Funeral

already know this album but i haven't listened to the whole thing. got that early 2000s sound and style (duh). perfect for my radio-friendly indie playlist lol. i love arcade fire but i think i prefer their latter albums (they were more experimental). only 2-3 tracks stood out to me in funeral. maybe i just got tired of this specific indie rock sound... i blame the millennials. BUT it made me feel nostalgic.

Gostei não. Não faz meu estilo

Sounds like an indie album from the early 2000s. To be fair, this album probably popularized the sound. Big production, emotional vocals, varied instrumentation. There are some strong singles but the rest of the album feels a little same-y.

Who or what is the funeral for? The youth? They do seem a mite hung-up about the world children are being born into. Or is it the death of the 'neighbourhood'--the slightly irritating conceit for four song titles? If it was me, I'd be lamenting the last three tracks, which are all 'slow builds'--the standard indie Polyfilla when a song isn't working. Despite the band's best efforts, thoe songs expire lamely anyway. Let's assume they never figured out what their concept was and remember that, until 'Haiti' comes around, it doesn't matter. Win's vocals are absurd, falling somewhere between Bono, David Thomas and Gerard Way (did you know such a place existed?) I guess that makes him part universalist, part edge-of-nervous breakdown, and part actual breakdown. The band walks its own tightrope between lavish orchestration and thin, scratchy guitars. Those components shouldn't work but mostly do because this gazillion-piece (who clearly had stadium aspirations from the start, so "indie" my butt) knows how to rinse every last drop from a key change. The one in the Kettle chorus epitomises their whole sound. And they can write in a way that's general enough to seem relevant to everyone but specific enough to stay weird ("They say a watched pot won't ever boil / You can't raise a baby on motor oil" is a favourite). They're best when they work themselves up into a tizz. The strings at the end of Crown of Love are so hyper they could have been made specially for a football highlights package. But when these guys are peaking not even a seven-goal thriller would match the melodrama. Shame they got scared of their shadow after The Suburbs.

Music of this era can be so indistinctive. Just sounds like so many other bands. I don't like the strained voice vocals but otherwise having it on in the background was inoffensive enough

Couldn't even remember what this sounded like by the end of the day.

I don't know if the album was named Funeral in an attempt at irony or in ignorance, but this is the funeral soundtrack to "indie rock." These bands outsmarted themselves into irrelevance. And for the love of all that is good an holy - enough with the 2* albums!

I forgot about the album as soon as the first song started.

Should certainly be on here. I certainly briefly loved it. However, I haven't been able to stand this band for years. Shit people to boot.

Somewhere between nostalgic slideshow and early FIFA soundtrack... okay

The first time i listened to this it was a slog to get through to be honest, however this time it did hit differently. I owe this to me being in a very different mindset then i was in when i first listened, it spoke to me a bit more, even got me a little emotional. I don’t thin this is one i’ll revisit in it’s entirety again but theres definitely one or two songs that did something for me.

It sounded like an early 2000s album, and it sounded like it would be in a movie soundtrack. Couldn't hear what they were saying and the song names were pretentious.

288/1089 - Boring, too long and bad voices. Only thing it has going for it is instrument competency.

Crown of love and Wake up are great songs. Another band let down by annoying af vocals

I didn’t mind it, but I don’t quite get the hype or why this is considered such a groundbreaking album. I guess you just had to be there.

I put this on my ear phones while I did my morning workout and was Hal way through before I even noticed it was playing! The whole album just washed over me without leaving a single sonic imprint.

Middling aughts indie rock that didn’t interest me then and still doesn’t now.

#174. I listened to this yesterday, and as I'm trying to think about it now, I realize I already don't really remember what it sounds like. Arcade fire is just that memorable I guess. I'm pretty sure I remember thinking the girl kinda sounds like Björk on the last song. Not sure if that's a positive or a negative, but that's what I got. 2/5: hipster folk

There was one song I liked on this album and after listening to the entire album, I can’t remember it…

I thought it was going to be better than what it was.

Meh

If the people who invented and created recording equipment knew it was going to be (mis)used this way they would have never gone through with it. I hope they called it funeral to celebrate the end of their musical career because they realized they should have never even begun to try and make any music.

Wanted to like it more than I actually did Way too meandering Rebellion (Lies), Wake Up, and Crown of Love are the good songs

Had I been born 15 years later I might have been into these guys a lot more, although they give me definite Smashing Pumpkins vibes, and I was never keen on those guys. The vocalist has quite an annoying voice, which is directly responsible for me thinking the best song on the album by far is the final track that he doesn't sing.

It was awful, boring, and so mediocre that I simply couldn't understand what this album was doing on this list.

No thanks

The one star is for Wake Up. The rest was white noise to me.

Please, this is not one of the finest albums of all time

I don’t get them. I don’t get any of these “how many people can we fit on a stage? More? Give ‘em a drum” bands. If the songs were there I’d be down, but I’ve heard them for years, and listened now and found that literally none of it sticks in my mind. Gun to my head, I couldn’t name an Arcade Fire song to save my life. And I JUST listened to this album!

This album didn't move the needle for me at all. 10 tracks of background misic.

Win Butler has made a career of singing about neighborhoods and phones bad. This is one of the good ones about neighborhoods. He has also been in a lot of NBA celebrity all-star games. He is good at that. He is bad at saying phone bad.

One of my favourite albums from the early noughties

I'm burned out of listening to this album and the band in general, haven't listened to this from start to finish in... more than 10 years probably. It... is... fantastic. The energy they give out sounded pretty inique, it’s got great singles, greater deep cuts. It’s timeless and great for all ages. I remember dancing to several of these songs back in the day at the local indie rock bar. I was obsessed with Haiti for years. The whole album brings back lots of memories and I still wish I could hear it again for the first time.

Wow... This sounds like the world never met AI and as if I actually lived to my fullest potential.

340/1089 really enjoyed this indie, chamber folk album. very me vibes and i look forward to explore their sound more besides the few songs i already knew before this faves: neighbourhood 4, wake up, haiti 85/100

Millennial core memory

God I fucking love this album so much, it’s so god damn good. Inject it into my veins and let my heart echo its rhythm. good lord it’s so good. Songs that made it to the highlights Neighborhood 1 Une Annee Sans Lumiere Neighborhood 3 Crown of Love Rebellion Wake Up In the Backseat Favorite song Wake up

I’ve loved this album since 2013, when my twin sister and I were mere high schoolers believing we were becoming inside a world that was wide open. We’d roll down the windows of our mom’s car, open the moon roof, and blast a CD burned with the songs from this record. The music takes you on a journey through a neighborhood and makes you feel like you belong to something much larger—larger, even, than life. With this album, I return to my teenage years and precious moments with my twin sister.

