Arcade Fire Win Album of the Year Grammy

I wasn't going to post about this, because the Grammys are worthless, but it is major news about a band I love nonetheless, so I can't ignore it.

Arcade Fire won a Grammy for Album of the Year last night. They were up against Eminem, Lady Gaga, Katy Perry (fucking seriously?), and Lady Antebellum (who? another 'lady'?).

This was definitely a surprise. I don't think many people expected them to win against superstars like Eminem and Lady Gaga. While I happened to really like Eminem's Recovery ("Going Through Changes" especially), I wouldn't call it one of the year's best. The rest of the nominees are albums I've never listened to, nor do I care to.

Some people were extremely surprised and displeased. Who the fuck are the Arcade Fire anyway? Such reactions on Twitter have been collected on a site, and the result is pretty hilarious.

Who Is Arcade Fire?

Anyway, besides generating a funny internet meme, what does this award mean? I can't pretend this is momentous. I've looked at the history of the Grammys, and they are absolutely fucking terrible at recognizing the best music out there. Even just looking at this year...I mean, great that Arcade Fire are here, and that they won best album of the year, but most of what I would consider to be the best music of 2010 is entirely absent from the proceedings. The Grammys don't mean shit. They're garbage. One Album of the Year title being awarded to a band that I consider worthy, for once, does not change my opinion on this matter.

Congrats to Arcade Fire. If nothing else, this certainly helps to increase exposure for an awesome band. I've seen some people try to amp up the significance of this though, and I just can't go along with that. This isn't some giant victory of indie music over the 'lamestream'. I refuse to acknowledge any significance to this award. If Eminem or Lady Gaga had won album of the year last night, my appreciation of Arcade Fire's music would be exactly the same. I don't feel some sort of legitimacy has been bestowed upon the music I listen to. Nor am I about to reject Arcade Fire, who were already on the brink, and will now be well on their way to mainstream success.

I leave you with this clip from The Simpsons: