In the land of commercial self-gratification, the independent rock group reigned king. At least, that is what the sentiment of the evening was at the conclusion of the 53rd Grammy Awards when Arcade Fire took home Album of the Year for their third studio album, ‘The Suburbs.’
It was a shaky evening for predictions. Earlier that evening it looked as if Lady Antebellum (who won 5 awards throughout the night) would go in for the full sweep, or that Lady Gaga, who finished the night with a victory in Best Pop Album, could win.
However, there was always a hint in the air that Arcade Fire’s 2010 release could still snag the title from the mouth of top 40 artists. After getting nominated for Best Alternative Rock Album, and watching it go to the stellar ‘Brothers’ by The Black Keys (who were not nominated for Album of the Year), it would seem like an injustice had taken place for the Canadian rock outfit not to go home with anything.
As soon as they left the stage following a fantastic performance of ‘Month of May,’ Arcade Fire charged right back out to accept their award. It would have been hard to watch any other artist accepting the award with Arcade Fire‘s drum kit visible in the background. They finished off the evening with a great outing of their track ‘Ready to Start.’
It was not only a shocker to Arcade Fire when frontman Win Butler exclaimed, “What the hell?” but also to audiences who were not familiar with the group’s work at all.
This comes not only as the first major award to Arcade Fire, but to their Durham, N.C. based independent record label Merge Records as well. After ‘The Suburbs’ received critical acclaim and hit number one on the Billboard charts its debut week, there was some foreshadowing that this record could go on to have larger implications for the independent music world as a whole.
The Grammys have always been a commercially-focused awards ceremony, and rightly so – top 40 musicians would be expected to pull in the most ratings and money overall. But the legitimacy of the award winners in past years has been in question lately, as has the seriousness of the Grammy Awards in general.
Arcade Fire winning what is considered a prestigious award, however, could indicate a large shift away from the Grammy status quo of awarding only those artists with top 40 success. Bands like Arcade Fire and The Black Keys are receiving recognition based instead upon acclaim and support from places like NPR and WKNC instead.
In no way will this shift come quickly, rather this is a longer process and Arcade Fire has merely opened the gates for other independent artists to follow. This Grammy bump was reflected the morning of February 14th as the iTunes top albums list included the works of independent artists including Mumford and Sons, Florence and the Machine, and The Avett Brothers (following stellar performances at the awards ceremony by each), and of course Arcade Fire.
If anything, this has provided an example that when all the right elements fall into place – the sales success, the critical acclaim, the overwhelming live performances, and the shift away from viewing top 40 artists as the only important and influential musical forces – the underdog is able to make one of the biggest upsets.