Favorites: Wake Up (a classic) and the soul-stirring strings of In the Backseat

Listening at night with city light and bro is top 10 moments in my life

Funeral is one of those albums that grew with me. I first heard Arcade Fire when I was 16, a skateboarding punk who didn’t really get what they were doing. My brother told me to give it another chance, and one morning skating to school with Neighbourhood #1 (Tunnels) in my headphones, something clicked. It felt fresh, youthful, distinctly Canadian, and completely in step with the moment. The album immediately pulls you into its world of power outages, hope, loss, and community, all wrapped in an exhilarating sense of movement. What still amazes me is how layered and alive these songs feel. Tracks like Neighbourhood #2 (Laika), Nieghbourhood #4 (Power Out), and Neighbourhood #4 (7 Kettles) showcase an incredible ability to build arrangements from guitars, strings, keys, and pounding drums into something far bigger than the sum of their parts. The mix of English and Québécois French on songs like Une année sans lumière and Haiti adds another dimension to an album that already feels uniquely Canadian. Every song seems to build toward some emotional release, whether it’s the aching crescendo of In the Backseat or the euphoric rush at the end of Crown of Love. The highlights are among the greatest indie rock songs ever recorded. Wake Up remains my favourite—seeing it performed live during The Suburbs tour was unforgettable, with thousands of voices singing along as if the song belonged to everyone in the room. Rebellion (Lies) was my introduction to the band and opened the door to a whole new world of music for me. It sounded authentic, exciting, and unlike anything else I was listening to at the time. Arcade Fire set an incredibly high bar with their debut, and somehow followed it with Neon Bible and The Suburbs, one of my favourite three-album runs by any band. More than twenty years later, Funeral still feels vibrant, emotional, and vital—a record I return to often and one that continues to reveal new things with every listen.

A power punch of intense passion and strong rhythmic instrumentation to rock this world awake

This is what the 2000's sound like. If the music was actually good.

Excited to get into this end-to-end. Enjoyable, but not as much as I thought it'd be? Maybe my expectations were elsewhere. 4.5 rounded up. Highlights: neighborhood #1, wake up (from before), rebellion

Aracde Fire were a very important band to me for a long time. Saw them on SNL then on Austin City Limits and i thought i’d be a BIG FAN™️ for life. Then Everything Now happened, although that one had a couple of tracks i actually enjoyed. Then WE came out and it was fine! Actually got my eyes on them for a little bit again. Then all the information about Win surfaced and like many, all the magic went away like that. Like magic. I told myself at the time that i’d be able to go back to the stuff before they hit it huge and he still had “things to say”, but i haven’t touched any of it since. I’m rating this album for what it was, and what i still wish it was for me.

Fantastic! More I hear from this band the band I love them.

As a kid, Arcade Fire was an such an essential part of the soundtrack to my life, with my dad blasting songs like Wake Up and Tunnels to the point where I couldn't hate this album if I tried. So many great things I could say about this album, from the lyrics to the painful vocals, but I think what makes this album so special is the band's profound ability to write seemingly timeless melodies. I mean, the triumphant group vocal melody on Wake Up, the 'Alice Died' section on In The Backseat, these songs feel like they always existed, just waiting for some artist to come along and bring them to fruition, and Arcade Fire do that in a way that gives these ideas such a grandeur; songs that feel larger-than-life, like a bigger movement is contained in each. And the production aids this, balancing the delicate quieter moments like Une Annee Sans Lumiere with the explosive, distorted rawness of tracks like Power Out. The band have other great albums no doubt, but I don't think they were ever able to recapture the magic that was present across these 48 minutes. Am I being utterly biased and subjective? Absolutely, but even someone coming to this album now for the first time can appreciate the genius that went into its creation. Sucks the main guy's a pred though. Favourites: Tunnels, Laika, Power Out, Wake Up, Rebellion (Lies), In The Backseat

Fantastic album.

Brilliant album. Executed storytelling ability very well. A lot of passion, variety and other musings

I loved this. Perhaps it was because I was ever so slightly toasted and on a gorgeous walk, but what an album. I felt like I was at Reading Festival in 2009 My immediate feeling was that this was like King Fizz were a west-coast US band making music for the everyman, but ultimately it went and went and went.

It was amazing 🤩👍. Every song was great but my favorites were In the Backseat and Rebellion(Lies). It was a fantastic album with a very cool ahead of its time sound. Overall, I would give this album a 4.7/5! 🌷🍃🌱🕊️

Purify the colours/purify my mind. An album that's completely embedded in my soul, for better or for worse. I wrote one of my senior-year exam essays on Rebellion (Lies), the same year me and my friends we sat in the back of our class refreshing Ticketmaster so we could buy the maximum-allowed eight contiguous seats for the Reflektor tour. As I sat In The Backseat on a long-distance drive with my future in-laws, I thought: I am ever careening toward death. My dog's name is Laika, for chrissake; she's not named after the Arcade Fire track, but she's also not -not- named after it. I've lived half a life since this record entered my life as a 15-year-old; I'm staring down the barrel of 30 in a few short weeks. I'm just some water getting hotter in the flame. I have listened to it less and less in recent years, what with the Allegations and Arcade Fire's generally depressed output. But replaying it here reaffirms what I've always known: this is as perfect a record as has ever been recorded. The pure euphoria as Rebellion reaches its crescendo can never be diminished.

Masterpiece

Such a great album - a mellow but fun listen all the way through.

I listened to this album a bunch ~8 years ago but I haven't listened in its entirety since so I was interested to see how it would hold up. Not quite the same effect as 8 years ago but I still think this is such a great album.

I loved this when it was released... it suited geeky me and there a bit of lyrical and musical intrigue in every song. It has dated a bit... maybe too many copycats? But for the memories and the brave personal...

One of the actual perfect 5 star albums from the first half of the 2000s. The Neighbourhood sequence of songs in particular is evocative and beautiful, and then followed up by Wake Up and Rebellion (Lies) it's a perfect album. When it came out I was working in a record store, the rep came out and made a point of insisting we put this on and have a listen - it really was a revelation at the time. They manage to land the trick of being earnest and dramatic without ever being cringeworthy.

Yeah, I really liked these guys when they came out. Not sure I’m still quite as enamoured but they are still miles above a lot of the other bands around this time.

My first introduction to Arcade Fire was the trailer for 2009's "Where the Wild Things Are". That book and movie filled me with a sense of Wanderlust and the trailer was accompanied by an unreleased acoustic version of "Wake Up". That combination forever attached positive emotions to this album and made me a huge fan of 2000s and 2010s indie/alt rock as a whole. Side note, back in 2010 or so Arcade Fire did a live YouTube concert, back when a live streamed concert was a novel idea. About 30 seconds into their 4th or 5th song they all stopped and apologized. One of the members missed a note so they started the song over. Its a pretty small thing, but I respect their commitment to a good show. All that said, looking back this album heavily shaped the indie rock scene for years to come. This album is the Seinfeld effect in action. This bombastic wide open sound would go on to take over the indie scene in the coming years because everyone wanted to copy it.

Easily the defining record of my early 20s. After the darkness of the early aughts to have an album come along and be so joyful was a shock to the system. What’s that? Oh yeah, it’s the sound of every Xennial scream singing “Lies! Lies!”

just mann melodicicity Rating=97

fuck yea

I forget that this was their debut album. They really came out and hit the ground marching and singing! This is definitely a no-skips album for me. From start to finish it felt big, inspiring, sad. This is road tripping music. Sing-a-long in a crowd music. The epitome of indie music.

*Empowering, hopeful, euphoric Tunnels Laika Lies

, it was a really beautiful album, apple tagged it as alternative and i agree. songs of story telling and yearning; but it keeps you in a good mood.

Buenisimo.

Such a good energy. I do love indie pop and this is a master class in it. I've never been that into Arcade Fire (I think it was before my time) but this is such a great album start to finish. Reminds me a lot of the orchestral pop I loved from the 70s/80s. But with that early 2000s flavor. I would get this on vinyl and relisten to it.

There was a before this album and there was an after

Listened to this while changing a lock and various other Sunday tasks. Tired of the renovation hustle that I’ve been on lately. But I loved this album.

This album is one of the few I would listen to on repeat. I’ll never forget my sister introducing me to the album through “Crown of Love” while driving down a Florida highway on the way to the beach and breaking into a disco dance when the drumbeat hit. This is the most gorgeous and hopeful doomsday metaphor that I’ve certainly ever heard.

Super Album, super Band. Tunnels sehr schön, eines meiner Lieblingslieder. Crown of love und Rebellion auch top top top. Rest ist auch gut. Fand The Suburbs etwas besser war, geb aber trotzdem eine 5.

One of the best indie albums, every song has something special about it

Hyper vivant, melancholie, contrasté (triste et joie), intense

Arcade fire must be the band I like the most that I've made the least effort to listen to. I remember listening to power out on MTV2, really liking it and not bothering to seek out the album. And now here we are! And the album is great too, theres a lot going on that takes it above most the indie of the time it was usually lumped in with. Think I prefer suburbs but it's a close run thing.

“Now that I’m older my heart’s grown colder.” This is the first album I looked forward to being released. The Arcade Fire EP hit me like a revelation and when Funeral came out I became a confirmed indie rock kid. What a perfect soundtrack for turning 18. The world seemed so big and full of possibilities. And even though it’s a lot more twee than most stuff I listen to these days it still holds up.

Funeral is a masterpiece. I don't love every track individually, but as a unit it is great.

I am very familiar with this one. When I first heard it I wasn't convinced, but over the years it has grown on me. I revisit it occasionally and it's aging well.

Let me start by saying that Régine Chassagne has the voice of an angel, and is a top 3 voice crush for me. She’s woefully under-utilized in Arcade Fire albums, but that’s just my opinion. Her backup vocals in “Crown of Love” are devastatingly beautiful. As an album, this was one I knew would be an instant 5/5. The number of hits is basically the entire track list, and there’s a frenetic energy to the whole thing that captivates the heart and soul. Jumps up into my top 5 to date.

Super

For en debut! Var spesiell når det kommer ut og er en plate jeg fortsatt kan både danse til og bli rørt av. Min mest klinke femmer til nå.

The finest of noughties indie rock. Played this to death back in the day

I listened to this album a lot back in the day and it is solid throughout.

One of the best albums I've heard

This album is better than I remember.

Tremendous

I love this album. It was such a big deal when it came out.

Loved this album a lot especially the nbhd #2(laika) I wasn’t expecting it to be like this but I liked it nonetheless

Banger

Such a good album! Amazing from start to finish.

All-timer album right here. Fantastic album front to back. Probably the best Arcade FIre but the Suburbs could give it a run for it's money.

Loved it! Easy listening, great vocal, great sound.

Tunnels Crown of love

8/10 really good nice to think too

Le doy un 9/10 a Funeral. Me pareció un álbum muy interesante, con un concepto muy bien construido. Siento que habla mucho sobre crecer, aceptar cambios y despedir etapas de tu vida. Es de esos discos que te hacen reflexionar sobre el futuro, incluso con cierto miedo, pero al mismo tiempo te obligan a sentirlo todo. Es perfecto para escuchar en una noche donde estás sobrepensando, o incluso llorando en el carro. Tiene una carga emocional muy fuerte, pero nunca se siente exagerada, es más como un abrazo al corazón para saber que todo estará bien. Las canciones que más me gustaron fueron: - Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels) - Neighborhood #3 (Power Out) - Haiti - Wake Up - Rebellion (Lies) - Crown of Love - In the Backseat - 7 Kettles

Another album that really defines and brings me back to a specific era. In the early 2000s, this album was huge. The Arcade Fire were indie darlings of the time. This debut is both larger than life and intimiate. By centering the album on a story of a neighborhood blackout in winter, they managed to take a relatively mundane subject (for rock n roll standards) and elevate it into a story of people helping one another and kids finding refuge with peers among the isolating suburban world of adults. It's simple, beautiful and human. There's a brief moment for me when I'm tempted to switch to other music, but I'm always drawn back in by the opening notes of "Rebellion (Lies)", one of their best songs. Win Butler would go on become a symbol of progressive, squeaky clean, but cool musician, in contrast to the entitled, toxic rock star imagine that would have been idolized in previous decades. Given that, it's a shame that Win Butler himself turned out to be a creep. But you can still feel the innocence and wonder that was present in this beautiful debut. It's still one of the best of that decade.

Generational Anthem level. Still love yelling along with it

Listened in the car and on a walk and countless times over the past 22 years. This is the album the defined my personality in high school. Even despite their lackluster later discography and Win's recent controversies this album remains a monolith from my formative years. One of the best albums of its decade and I adore it. 6 stars if I could.

I knew that this band existed but I only listened to their music because of this project. And I really like what they are doing!

This is more of a conflict than expected. Its great, but it's it great great? Listening to this objectively, it's as good an indie pop album as when it came out. It's lofty and ambitious, but also pointed and bleak. I really really like it as an album, yet oddly am loath to give it a 5. Strange, why is that? Spoiler it'll get a 5. It really is some beautifully crafted pop music.

I love this record with all of my heart, but it's unfortunately the ship that launched a thousand trilby donning millennial whoop indie pop bands in early 2010s

Just a beautiful record. Wake Up is worth 5* alone.

Fond memories of walking around listening to this album around the time of my uni final exams (in 2022, sorry olds).

One of my favorite bands

fajne

God lyd! Litt vanskelig å få grepet om det.

More like 4.5

oh my god

my day of reckoning. this was not the first album i called my favorite album ever, but it was the first album that i Expected to be my favorite album Forever. my biggest worry was that i would not be able to form a new relationship to it underneath all my layers of baggage, brain fuzz, and memories of a person that i No Longer Am. i was sort of right...i know every bit of this record like the back of my hand, so im not pulling any kind of Raw Experience out of it anytime soon. but it was comforting to be able to more fully understand Why it was so important to me...my love of it predated my self-conscious project to thaw my thoroughly frozen heart, but it definitely was one of the forerunners to that life shift. the A side brings together a v vivid and consistent picture of a child pov processing Big Feelings through lightly fantastical images...these days i mostly see what all the songs are metaphorically pointing to, but i think part of my attachment to this record was latching onto the actual narrative/sensory pictures painted on tunnels, power out et al. i think it does speak to a lot of my Future taste in art, on both levels. i think the B side is a clear step down, or at least is essentially extraneous to what i get out of the record these days...4 kettles completes a thought that im not sure is meaningfully expanded by the proto-suburbs Broad Vagueness of the big ennui anthems. still i essentially enjoy the music, and i think the two tracks sung by regine are welcome exceptions to all this...haiti productively breaks the focus on imperial north amercian imagery, and in the backseat ties up both halves of the album in a very beautiful way that still pricks my heart more vividly than maybe anything else on here. this will never be as important to me as it once was, but its possible nothing will ever be As important to me ever again as this once was. for better and for worse...i may crave similarly powerful experiences to no avail, but i also now live a broad enough life that One Piece Of Art doesnt have to serve as a liferaft all on its own. its better for me that i dont need records to save my life. but i cant erase the ones that did.

