Us v. Them

In the past week, LCD Soundsystem sold out its final show ever, at Madison Garden, which seats about 13,000 people, in less than three minutes (though scalpers apparently had something to do with this). Two days later, I was sitting in the Newbury Street store of Boloco, a local chain offering mediocre burritos, when "Two Weeks," the popular song from Grizzly Bear's most recent album, came on the sound system. That night, the Arcade Fire won the Grammy award for Album of the Year.

Any indie band's crossover into the mainstream can be difficult to swallow because of the inevitable questions about artistic integrity and commercial dilution. But as odd an experience as it is to hear the near-doo-wop harmony of "Two Weeks" on Newbury Street, I still believe Grizzly Bear deserve it, as do these other bands for what they accomplished. Why shouldn't the public at large listen to good music when it has the option? And why shouldn't LCD Soundsystem et al have the opportunity to make money from being excellent at what they do? Excellence should be rewarded.

I wrote a friend that the Arcade Fire's victory made me feel 17 years old again because it reminded me of how excited I used to be when a band broke through to the next stage and how I would think that finally the general public might start listening to good music. It made listening to music seem very important, almost political -- proselytizing about a band was thrilling. Unfortunately, I've since learned the wave never truly washes ashore and cultural taste is so often defined by us and them, the insiders and the outsiders, the obsessive and the casual, the discerning and the nonchalant, the elitist and the accepting. Obviously, I'm the elitist, though I try hard not to be one. I still get excited about bands and sometimes gush about them, but not quite in the way I did about seven years ago.

Thanks to LCD Soundsystem for the post's title. Above is the end of the Arcade Fire's acceptance speech at the Grammys and their launch into the ceremony's final song of the night. Now I really should buy "The Suburbs," considering how much I've written about it.