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Arcade Fire


*Justine*

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13 hours ago, TheLostColdplayer said:

Given that Coldplay have been close friends with AF in the VLV and MX eras, is there anyone out there who got into AF thanks to Coldplay and now is feeling a bit uncomfortable like me?

Yep. I discovered them thanks to Chris mentioning them in X&Y era interviews as an influence (or notably in Toronto 2006 "God gave you style and led you higher/God gave you the music of the Arcade Fire"). Funeral quickly became one of my favourite albums, second only to Coldplay albums, Neighborhood #1 Tunnels became one of my all time favourite songs. Over the years i bought some of their vinyls, saw them live in 2018 and even bought a biography book that was in French, that was how much I got interested in them and their music. I never connected much with the albums Reflektor or EN, and I suppose that yes, you could tell that the magic in the relationship between Win and Régine fell apart sometime after The Suburbs. But then again it seemed to have returned and was blown away by the beauty of the comeback that was WE, bought that album and even likened it to being their Everyday Life after their AHFOD. Well, the joy of loving WE did not last long...

I never got good vibes from Win, and there were lots of stories about him being arrogant/not nice to fans/dictator-like in the band, as there were stories about some of the other band members being unpleasant too. So I never connected with them on a human level or felt like they were particularly good human beings like, for example, the members of Coldplay, and there was always something that made me feel a distance to them somehow...but this, this is the worst. It's the end. I heard the first rumors about it a few months ago, and got a bad feeling that they were gonna be true because so many people confirmed that it was an open secret in the places they live(d) in. The whole investigation coming out a few days ago was the final nail in the coffin. What made it even worse were his and Régine's statements: Hiring a PR consultant who worked for the Trump family (LOL), deflecting the whole thing as a mistake, denying the victim's accounts that there was a power imbalance/abuse and blaming it on his mental health and drinking because his wife had a miscarriage (!!)

Well here's the thing Win: A lot of people have mental health and drinking problems and deal with crises like miscarriages or worse and don't become sexual predators! This is not even about cheating or having an open marriage or whatever questionable "coping strategy", which would only concern him and Régine, but this is about abusing power and the fame that this beautiful, pure music brought you for extorting sex from young, barely legal women. It's disgusting and not justifiable by anything. And the account of the victim who tried to commit suicide starkly shows how far the consequences reach.

I used to like Régine, but her statement basically saying that she doesn't believe the victims makes her look like a complicit in this. She is probably a gaslit victim of her toxic husband, too, in a way, but I would have expected more of her. I don't think I can ever listen to their music or hear any of their voices again without being reminded of this disgusting behaviour. It's a huge loss and a treachery to everyone who believed in the good that Arcade Fire always tried to present in their music and lyrics. My sympathies go out to all the hardcore fans to whom this band meant the same that Coldplay does to me, who lived by those lyrics and were saved by those songs and now see the beauty of it all destroyed by one man's disgusting crimes.

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Lots of bottled up emotions about this from the last days getting out now. One last thing: I hate it when artists who have been privileged to have found global success and legions of fans to whom that art means the world taint that art with their own horrible actions as human beings. Every day i think about it i consider myself lucky that the band that means the world to me (and to all of us here) has never had any allegations, not even the shadow of a doubt.

If anything like that were ever to be revealed about any member of Coldplay, it would be the end of the world for me (and probably for most/all of us).

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Yes, I also thought the same about Coldplay. They also have openly discussed their issues (addiction, family problems, youth mistakes, etc) in many interviews, even if that meant challenging the image we had of them, but that has become their strength, and I think that, despite some older Coldplayers (like me) sometimes criticise their music, we all love them as a band and as human beings. And we appreciate what they are doing.

I got into AF only recently, last year, but had come to love their music (particularly Funeral and Neon Bible) and I had high hopes for the new era, which was a relief after EN. Last monday I had just subscribed to their site, looking forward to future tour dates, when the news hit on me like an icy rainfall. Now I don't know what to think. As I said, I still hope for some redeeming act, because I can't think such a beautiful story (I mean, Bowie, Gabriel, Coldplay and many others acclaimed them) should end up in this horrible way.

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Yes, I think it's okay if we never forgive Win but that doesn't mean they shouldn't try to do better and make some good out the harm. The whole response is just crazy and hurtful to the victims. I was hoping to see them on tour one day and now I don't think that will happen. 

I'm sure Coldplay could have minor skeletons in their closet, but I think the beauty of these guys is that they are just genuinely nice and good people.

The worst things I can think of would be related to Guy and his whole NFT thing this past year, which is dumb but not "cancellable." And Chris has had some run-in's with paparazzi but frankly I would have too. Also they are all stupid rich and pro-capitalism in their messaging. I love how they softly advocate for stuff but then also work with oil and gas companies. In the grand scheme though, I love how they are open to criticism on that and seriously take it and try to make things better.

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Yeah, that's it. At present, they seem to have ignored the thing, waiting for people to forget everything in a few days. They probably think that it's something private that does not concern their music, ignoring all the intellectual honesty stuff that most of their fans expect after all. They could certainly turn this bad experience into something constructive, but what happened should be acknowledged.

What you say about Coldplay's involvements with not-so-clean partners is true and has worsened a bit recently, but it's not that serious, as you also noted. Perhaps many problems emerge when famous people loose contact with reality, Coldplay's relationship with fans (especially in the past, with the Oracle and giveaway albums, etc) has kept them quite grounded, I think. 

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