#500 Arcade Fire, ‘Funeral’ (2004)

Previously #151

‘Funeral’ is the debut album by Arcade Fire, released in 2004. The band really burst onto the scene with this record, garnering them immediate critical acclaim (9.7/10 on Pitchfork says it all!) and a Grammy nomination for ‘Best Alternative Album’.

I remember first hearing this album around the same time as Modest Mouse’s ‘Good News For People Who Love Bad News’ and Bloc Party’s ‘Silent Alarm,’ each of those albums released 5 months apart either side of this one. On my very first spin I remember thinking that they sounded very much like The Cure. To be honest, not sure what I was thinking because they don’t sound anything like them.

A really seminal record of the early 2000s indie scene, it includes mainstays ‘Rebellion (Live)’ & ‘Wake Up.’