong, I love every band ever. But win does win.
here’s the real question: can win tell the difference between then/than?
No, ol’ Win’s spelling can let him down sometimes. He types in his accent.
Celebrity feuds? That’s awfully Us Weekly, Stereogum.
Win’s post was passive-aggressive (see: ‘i’m sure he knows Justin Timberlake intimately”) while Wayne’s was just flat-out aggressive — so I guess I admire Wayne’s ability to just call someone an asshole and leave it at that, without these little backhanded “i’mthevictim” insults.
thank you win butler for your boring condescending response to an impassioned and likely self-knowingly hilarious part of an interview.
haha. its like the indie equivelnt to some hollywood star feud.
i’m thinking robert smith and win butler faceoff against thom yorke and wayne coyne in doubles tennis. it really seems like the only way.
Anyone else notice Win’s use of the word then, instead of than? Twice.
Alright, I’m officially past the point of caring on this one.
Flaming Lips have released many amazing records over the years, Arcade Fire have released two (this isn’t a game of numbers because this would mean Arcade Fire have 100% success rate), and I love and appreciate what both bands are doing.
It’s like having your parents fight.
Let’s say one of them has a more formal style of dress and professionalism to them. They seem a bit distant but in the back of your mind you don’t care because in the end you love them because when you need someone to have a serious discussion with on a very intellectual level, their input is uplifting.
The other parent is a little goofier, likes to have fun and is very socially active. You know they have a past with substance abuse but it helped build their character. It’s hard not to like them because they have such a warm and inviting personality but when someone rubs them the wrong way, they can be very vocal about it. Their sense of humour is offbeat but charming and they aren’t afraid to make a mess to have a good time. They offer a different kind of therapy than the other parent.
You’re driving somewhere with one and they outright attack the other one after a bad experience or a stressful day or whatever. The other, not being the one who launched of offencive, gets off on a high and mighty rant about how petty the other one is.
You can’t help but remember the reason why you love both of them but in the end you feel they’re both being incredibly childish and you wish they would stop it. Even if they can’t come to a conclusion, at least not fight in front of you because they just look like assholes.
Matthew:
“Alright, I’m officially past the point of caring on this one.” As he writes a multi-paragraphed response..
I think I figured out the problem.
Wayne, he isn’t declaring victory at the end of his blog posts. That’s really his name.
It’s okay, you guys. Just a misunderstanding.
Hahahahah
I lol’d
I can’t really even understand Wayne’s motives in the first place. Win can’t be a bigger prick than/then Thom Yorke has been reported to be so I’m inclined to not care too much.
Sorry Wayne, but you lose…. unless this shit goes around again.
WAT! Is this the new BLUR vs. OASIS!!!!! BEATLES vs. STONES!!!!! ????
Flaming vs. Fire?
I dig.
Coyne is right, Arcade Fire are pompous assholes. I remember a couple of years ago they play the Much Music awards (I believe it was when Funeral came out) and after the performance they were complete assholes refusing to give any interviews, and I mean c’mon Much music had supported them and everything. Fuck them. And this is comming from a Canadian! Broken Social Scene is way better anyway!!
everyone that’s saying this is a classy response should remember this was a deliberate response. Win is answering the charge on his own terms. Wayne said this in an interview and I doubt he thought that day “Fuck Arcade Fire, I better call Rolling Stone”
I agree with Tandrew. Arcade Fire are pretentious and stale. They are nasty cause no self respecting Canadian will buy their music.
If Wayne had said this about Radiohead everyone would be going shitless on Wayne calling him a no-talent hack. And if Robert Smith or Billy Corgan had said this about Arcade Fire…fuhgeddaboutit
Actually, if you go ask any Radiohead fansite message board youll mostly find that Radiohead fans know Thom can be a pissy jerk, but people are willing to accept that as part of the puzzle. Same goes for John Lennon fans or Dylan fans.
Wayne’s got a firm ass, that’s for sure. Real, real firm.
Well there go our chances of Arcade Fire ever coming to OKC….
That’s cute, you think Arcade Fire would set foot in OKC. Adorable. Really. For some reason, some artists seem to think Oklahoma is a myth or something…it doesn’t exist, so why perform there? I call bullshit.
Jesus. I hope this ISN’T how Arcade Fire is, because it would totally prove Wayne’s point. Not really sure who to side with on this (leaning towards Wayne, more asshole reports on Win), but hopefully Win isn’t as a big a douchebag as you.
My nipples haven’t been this hard for a feud since 2Pac said he fucked Faith Evans. I seriously can’t wait for the drive-by.
FTW
TEAM WAYNE
I’m going to assume his brain is fried beyond salvation and everything he’s said to anyone over the last two decades is JIBBUH-JABBAH. You know, like your grandpa.
My grandpa is Mr. T? Awesome!
Again, more to the point is the fact that the Flaming Lips don’t even make music anymore, do they? They’re like the indie rock Celine Dion, getting by on reputation and live shows in which they’re too concerned about everything besides the music and end up sounding like complete shit. Yoshimi was, what, six years ago now? I mean, jesus, really. You idiots have me up to -20 on my previous Wayne-dissing comment, but you’re clearly homers, because the fact is his band is more or less shit at the moment. Seriously Wayne, you’re about the last person to be calling anyone out on anything music related.
Hey, can anybody tell me, I’m trying to find this Arcade Fire song. It starts off quiet, but then as the song goes along, it builds into a crescendo and the strings start to swell, and the singer really starts to sing loudly, and it climaxes. What song is that? I heard it on the radio and I’m dying to hear it again.
Oh man can anyone help me? I’m trying to remember that one joke about that one band where you somehow refer to one song by describing basically every song by that one band… how does that joke go again?
If I had been joking, would you be offended as a fan of AF or a fan of humor in general?
If you aren’t joking, it’s probably “My Body Is A Cage”
I don’t know. They have three or four songs like that. It should be easy to pick out of the rest
billy corgan, ryan adams, robert smith, wayne coyne, and many more need to learn the whole “if you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all” concept
I heard though that arcade fire are ,or at least Win is really arrogant and thinks he is the best thing ever, like royalty or something. I remember reading the rolling stone article and Win making the reporter get off a cab/ limo in the middle of a street because he had “some business” to take care of.
This, for me, is like the indie rock version of The Rock vs Stone Cold.
WIN BUTLER IS TYPING SO FUCKING HARD HE MIGHT BREAK HIS MACBOOK AIR
i get it…
I hate when mom and dad fight like this
Wayne’s always had a weird thing for singing about fighting. I thought it was a schtick. Guess not.
TEAM WIN:
I remember those Beck comments, and I remember his main point in that interview was that the artist’s personality was irrelevant to the quality of the music. I could get behind that, but I was bummed that he said Beck was such a loser(okay, but seriously, I don’t want to imagine him that way). This makes me feel better, if only because there is something spectacularly uncool about a person in Coyne’s position using his reputation to tarnish those of other people, especially when (as Win pointed out) he’s probably not in the best position to judge.
Stay cool, Win!
Only >70 comments? Come on, y’all! The other post’s already got like 150! Btw, Coyne trashes Radiohead in a 2003 Guardian article: “The Radiohead thing – we’re famous but we don’t want to be famous – is odd. We love playing music but we’re too weird to play music.”. Let’s build on this talking point!
Look how quickly we all forgot about Green Day.
Anyone else’s eyes hurt after reading that white-on-black text?
easier on my eyes than this site.
just sayin’
Sigh. Rockstars are so boring.
Sigh, indeed they.. they… sorry… cough, cough thet are.
LEAVE HER ALONE! You are lucky she even performed for you BASTARDS!
LEAVE WINTNEY ALONE!?..Please.
Won’t someone please think of the children!
Nonentity vs Has-Been, Round Two: The Nonentity Strikes Back.
Who gives a shit?
Somebody put both these self-obsessed little bitches in a bag and throw ‘em in a pond…
I can totally see The Arcade Fire being a bunch of pompous jerks. Kinda like The Tallest Man From Earth.
Wayne is my Facebook friend. Does Win have a Facebook page. No. What an asshole.
at this point in his career i would think Wayne would be above getting into petty fights like this
Someone needs to do a mash-up of “Fight Test” and “Ocean of Noise” NOW!!!!!!!!
TEAM WAYNE
The Arcade Fire would be nothing without their 9.6 rating from P4k’s ‘Funeral’ review and ever since Win has thought that he’s god gift. Well he’s not. Neon Bible sucked. The Lips have been inovating music for decades and Wayne Coyne is one of the nicest guys in showbusiness so if he calls bullshit on someone, there’s a reason for it. I’m sure everyone else in the Arcade Fire is cool, but FUCK WIN BUTLER. He’s a self righteous, pompous piece of shit. end of story.
And, when it comes to pompous, no one does it quite like the ‘fork. So, if that’s the basis on which we’re hating people, why does pretty much everyone concede P4k is the “best” source for reviews? We should be tearing them a new asshole.