Gosh Arcade Fire you do it for me, holy. Suburbs is a 7 so this kinda has to be a 5.

A core pillar of millennial optimism that will always make me emotional. Co-opted by commercials and trailers and other marketing nonsense, but damn. We were once young and thought maybe we could pull this mess all together. Maybe we still can.

I really liked this album. I missed it when it first came out. I'm glad that it crossed my path, it was my first listen but it won't be my last

The best thing about this album is that it proves you don't have to be amazing musicians to make incredible music! Nothing is technically advanced or difficult to play, but it all just works. Music of the people and songs that sound great on your 1st listen or 100th. This sounds like it was released this year and it's 20+ years old. Generational talent & bangers. Amazing debut album and set the table for an awesome follow up.

ok

One of my favourite albums. Such atmosphere. One of the best indie rock albums in the 2000s

Вдохновляющий и мелодичный инди-рок из 2000-ных.Интро сразу мысленно перенесло меня в то время. Отдельно отмечу 5 и 10 треки, как наиболее понравившиеся.

91/100.

Yeah, yeah, I know Win’s a creep. But this is a remarkable achievement. I was 20 when this came out and it hit the indie world like an atom bomb. One of the best rock debuts; determined by them immediately having a fully developed sound. Track one, album one, and it was apparent it could be no one else. Fresh, exciting, layered, beautiful - Funeral is THE indie rock album of the 00s.

I was already a big fan of this album before this. Such great sounds. My favs are Tunnels, Power Out, Wake Up (Check out the live version with Bowie, great performance), Rebellion.

what i’ve been searching for.

music is love

An all time favorite

Actually I LOVED it.

Is it still my favourite album? I'm not so sure anymore.

First listen to this a while ago, I actually gave this a 3. Since then I have listened to this again many times and I can definitely say my opinion has changed. Really good, really cool and very enjoyable. Good to listen to when cycling home at night, really sets a vibe. I can't say it is a masterpiece by any means, I just really like it.

I'm a Canadian born in the 90s, of COURSE I love Funeral by Arcade Fire

Borderline perfect. Shame about him, eh?

One of my favourite albums since I was about 15 yo, and imo one of the strongest debut albums anyone has ever released. Perhaps I'd not feel as strongly if I heard it today for the first time, and maybe I'd think it's all a bit millennial cringe (like yesterday's), but then I'd be a different person with different taste. An absolute landmark of indie, even if Win Butler is trying everything in his power to diminish it I feel like nearly every song has the band pouring nearly everything they've got into it, with so much energy and catharsis throughout. I'd never really heard anything like "Wake Up" before, and it was probably the major catalyst that sent me down the indie rabbithole that I'll never get out of (along with In The Aeroplane), but needless to say I love most of the others. Kettles is eh, but it works as part of a transition between the high energy of "Power Out" and "Wake Up"

Sleeping is giving in

Power Out and Wake Up are some of the best song in a live setting I've ever heard. I mean, seriously: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6nze9-4ywpk Argument could be made there's enough filler that it should be four stars, but the high points are so high it's gotta be a 5.

You aren’t true indy snob if you don’t insist this is Arcade fires best album. Bonus points if you claim it’s their only good one. I don’t subscribe to either but it’s still a 5.

nostalgic being 4 years old

this was a great album i love listening to music from early 2000's and having a different listen of music from recent times. Its great 8/10

Definitely an album I never would've seeked out but I might have to look into more Arcade Fire, I SO enjoyed this!! Made me feel very nostalgic for some reason? I would say it was a solid no skip album, I enjoyed all of the songs

2/2/26. It's hard for me to be objective about this album because it's an old favorite, and definitely informed my music taste early on. Love the instrumentation, storytelling, and how the entire album feels like a movie. Always nice when I get to replay it.

Pouquíssimas bandas conseguem alavancar todo o Zeitgeist de um subgênero em sua estréia. Arcade Fire é uma delas. Esse álbum exuda Indie Rock da década de 2000. É a síntese perfeita desse momento no tempo e no mundo, físico e emocional. Pessoas mais céticas verão isso e simplesmente irão descartar este álbum por considerá-lo clichê ou genérico, mas o impacto deste disco em mim é profundo e real. Essas faixas me emocionam e me trazem de volta a momentos que minha memória já havia apagado. A formatação do disco é brilhante. A suíte “Neighborhood” em sua primeira metade é encapsulante e aconchegante. Uma temática agridoce e emotiva, com uma sonoridade melodramática e fantasiosa. Novamente, pessoas mais céticas ouvirão este som e só imaginarão um hipster barbudo tomando uma IPA gelada e falando sobre boletos, mas há em minha perspectiva algo mais atemporal nessas canções. Uma espécie de saudade de um lugar que nunca existiu. Um vão de memória e espírito jamais preenchível. Igual a namorada ideal que você nunca conheceu e nunca conhecerá. Igual aquele amor adolescente que nunca funcionou e nunca funcionaria. Igual aquela casa daquela avó naquele Julho de férias escolares. Igual aquele sonho que ainda existe e que te perturba tanto quanto te encanta. Me agrada tremendamente o estilo de produção do álbum. Produção analógica que complementa muito bem as ordenações mais melosas das canções. Um grande deleite ouvir este álbum e as canções derretendo umas nas outras, o álbum inteiro é um grande e contínuo Highlight, mas menção honrosa a In The Backseat, possivelmente um dos melhores closers de qualquer álbum já gravado. É de tirar o fôlego. Ouça esse álbum e depois o ouça novamente logo em seguida, nem que você tenha que o ouvir escondido, como uma forma de prazer secreto, temendo ser taxado como fanboy ávido da Pitchfork, ou alguma espécie de weeaboo fissurado na cultura franco-canadense, esquisito seria. Indie Rock é um gênero difícil de catalogar exatamente, e suas raízes são extensas e entrelaçadas, derivando de incontáveis lugares e grupos diferentes. É algo que parece servir perfeitamente na palheta de quem possui gostos mais ecléticos. Baladas-Power-Punk-Medievais. Isso não existe e essas palavras não encaixam juntas, mas foram a síntese que meu cérebro manifestou ouvindo o disco. Então que seja. Ritmos pulsantes, dancem Iggy Pops. New Order lançou seu primeiro disco em 1769 e ele se chama Funeral. Pode ser? Nostalgia futurista e etc. Tudo muito doce. Eu amo esse disco. 5/5

How can you not love a classic

Best driving album ever?

already heard this several times, love the first few albums from this group a lot Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels) - 5/5 Neighborhood #2 (Laïka) - 5/5 Une année sans lumière - 4/5 Neighborhood #3 (Power Out) - 5/5 Neighborhood #4 (7 Kettles) - 4/5 Crown of Love - 5/5 Wake Up - 5/5 Haïti - 4/5 Rebellion (Lies) - 5/5 In the Backseat - 5/5 Average score: 4.7/5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

No skips every song is perfect

woah that was actually incredible

Arcade Fire has released albums which I consider to be close to on par with Funeral, but in a way, it seems like they are always working to top Funeral. Sometimes it works (The Suburbs) and sometimes it does not (their newest album, which is not good). Arcade Fire's attitude is "Shoot for the stars, even if you fail, then you will crash back down to Earth and be accused of sexual misconduct." Sometimes you eat the operatic chamber pop and sometimes the operatic chamber pop eats you. I think I prefer Neon Bible slightly more than Funeral, but a lot of that opinion depends on the day you ask me as well. I think Neon Bible has better individual songs but perhaps Funeral is the better album. This is a great debut and I think it's well worth a listen. It is a concept album of sorts but fortunately they do not go full "Tommy" and insist on the concept overwhelming the songs at times. My favorite songs are: Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels) Neighborhood #2 (Laika) Neighborhood #3 (Power Out) Crown of Love Wake Up Rebellion (Lies)

I have listened to a bit of Arcade Fire in the past, but never this album. Man, was I missing out! It’s the first time in a long while I’ve liked EVERY song on an album. Legit listened to this three times today, it is so so so good.

