In his ongoing quest to call out every asshole in the music industry, Flaming Lips frontman Wayne Coyne tears into Arcade Fire for Rolling Stone:
“Whenever I’ve been around them, I’ve found that they not only treated their crew like shit, they treated the audience like shit. They treated everybody in their vicinity like shit. I thought, ‘Who do they think they are?’ I don’t know why people put up with it. I wouldn’t put up with it. I don’t care if it’s Arcade Fire or Brian Eno. If either of them walked into a room and treated people like shit I’d be like, ‘Fuck you, get outta here.’ […] They have good tunes, but they’re pricks, so fuck ’em. Who does Arcade Fire think they are? I’ve been around groups. I’ve been around the Edge from U2 and he’s the fucking sweetest guy ever. I was around Justin Timberlake when he was young and he was just a normal, nice, kind person. Anyone can be polite and kind and people who have the privilege and money and attention should understand that. If they don’t, then fuck ’em.”
For those who think he never says anything positive about anybody, notice his compliments toward the Edge and Justin Timberlake! Tell it like it is, Wayne.
Previously: Flaming Lips vs. NIN, STP, Beck
MP3: The Arcade Fire – “Black Mirror”
Our G-Rap homeboy Angry John Sellers asks Flaming Lips frontman Wayne Coyne some Tough Questions for Spin magazine. Hilarity ensues.
On annoying other bands with gratuitous confetti:
We recently did a festival in Mexico…and fucking Nine Inch Nails and Stone Temple Pilots were worried about our confetti getting on their little guitar setups. And I’m just like, “Who gives a fuck?”
On the 2002 tour where the Lips were the warm-up and the band for Beck Hansen:
I was purposely doing an Ali/Frazier kind of thing. There was so much work going into playing not just our set, but also his [as Beck’s backing band]. At the end of the day, you’ve got to have some fucking fun. He was not very much fun to be around because he’s all just, you know, overwhelmed with being famous and being cool or whatever. So I started fucking with him. And everybody was in on it! There would be moments where you thought he was in on it, too. And then he’d go talk to someone, and they’d set his mind on some other thing, and he’d be really hurt by it. It would be as though me and you were joking about something. And then five minutes later, suddenly you didn’t realize that it was a joke.
Good old Wayne. You can’t help but want him to babysit your kids.
Bonus: Sellers’ interview with Ice Cube is great, too.
Wayne Coyne’s Guide to Festival Survival:
The older you get, the more you’re like, “Why would I want to stand in the heat all day with a bunch of drunk morons?” When you’re young, and the possibility of having sex is in the air, and you’re seeing new things, that’s a beautiful thing.
I’m asking myself that very question right now as I gear up for Pitchfork and Lollapalooza (again). Very excited about Yoko though!
MP3s: eMusic’s 2007 Pitchfork Music Festival Sampler.
With the fortieth anniversary of the release of Sgt. Pepper, ’tis the season to knock some idols off their pedestals. The Guardian asked a bunch of musicians to “nominate the supposedly great records they’d gladly never hear again,” and they came up with some fantastic quotes.
These days, well, it’s my contention that it represents the death of the Beatles as a rock’n’roll band and the birth of them as music hall, which is hardly a victory. The main problem with Sgt Pepper is Sir Paul’s maudlin obsession with his own self-importance and Dickensian misery. (Paul McCartney is the dark one in the Beatles, not John Lennon, because he writes such depressing, scary music.) It’s like a Sunday before school that goes on forever. It’s too dark and twisted for anyone with any light in their life. Then again, when he tries to be upbeat, it rings false – like having a clown in the room.
–Billy Childish on Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band
In America when you’re growing up, you’re subjected to the Doors as soon as you start going to parties and smoking weed. People think of Jim Morrison as a brilliant rock’n’roll poet, but to me it’s unlistenable. The music meanders, and Morrison was more like a drunk asshole than an intelligent poet.
— The Hold Steady’s Craig Finn on LA Woman
More after the jump…
Continue reading Musicians Trash Classic Albums →
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