I mean, you can say U2′s new album is weak without using the words “panacea”, “pastiche” and “pinache”. Yet, they’re all in there, screaming out between the lines “I’m an authority on this album because I’m using the ‘P’ section of my dictionary”. Frankly, I’m surprised the reviewer didn’t drop at least one “pompous” in there, considering the group.
I’m not defending U2 either, so don’t minus me on that angle. Just saying that, if popular belief is “you’re pompous” = “we hate you”, then “most of us” = “hypocrites”.
Cheap Hip Hop rival tactics to drum up business… they are both bastards.
I saw them hanging out togheter just last night in midtown Manhattan like a couple of professional wrestlers (rivals) throwing back beers after a long night of rolling around together.
We are the true assholes for even forming opinions about this trash.
I’ve emailed Kayne about this and am awaiting his reply for guidance.
i like wayne
i think weezy is going through a midlife crisis and win may be a biiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit of a dick. but, who isn’t. i recall their rollingstone interview about a year or 2 or 3 ago where in the middle of a conversation with the writer, win stopped the cab and told him to get out – just because. but whatever, as long as he stays away from scientology and keeps making bitchin shit, i think we can all agree its totally awesome.
Wouldn’t it be better to listen to good music instead?
Nice to see this is still going almost 24 hours later. To the commenter who called this all ‘very Us Weekly’ -you see, the thing is, blogs like traffic. This stuff, as you might have noticed, generates traffic.
Still Team Wayne BTW. I love Win’s feigned shock at having to defend himself against aspersions cast by a guy he briefly met three years ago when after all, he was jet lagged!
Please. That statement from Win is not classy, nor measured, as some have said. It’s full of nasty prep school-bred jabs at Coyne. This just in, Win: Wayne is not the only person who has ever found you pompous. Were that the case, it could be dismissed as the rantings of a bat shit ol Okie, Unfortunately this is an ongoing impression you have left with people. And your statement reinforces it. You have an amazing band, though.
did you make your name wayne’s world to reflect your position on this disagreement?
or do you like lil wayne?
or do you like the movies (pt.1 and 2?)
this is stupid
I don’t know what to make of this, I have so much respect for both Win and Wayne.
I am certain that Richard Ashcroft is indeed a pompous prick, however. Good call Wayne.
yeah but Richard Ashcroft is god, so he can be that way
Win for the loss!
I’m sure that this has already been said, but: call me old fashioned, but I judge my musicians based on their music, not whether they kiss babies and give donations to Amnesty. Plenty of my favourite writers were renowned for being abusive, sadistic and self-loathing drunks; I don’t let that alter my perception of them, because I really only have hearsay to go on. Just as Coyne could easily have gotten it wrong about Butler and his gang, having only met them a handful of times, it’s easy to imagine that Nice Guy Extraordinaire Wayne Coyne also has a dark side. I know and know of a lot of publicly nice people who reserve all of their abuse for those closest to them, and vice versa. How much is it really possible to know about somebody based on their public persona? Not much. Who gives a shit?
It is funny for Win to assume that Wayne has no association with Justin Timberlake. To be fair Justin Timberlake played guitar with the flaming lips when they were on top of the pops
This entire “Beef” is just hilarious. I never thought I’d see the day an Indie had to pick sides lol.
who are these people?
i’m of the opinion that if your “indie” rock peers were Sonic Youth, Pavement, and Nirvana at any point in your career and you are still around, then you have earned the right to say whatever the hell you want.
Soft Bulletin > Funeral.
To me, Arcade Fire’s only “rock peer” is Radiohead. That’s good company.
like everything in life… the truth is probably in between the two extremes. wins probably less of a dick then wayne says he is, and more of a prick then he seems in his “cordial” response.
On a side note: pitchforks unabashed knob slobbing of arcade fire makes me sick. they called wins response “a straightforward, sincere piece of writing” ugh, vomit.
Remember when Win Bulter stole that guys basketball (http://stereogum.com/archives/arcade-fire-stole-my-basketball_005529.html) I think he just might be a dick, haha. But I’ve also heard some great stories from people who go to see them. If they were such dicks to the fans, they wouldn’t go through the trouble of putting sooo much effort into every song of every show.
Pseudo — here’s what you can know about someone based on how they treat people publicy: HOW THEY TREAT PEOPLE PUBLICLY. And that matters. Just like how they treat people in private. While it doesn’t affect my opinion of their art, necessarily, who they are as a person in fact matters more. Either you believe that is important or you don’t.