I have listened to this many times over the years but right now I can't separate art from artist.

Best Track - "Rebellion (Lies)"

Lived up to all the hype when it was released. Excellent.

10/10 – Masterpiece

Dank

Didn’t know this album, but will repeat listen.

Artsy

Early 20s flashbacks. Love this album but back then it was overplayed…. It brought back good memories

Previously added to favourite songs: Tunnels, Power Out, Wake Up, Rebellion (Lies). Didn't feel the need to add any others, but still really like everything else. An album that feels intimate and epic at the same time. Probably a 9/10, but I will round up.

Yes

bellissimo album, veramente alcuni pezzi spettacolari. tra le preferite: crown of love, wake up e in the backseat. io dopo ho ascoltato anche l’altro album the suburbs: bello!! sentitelo se potessi forse metterei 4,5 non proprio 5 ma comunque stiamo là

Funeral do quê? As duas primeiras músicas revelam a dimensão da grandiosidade do álbum. Há uma sensação de sufocamento e opressão, mas, ao mesmo tempo, é necessário estar munido de sensibilidade para adentrar a atmosfera da obra. Crown of Love consegue estabelecer, com precisão, uma ponte de sentimentos por meio do contrastre melódico: ao mesmo tempo que relata situações de pessr, suas melodias épicas provocam tensão em quem ouve. Com isso, torna-se a minha faixa favorita do álbum. Há uma opinião que me interessou: o álbum expressa uma espécie de “catarse” ao transpor o desabafo da dor como uma forma de superá-la. Em resumo: é coisa de outro mundo.

Com 14 anos eu sentia por esse álbum o mesmo que eu sinto hoje, agora com o dobro da idade Com “Funeral”, Arcade Fire faz uma cerimônia em homenagem a quem fomos antes de morrer com as dores do amadurecimento e celebra a vida que ainda merece ser vivida, mesmo que continuemos a morrer repetidamente na vida adulta Faixas favoritas: Neighborhood #2 (Laika), Neighborhood #3 (Power Out), Crown of Love, Wake Up, In the Backseat Menos favoritas: Haiti

Great album, top to bottom.

Loved

Woah I loved it my fave were In the backseat Neighbourhood #2 The guitar and the instrumentals were amazing, I love the singer's voice even though I don't know much about them, I'll definitely listen to more Arcade fire

Great album, loved the strings and the swelling, dramatic crescendos. Crown of Love and Wake Up are the highlights for me. I listen to Wake Up during takeoff of every flight I take. (Thanks Walter Mitty)

Stunning album. Haven’t listened in a while - and it was even better going back in again. Every song outstanding.

En bauta innen indie rock. Dette må være tidenes vinteralbum. Alle sangene utstråler en episk og atmosfærisk kvalitet. Tunnels maler eksempelvis helt tydelige bilder av tett snøvær på en vinterkveld. Noen mindre interessante spor er det (f.eks. Neighborhood #4 (Kettles) og Une Annee Sans Lumiere), men alt i alt er dette et fantastisk prosjekt. Top 3: Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels), Neighborhood #2 (Laika), Neighborhood #3 (Power Out)

For Claudia 🫡

Fokking geggjað

Absolute masterpiece, this album had great instrumentals with using guitar, piano, violins, and yes… kettle pots. This album discovers fears and anxieties of loss, through everything. This album resonates deep within me emotionally and confounds me in a way I’ve never felt before.

Wonderful debut. Ten fantastic songs.

można dać 6 gwiazdek, idealnie dopasowane do dziisiejssego humoru i sytuację

Incredible, 2000s indie at its absolute best. Very nostalgic but not in a way that feels dated at all. This holds up incredibly well. Beautiful album.

18th album with group. Yesterday I was looking at a bunch of lists of the top albums of the 21st century, and for some reason I kept on seeing Funeral so I have high expectations. This does not disappoint though. It is much better than The Suburbs. Nice mellow indie rock, Good Songs - Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels), Neighborhood #2 (Laika), Une Annee Sans Lumiere, Neighborhood #3 (Power Out), Neighborhood #4 (7 Kettles), Crown of Love, Wake Up, Haiti, Rebellion (Lies), and In the Backseat. Bad Songs -

JACIE GACIE nie spodziewałem sie prawie popłakać na samym początku, ogl mega album, jedynie w środkowej części mógł się wydawać lekko monotonny ale w ogóle mi to nie przeszkadzało bo podczas słuchania byłem na spacerze w słonecznej pogodzie wiec idealnie. 5/5

Revolutionary post war and FUCKINNN LOVE IT

yeah this is a pretty perfect album. not quite the suburbs for ME but one of the best debuts ever. neighborhood #3 is still my favorite

I love this album, it is absolutely brilliant. I remember flicking through the music channels late one night and landing on MTV2 just as Rebellion was starting. I was blown away, literally the next day I went to buy it and it’s been a favourite ever since. As a three album run I will put this, Neon Bible and The Suburbs up with the very best. Their last few albums have been quite mediocre however. Hopefully some day they can return to this kind of form. Top Track - Neighbourhood #3 (Power Out). Outstanding song, definitely in my all time top 5-10

This album came out during the years when I wasn't buying albums--and I kinda regret maybe never listening to this all the way through (honestly can't recall). It's an album that makes me wish I had a record player and that I could put this on and listen with that visceral connection that I picked this album to play and now I'm going to listen to this. In other words, it's fantastic album. This is the kind of music I love: grounded in real human suffering, which is to say in true feeling, yet also expressive of the optimism and even joy that can come out of engaging, directly, in that suffering. Let us weep and let us smile because in true sadness there is also joy. There's a lot of music I listened to in the years around when this came out that I've totally forgotten. I had forgotten this too, in that it's been too long since I've listened to it, but coming back was such a delight.

A good artist/art differentiator. Turns out Will Butler was a bit of a cock. I think it was Hearing Things — a Pitchfork offshoot — that I noticed was started the wave of rethinking Arcade Fire in lieu of Will's behaviour, basically hedging with "idk, I was young; I liked it" I was and I did, but I think I still do. In 2005/6, it took me a while to get over his voice: a thin warble; the whole thing feeling tentative and unsure compared to the music I grew up with. But gosh, it doesn't feel unconfident now. Tunnels feels like church bells; a call to prayer. Power Out a tight-jean freakout — a shivering monster. 7 Kettles, sitting shiva. Wake Up, a wall of woh-ohs that would spawn twenty years of soundalikes. Rebellion, a cocksure chorus I tried in total vain to capture playing with a friend. And I think that's really it: so much music sounded like Funeral afterward. But not before.

