Donut Boy

I recently bought Arcade Fire's first album, Funeral, after strong recommendations from my friends and it being commonly referred to as their best album by everyone on the internet. I commonly see it called the most emotional of the albums, and have even seen it called "emotionally charged". However, after listening to it several times, I don't understand why people hold it so highly. It's certainly a good album, but I don't hear the same emotion that other people seem to hear. Honestly, the Suburbs stirs up more emotion in me than Funeral does. So what I want to know is: what am I missing?

tldr: What's so great about Funeral?

emalvick

Wish I could answer you, but I feel the same way. Some of it may be that you really like Emo, which I'm not much of a fan of to begin with.

As it is, I really like The Suburbs and think it is Arcade Fire's best album, but sadly I feel like I'm generally in the minority among Arcade Fire fans.

ianmartinblin

It's basically epic with choirs and great tunes to whistle & they're Bowie-esque

sidewinder

I agree with you and Donut Boy on this, we're not alone.

Funeral was the first I heard back in 2006 I think, and I thought it was ok at the time. I was really into indie rock and emo at the time, but it didn't get more than an "ok" from me. Then I started a new job and we had an iTunes playlist or some CDs shuffling in the office, one of which was Funeral. I got really ****ing tired of the whining on the album and started to really hate it. So in that sense, it does stir up a lot of emotion in me.

I never bothered with Neon Bible, but when The Suburbs came out a friend of mine told me it was based on a suburb of Houston (The Woodlands) where we both used to live, and some of the band members also grew up in. So I thought I'd give it a shot and liked it immediately. It's still emotional without being whiny, like he's crying. Great album.

I eventually checked out Neon Bible but haven't listened to it more than once all the way through, reminded me a bit too much of Funeral. It's probably a decent middle ground though, if I were to try again.

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Justthefacts

Indeed try again. Funeral and Neon Bible are almost two entirely different beasts. Neon Bible is so overblown, but in the most blissful way possible, even if he does might sound like he's whining a little.

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s_k

I generally dislike Arcade Fire.
I actually sat through a whole live concert of them, to see Tool playing afterwards, on a festival. And even then I didn't get it.
It seems so overly dramatic, so artificial.
Nevertheless, the big boss of that festival (Lowlands, in the Netherlands) is a huuuuge Arcade Fire fan. There's apparently something I'm missing out on. But even if I did like the music, I couldn't stand the theatrical singer.

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sidewinder

Some day...

I agree with that in regards to Funeral. Not so much on The Suburbs, seems more down to earth.

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I'd love to see your signature/links too, but the huge and obnoxious ones have caused me to block all signatures.

Justthefacts

right now

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Justthefacts

No, NOW

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Paedantic Basterd

Neon Bible is one of my favourite albums, even compared to Funeral.