Why is it all centered? Is he in Freshman Poetry? Do I have to snap when he’s done?
whats up with all the arcade fire haters?!! i respect both bands, but really this should never have started in the first place.
Win has more good grace in his little finger than Wayne has in his whole being!
I’ve never been inside their heads, but having seen them both, and seen how they are, I can safely say Wayne Coyne is not a good person. Win might be, we’ll see what happens next time.
that guardian article refers to a Verve encounter in 1994, when Ashcroft was probably at the height of his complete prick powers. so it’s a fair call.
Both these bands fucking suck.I am from Oklahoma and Wayne seems to show up to shake alot of touring bands’(HEALTH, Black Mountain, and The Liars) hands and always shows up right after the local bands(who don’t include any of his cousins and nephews and shit) play. I see the dude riding his bike everywhere dressed in suits, said alot of onery shit to him whilst swilling some merlot at varied art show, and seen the dude hangin out with kids as some sort of Big Bro program taking less fortunate tykes out to get them mad toys at the mall. Dude is a cunt and dude is nice. We alls gots a couple of sides. Bands talking shit on other bands always fuckin destroys though. Look it up. I am going to go back to listening to Naked Raygun, Jill Scott, and Spiritualized for the rest of the day.
10 years from now who’s really going to care about the Arcade Fire? These two bands are in no way NEAR comparable. Wayne has always been known to say exactly how he feels about people, politics, ideas…etc. so why is this such a big deal?
I’ll remember Arcade Fire way more than I’ll remember the Flaming Lips.
Your loss.
This just proves how absolutely ridiculous the whole of indie rock is getting. Ain’t no more soul.
i hope if wayne tears someone else its kings of leon
Wayne FTW. Wait.
wayne can tear me a new asshole any day ; )
who is wayne coyne ? nothing !
who is wayne coyne you ask? are you fucking seriuos? pick up a copy of zaireeka and tell me you dont shit your pants
What is Wayne? A miserable pile of secrets!
TEAM SANITY:
The other day, my friend said to me that he couldn’t listen to an artist if he thought they were a douchebag.
I laughed uproariously for about a minute.
Unfortunately he was serious.
I think that people share his habit, though, and so this is what I say. I understand that listening to a person’s music seems like you have a personal connection with them, and so in that sense of course it seems strange to want to listen to somebody who has, say, hit somebody once, or exposed their nipple on live TV (whatever makes you frown).
but the truth is, I don’t think the artist(or indeed the human) exists that is permanently nice on all sides. Yes, I know you hear interviews where Artist A sez “Oh Artist B is just the nicest, sweetest person, I love touring with them”. But on a long enough time scale, everybody’s kindness rate drops to zero.
Sometimes you’re at the end of a 18-month tour and some keen reporter doesn’t know what “I am tired and would like to go to sleep” means.
Sometimes you just had an awful fight with your bassist just before you go on stage, and then you end up yelling at him in the middle of the set while the world watches.
Just think about your requirements, is what I’m saying. If you’re asking that every artist, no matter how tired or angry or sad or human, should always be bursting with love and smiles for every reporter, every audience, every cameraphone, and on top of that you’re asking that they keep it real? Start your own band. And not to mention, if I was Arcade Fire I would frankly feel betrayed because this is _another_artist_ that is saying this, somebody who should know better, somebody who’s probably been through the same (and who knows, we’ll probably see some interview in the next month where somebody blasts Wayne Coyne).
so, to sum up:
I am trying to stick with Team Sanity. I will still listen to both bands’ music, just as I would be friends with somebody who was rude to somebody once. But I am somewhat annoyed at Wayne Coyne for prattling about things that A} he takes out of context and B} he probably knows the context of. and in the end, what’s his point?
dude, it’s ARCADE FIRE. of COURSE they’re dickheads.
I think most famous people, even at the indie rock level, are probably sociopaths or assholes on some level, or just very very lucky. Win Butler isn’t Canadian, he’s a Texan who went to boarding school. Wikipedia! I have no trouble believing he’s a pompous dick. Wayne Coyne, on the other hand, is a middle-class dude from OK who’s been climbing his way slowly to success for like 25 years. He doesn’t strike me as an asshole. But I don’t know either of them, so it’s all conjecture.
Point being, indie rock is just as showbizzy as mainstream showbiz, and I think it’s great that anybody would call anyone else out publicly on their prima donna bullshit. Maybe we’ll all start to see how all our elitism doesn’t make indie whatever better than say, Puddle Of Mudd, or something. Maybe I’m not making myself very clear.