I've loved this album since its release. Serendipitously, I found out on the day that I was assigned this album that a very good friend of mine died unexpectedly. So I got drunk on an airplane and listened and it helped me cry. No way I can be objective.

Very nostalgic, I love it so much

top 5 album of all time for me. all hits, no skips. remember seeing them live in like 2005 on some talk show, performing neighborhood #2 (Laika) and just being blown away by that performance. been a fan since then but i hate that win butler being a sexual predator, since that took some of the joy out of the music for me. yeah thats horrible, bit this fucking album man. strap me to a rocket and send me of to the russian taiga blasting this one on, as we in sweden call it, full patte.

Day 1000 and a complete masterpiece! One of the best debuts of the aughts.

Incredible indie rock album. Hard hitting themes with strong lyrics and brilliant instrumental sounds Wake up and crown of love personal favourites from the album

Solid album with one absolute banger.

La grande période d'innocence d'Arcade Fire... Estifi que c'était bon d'aller les voir en show dans ce temps-là.

Nostalgie quand tu nous tiens. Un album que j'ai beaucoup écouté au secondaire. Je diraisnque toutes les tounes sont pas mal des hits. J'ai pas réussi à aimer autant Arcade Fire après même si j'ai essayé avec Neon Bible et Suburbs (et plus récemment avec WE).

Classique indie et le début de la « scène montréalaise ». Bien que ce n’est pas l’album d’eux que je connais le mieux (ce serait The Suburbs), je réalise quand même que je reconnais chaque chanson presque instantanément. Y’a du bon tube et du bon ver d’oreille là dedans!

One of the most formative albums in my development as a listener of music. It felt revolutionary when I first heard it, and it still holds up. One of my all-time favorites.

Masterpiece

When the weekly music papers died around the turn of the century, we turned to Pitchfork for our opinions on the day's music scene. They were often far up themselves with misguided promotion of new-prog nonsense like Animal Collective, but they got it right with Arcade Fire. This album is just beautiful. There are great tunes to leaven some of the Pitchfork-friendly pretentiousness, which sets them far apart from most of their contemporaries. A stunning debut album which they will never better because it's impossible to do so.

Although much of the album revolves around themes of death and mortality, make no mistake - this album is largely upbeat and energetic. Bold and experimental, the album has an indie-rock vibe, featuring choral vocals and lively guitar riffs, but also the strings, horns and xylophones of Baroque-pop. Such a mix of instruments results in a continuous sound - there is a lot going on, all the time. Yet, while loud, it still manages to be reflective. It has been said that the band experienced much personal loss during the making of the track. But rare among rock records, particularly during the garage rock era of the early 2000s, the album subtly captures the band's more melancholic emotions.

This is a beautiful album. I assume this completes my trilogy of arcade fire albums and that they do only have three on the list. 4 and 5 for those. This was always my favourite and was a 5 before I enjoyed having an extra listen today.

I know this record very well, and it is one I go back to. Absolutely perfect in my eyes, S-tier all the way.

Can't really be objective on this. All I hear is magic.

Excellent

Actually up there as one of my favorite albums. A classic from a band that makes classics. Too bad Win is an a-hole.

Transcendental. A religious experience for millennials (that's me). Contender for most tears shed on an album. Win Butler you will pay for your crimes.

I already knew how I would review this album before re-listening (spoiler: 4.5). Upon reading the reviews, it feels like listeners fall into one of three camps: 1) those who weren't exposed to the indie rock zeitgeist of the 2000s 2) those who were 3) those who were and hated it This album is so deeply ingrained in that indie rock fervor of the aughts. And, in a way, it helped kick start the movement. At least in the sense of transitioning truly indie music into the mainstream. Listening to Funeral restrospectively, it's hard to believe it wasn't released on a major label. Yes, it's the very definition of indie rock from that era, but so much of what happened after bands like Arcade Fire blew up was that indie rock became more associated with a distinct sound than with the record labels releasing the music. Hell, I remember Arcade Fire playing at some awards show (Grammy's maybe?) with David f'ing Bowie. Anyway all this to say, Funeral is definitely getting points in my book for being culturally and historically relevant, like it or not. But, is it a good album? Truth be told, it's not a perfect album by my definition but it's damn close. And the three songs that don't exactly do it for me are probably someone else's favorite. Each track is a work of art: the lyrics, the composition, the way they tie thematically into the album's overall concept. Arcade Fire won't blow you away with their instrumentals, but neither did Bowie. It is more how those instrumentals are arranged to create a portrait of something greater than itself; a prominent showpiece on the mural of 21st century music if you will. And in some ways that's a good metaphor for Arcade Fire themselves. They kind of became the poster child for indie rock, something far bigger than this album or even any of theirs, could claim. Funeral, upon reflection, is a masterpiece...a personal 4.5 star rating easily becomes a 5 when I account for all this album represents. And sorry to the haters but you don't have to like the music to recognize its brilliance and ultimate worthiness for being on this list.

This is one of my favorite albums. A lot of nostalgia for this one. 5 stars.

I love this album. Before Butler became a terd.

This is my fave album and I wish I had more stars! Fire Joe Morgan/Newman track by track review 1. "Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels)" - Fantastic start, the driving notes set the tone of the album. And like a lot of these songs, has a great time change towards the end. 2. "Neighborhood #2 (Laïka)" - Ah, this album is going to have songs that connect to each other. This rousing chant song elevates the energy. 3. "Une année sans lumière" - Now time for a slower number with my second fave track on the album. This somber, haunting Régine tune has a great refrain. 4. "Neighborhood #3 (Power Out)" - This was the song CD101 played the most from the album and it might be my least favorite on the album (which is to point out how amazeballs this album is, because this song still slaps). This hard rocker though lacks the nuance of other tracks ... 5. "Neighborhood #4 (7 Kettles)" - ... Like this one, another soft ballad. When I first got this album--bootlegged, btw--this track cut off. This is a simple nice palate cleanser. 6. "Crown of Love" - My fave song on the record. This song builds to an incredible crescendo and really shows off the symphonic beauty of the band, especially the strings. 7. "Wake Up" - The huge single from the album that got overplayed. It is fun to sing along. 8. "Haiti" - This slow song has really grown on me. It sounds like a beach and is a great bridge to ... 9. "Rebellion (Lies)" - The most raucous song on the record and my bronze medal winner. I jump up and down to this song a lot. 10. "In the Backseat" - What starts as a very slow coda grows into defiance later. Huh, I'm realizing that this album does a great job of rise and fall throughout (and the slow songs generally have a fast and furious end). Although this album is ostensibly about death, I find it more their operatic album. 'Neon Bible' is their dark album, 'Suburbs' melancholy, 'Reflektor' dance party, 'Everything Now' the anti-corporate U2 'Pop' album, 'WE' the paranoid one, 'Pink Elephant' brooding. But 'Funeral' remains their first and their best.

One of my favourite albums. Full sound with excellent composition.

The proto indie rock album that influenced how indie rock would sound from 2007 and onward.

Caps the best week we've had. What a run. Strong memories of being in Fopp in Edinburgh and listening to this on the instore headphones after it received a glowing review on Teletext. What a time.

This is the first time I have listened to an entire Arcade Fire album at one sitting, and I can say I enjoyed every track. For not really knowing them, this was an eye-opener. Neighborhood #4 (7 Kettles) very haunting piece but my fav. Putting this one on my add to vinyl collection list.

SO SO GOOD! Reminds me a bit of the Beatles, in terms of voice and experimentation.

RIP

Love my alternative whites

beautiful wonderful free

LET’S GOOOOOO I actually used to not like this album and tell people. I cringe about that sometimes. It’s perfect. (Win Butler is still a creep tho).

Today I learned the first half of this album was based around a terrible ice storm in 1998 in Canada. That makes the album even more interesting. And the fact a lot of them had recently lost family members was another layer I wasn’t aware of. I listened a few times today, and this got better each time I listened. They cultivated a really unique early aughts indie sound. It’s emotional and rockin’ and the songwriting is quite beautiful. Awesome debut for them!

One of my all time favorites! Incredible album from start to finish. This was my introduction to Arcade Fire, and I still remember the first time I heard it. Such an original, full sound, really love this album. Highlights: "Wake Up" and "Rebellion", but the whole album is great.

It still hits but not like it did when I was in my early 20s. But isnt that in line with the theme of the album? Still fantastic and I can listen to it multiple times in a row.

Arcade fire beschde

За кілька місяців одне від одного, у подружжя музикантів Regine Chassagne та Win Butler померли бабуся та дідусь. Вони спільно проживали це відчуття особистого горя, яке зрештою й стало фундаментом, на якому виріс дебютний альбом їх гурту Arcade Fire, з красномовною назвою Funeral. Замість того аби йти звичним шляхом, Arcade Fire перетворили особисту трагедію на майже казкову історію про молодих людей, що намагаються вирватися з полону сімейних спогадів, страхів та втрат. У відкриваючій пісні Tunnels, вони розповідають про закоханих, що прокопують тунелі зі своїх будинків, аби зустрітися одне з одним та втекти від скорботи, яка зависла над їхніми родинами, аби помріяти про доросле майбутнє. Так, це трохи наївно, але саме ця непідробна наївність й робить альбом таким «особливо-живим». Навколо цієї історії втрати та любові, гурт вибудовує унікальний музичний світ де залитий струнними, еклектичний звуковий ландшафт прикрашають емоційні, величні немов хорові приспіви. Кожна пісня тут побудована наче скульптура з прискіпливою увагу до деталей, де звичний інді-рок з брудною гітарою набуває масштабів симфонічної сюїти. Усе працює на створення атмосфери великої пригоди справжнього життя, де сум та надія постійно йдуть поруч. І тому Funeral досі звучить настільки особливо, бо насправді це альбом не про смерть - він про те, як жити далі після неї. Неймовірно щирий та натуральний шедевр, що яскраво вирізняється серед купи вимушених альбомів, які намагаються продати нам награний сум.

I KNOW this band is terrible as people (specifically Win and a little weirdly Regine). But I'm too nostalgic for how great this album was for it's time. How epic every concert was with this band that I saw (minus the end towards the allegations coming out). It really is the orchestral, semi-twee/goth indie rock epic.

Splendid

Loved it

Love it!

Simply great.. the emotions it evokes. Would love to see this album performed live by them. Wake up was a standout upon this listen

Oh shell yeah! :) This is one of the albums that I love, lots of good. I'm clearly tired writing this and need to finish my coffee.

Arcade Fire have a big sound and big emotions! The melodies soar on this album! The arrangements are beautifully orchestrated, but it still feels like a rock record. There’s a touch of Springsteen in the mix here. There are so many great songs on this album that feel like anthems. Really powerful, beautiful music that holds a special place in my heart.

Even though I'm a huge indie rock fan, I was really late to Arcade Fire and didn't start listening to them until my mid to late 20's.. not entirely sure when but definitely after college years when my friends were spinning their records daily. It's kind of a double edged sword because I would have loved to have these tunes pushing me along those confusing times, but also I feel blessed to get to listen to the band and it's still really fresh for me. This is maybe my favorite album of theirs. Its size is filed under "Bruce Springsteen", it's quirk and uniqueness is listed as "Neutral Milk Hotel", and it's instrumentation is analogous to "Sufjan Stevens". All huge complements. "Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels)" is fantastic. I love this epic opener and it's set a perfect tone for the rest of the album. "Wake Up" is tough yet tender and is packed full of emotion. When the backing singers sing, you can tell they feel every single note. "Rebellion (Lies)" is the first Arcade Fire song I ever heard and while it wasn't love at first listen, it's really come around on me. It's got that Springsteen charm but colored in this funkier indie rock set of crayolas, where there's burnt sienna's instead of oranges, and blood ruby's instead of reds. I don't know if that makes sense but it does to me. I'm giving this a 5, and I think it's my favorite Arcade Fire album. My favorite song of theirs isn't on it, "The Suburbs", and if it was it would be one of my favorite records, but that's OK that it's not. There's so much good stuff here.

I’m biased towards this as I’ve heard it so many times and love it, but it still slaps

Where the wild beasts are

Qué disco tan increíble. Casi lo amo al 100%, pero curiosamente la única canción que no me encantó es la más famosa, Wake up. Me dio un tanto de hueva. Pero el resto del álbum me pareció espectacular, lo disfruté mucho y me dejó muchas ganas de volverlo a escuchar. De hecho creo que es el que más me gusta de Arcade Fire, así que tenga sus 5 estrellas.

Immaculate album. Perfect from front to back.

DIOS SANTO. NO PUEDES SIMPLEMENTE EMPEZAR TU DISCOGRAFÍA ASÍ ¡NO PUEDES!

I'll admit some bias here but this was a "love at first listen" album for me in college, and I hadn't revisited it in totality in a while. I think it's an almost perfect indie rock album that is bombastic and over the top in all the right ways, both vocally and instrumentally, but also gives you a break at the right times. Putting the monumental anthems of Wake Up and Rebellion (Lies) back to back would have been almost too much, so Haiti is in between as a bit of a break before diving right back in. I love the counterpoint of Win and Regine's vocals, I love the ornateness of the arrangements, the mid-song changes in direction, how it all flows, everything. I still think this is their best album of a pretty great opening three-album run (yes Suburbs is great too) and to have this be a debut is just stunning.

Very good. No notes.

I wish Win Butler wasn’t a creep.

So this is what Canadian rock music sounds like... I like it.

This is such a fantastic album, not one skip track. I hadn't listened to it in a few years but loved every moment. It was on heavy rotation for me for several years.