Funny that you mention Puddle of Mudd. I don’t know personally, but from a friend who worked at a festival they played I heard that they were really nice. Terrible band, though.
Also, I worked at a record store once, and Godsmack sent us a box of chocolates for whatever reason. I think they’d gotten high with our owner when they passed through on tour or something like that. Nice guys, terrible musicians.
Not that being nice makes you a terrible artist. Some people are jerks and some people aren’t. We can’t all be Paul Newman.
True Story: I went to see Breaking Benjamin (remember them?) in high school with a girl. They weren’t very good. That night I ended up talking to the singer and he was REALLY nice. We started talking about songwriting and whatnot. He wanted to hear my band’s demo and asked us to hang out, but I didn’t have it on me and I needed to get back.
Anyway, the singer was so nice I decided to buy the album, BUT I LOST MY WALLET! Get this, he helped me looke for it! he was getting people’s attention and asking around. Nice guy! So then a few months later the drum tech mailed it to me with my money still inside! He said he’d forgottent to mail it and the dude asked him about it months after the fact.
I bought the album after I got that wallet back. They are not my style of music, but the singer was REALLY cool.
hahaha, well…OK i know this looks bad for wayne, n i am NOT a huge Lips fan, at all, but i DO like the guy, and the fact that he likes to keep it real with shit like this, i LIKE THAT, cause god knows if I were doing interviews Tomorrow, i’d be breaking a TON of eggs, i rip on a LOT of people.
So Ashcroft, i AM a huge Ashcroft/verve fan, he’s got an amazing voice and is a great basic/soulful songwriter, i’ll always love him, BUT… the idea he might have somewhat of a god complex doesnt really faze me, OR surprise me. I ‘believe’ it, but i DONT CARE. Same with Beck. Haha, just LOOK at Beck, you just KNOW he’s a weird guy, not in a bad way im sure but…NOT a shock at all.
BUT AGAIN, i like the fact that Wayne actually gives his honest opinions on poeple, i really really do. Cause ya know, i think people DONT do it enough. Dave Grohl for one never said ONE word to rip on Durst or Kid Rock during the big mtv rap rock hayday of the early 2000s, and that really pissed me off. I can see not wanting to ruffled feathers, but jesus Dave, you’re ON mtv, you have a voice, a platform, USE IT you pussy. At fucking least Manson made the Starfuckers video w/Reznor to show THEIR displeasure with that fucked up scene.
This whole situation is depressing. I absolutely hate it when a bands personal bullshit gets in the way of enjoying their music. I really like Beck, The Arcade Fire and the Flaming Lips, but all this sniping (mainly from Coyne) makes it hard to focus on their work.
The musicians we listen to are not actually our friends. This is news to you guys? Artists’ personalities are only distantly related to the art they create. If I were a journalist I wouldn’t be asking Wayne Coyne what he thought about other performers as people. I’d ask him when he’s going to stop wasting his time on glorified vanity projects like Xmas on Mars and coasting on the admittedly great but ten year old Soft Bulletin. Enough victory lap tours. And I agree that Win Butler should have kept his mouth shut and risen above the teen drama. I like Arcade Fire’s records too, but there aren’t enough of them yet to know whether all this matters.
Both of you guys get back to work!
“…coasting on the admittedly great but ten year old Soft Bulletin. Enough victory lap tours.”
Geez, man, can’t you give a guy a break? Coyne is 48 years old for god’s sake. Soft Bulletin was released 16 years into the Lips’ career! I for one don’t believe that artists have an endless wellspring of musical ideas to pull from; at some point you exhaust your most innovative creativity and either hang your hat up or you take it a little easy and play to your fans. Very few musicians stay innovative for their whole life.
The Lips were an underground 80s band that missed most of the initial alternative hype wave; 10 years on they then released a kitschy pop single that seemingly doomed them to one-hit wonderdom; fell into drug addiction; somehow defeated the odds against them (old, one hit, drugs) and released one of the greatest albums of the 90s; then Yoshimi! (oh yeah, all the while putting on some of the most innovative, risk-taking live shows of the past 20 years)
Dude *needs* to take a nap. He’s earned it.
wayne: youre an asshole
win: no, you are the asshole
crowd: ooh SNAP
Yeah, now that it’s the second half of the North American Blur/Oasis duel, what exactly could I write to score a touchdown instead of a field goal in comment points. I expect -60 for this one.