The textures and genre blending on this album are so refreshing and still sounds great 20 years later Rebellion (Lies) is incredible as a piece of song writing

Best debut album of all time. Front to back incredible

Day 48 Love it - 3 very different yet equally great albums I’d never listened to before in a row. So glad I started doing this after being stuck in a bit of a music rut for a while 9/10 Highlights Laika Power Out Rebellion Lies

Probably my favourite album in first year. Arcade Fire's best I think. Neighbourhood #1 best song

Nice to get an easy one. I've owned Funeral on CD since probably 2007 or 2008 and it still sounds great to me in 2025. I think it's actually my favorite indie rock album of the 2000s (English-language one, at least). I think my two favorite tracks on it are the bookends. "Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels)" is an excellent album opener; this is an album where I can push play in my mental stereo and hear a perfect recreation of the opening bits. It builds from that slower string, piano, and vocal opening into the loud, crashing, cathartic sound that I associate with the album. I'm into the song's surreal imagery - digging snow tunnels window-to-window, regressing into some kind of unsocialized winter hermit, not remembering how to name babies. "Then we think of our parents / Well, what ever happened to them?" Great song. There's other good stuff in the middle. Then Funeral ends on the Chassagne-led "In the Backseat," which spins riding in the backseat of a car into a great metaphor for growing up and having to give up the freedom of youth and innocence. I lost a parent about a year ago to a kind of drawn out - but on the other hand also kind of sudden - illness and I thought of this song sometimes during those months. I'm at the stage of my life where "adult" no longer exists as a separate class of person above me. The wheel's been mine for a while now, and I drive around with my eleven-year-old getting his own time in the backseat. Anyway, I always like the Régine Chassagne tracks and "In the Backseat" is her best one. It's great, and it was already great even back in the 2000s when I was barely an adult and didn't have any meaningful emotions attached to it.

This is one of the first albums I ever bought. I must have listened to this record a million times when I first got it, then a million times more when I got to college. Am I clouded by nostalgia? Maybe a bit. For me, however, this album will always represent a part of my life, filled with both unbridled optimism and cautious exploration, peeking over the precipice of the gaping maw of the chasm named the future. 5 stars.

I'm 55 and have always loved music, especially when artists take things in new and different directions. Arcade Fire and this album specifically gave me hope that I'd continue being interested in new bands and music at a time when I was getting a little worried that either myself or artists were losing the thread. There is not a bad track on this album. An amazing achievement from a bad breaking into the music scene. Beautiful music that I will continue to listen to until I die. Many that followed tried to emulate this sound, sometimes a little too closely.

I feel like this album got a bit lost in the shadows after The Suburbs success. Listening to this again, I think it's actually a more consistent, successful album. There's not a track I would skip.

I bought Funeral back in 2004, shortly after its release, probably after a Pitchfork review. Revisiting the album nearly twenty years later brought back a flood of memories tied to people, places, and time. Back then, I was navigating life as a father, teacher, and friend, full of hope and discovery. Listening to Funeral helped me make sense of the world. It framed an artistry of sound that mirrored my own attempts to understand the rhythm of this life. A strong album that still holds up. Way to go, Arcade Fire.

Этот альбом напомнил мне как я любил инди рок, пару лет назад. В целом инди для меня был и остаётся довольно важным жанром и это альбом прекрасный представитель этого жанра

This is the most 2005 ass album imaginable. It's no skips. It's weird and sometimes offputting. It soars and drags in complimentary ways and feels like one of maybe a handful of items on this list that actually seems to have thought put into the pacing and ordering such that it should be listened to *in order* as *An Album™*

Totally biased but who else do you rate the album you listened to when you first fell in love? There isn't a bad song on the album (well maybe the last track "in the backseat"). Seriously, so good. Evokes memories of Montreal. Lush instrumentation, growing up and finding oneself. Fave tracks: neighborhood #1, wake up, rebellion (lies), une annee sans lumieres. My favorite album my them, that also happens to be their first (major).

Superb from beginning to end. Great songs with social conscience. This one should make the top 100 list of all times.

I have a very small vinyl collection, and this is in it. Sorry, my elder millennial is showing. It’s impossible for me to be completely objective here, so I'll be brief instead. This is an album I listen to when I wake up in a good mood on a sunny Saturday morning, and on bad days when I need to shout-sing something until I’m no longer on the brink of ugly crying. Similar to how U2 made ethereal rock & roll, I describe this as 'transcendent' indie rock. It's a sound you'll hear a few years down the road when Mumford & Son throw a little more folk at it and become one of the biggest bands in the world.

So good, but not their best album. I really hope The Suburbs is on this list at some point.

This is one of my favorite concept albums ever. I have spent many cold winter nights listening to this imagine getting snowed in and having to tunnel to my neighbors house and creating our own little town connected by tunnels.

I own this record and this is always going to be a 5. Arcade Fire's best album and full of great songs. This is one of the albums that are in my top 10 most influential albums in my life because of when it was released in the course of my life and the impact it had. Tunnels, Wake Up, crown of Love and Rebellion (Lies) are my standout tracks, but every song is a joy to listen to. its a drum driven album thats is collaborated beautifully with a myriad of other instruments, and is perfect.

I’m biased on this one. A nostalgic album for me and one that I think is really awesome overall.

🤸

Love this album, had it on vinyl for years. Been a while since I listened, still amazing.

A truly great album that is somewhat tarnished because Win Butler is a sex pest. This was easy for me as Arcade Fire is my problematic fave but I haven’t listened to this album for a good 3 years… 5/5

- I first listened to this album at 19, when I felt a strong connection with someone but was too chicken and afraid to break up wth the person I was already dating for them. I couldn't listen to "Crown of Love" for a long time because of how much it reminded me of my decision (or lack thereof) - "I carved your name across my eyelids/you pray for rain, I pray for blindness" will always give me goosebumps at how much heartbreak and pain is expressed in so few words - at 19, I did not appreciate the overwhelming theme of childhood (both the ups and downs: how at the mercy of our parents' moods and whims we were; the innocent, yet deep platonic love we share with our friends before puberty distances us; how we deal with complex emotional situations between others that we aren't old enough to fully understand) that so much of this album rests upon, but 11 years later, listening again is much different and reflects a lot of what I've felt over the last few years -- that somehow, both over many years and almost overnight, I'm different than I was at 25, 22, 17, 14, 10. - the weakest track for me is "Wake Up" because it sounds like every other indie song from around that time, but apart from "Crown of Love," the lyrics to "Backseat" are powerful in a very subdued way that I admire. I remember the feeling of being sleepy on the way home and instantly knowing where we were based on the road sounds and pattern of turns and stops once we got close - this album is bittersweet because of what -- and who -- it will forever remind me of. I can't separate my review from its personal meaning to me, so I'll gladly give it 5 stars

Favourites: All of them!

I liked this. Reminds me of talking heads. Lovely.

Thus is a great debut album every song is a banger, but i still prefer the suburbs and especially Neon bible

such a beautiful album, definitely lots of folk inspiration on a rock soundscape. always very polyphonic, with lots of different simultaneous elements that blend together in an unbelievable way, completely transporting.

5 I really enjoyed listening to this

I think this is a masterpiece

All time indie classic, simple as that.

Amazingly emotive album, with really interesting history. Definitely worth re-listens

It’s a perfect album what can I say. Reminds me of my mom. Ya a tunnel!

Two Arcade Fire albums in a month, quite a treat! This is another album I know well from my teenage years. I know they probably have their haters, but I think they're well deserving of their three places on here. Great lyrics and instrumentation, and covered a lot of similar themes as the Emo revival that was going on in tandem, in a different way. I've heard the more popular songs like Laika, Wake Up, and Rebellion so many times that I almost don't hear them anymore, but they are still great. Une Anneé Sans Lumière and Crown of Thorns are incredible songs. Not a bad song on here really, and it was very influential on the wave of indie music that came after.

Damn it. I think this list has turned me into an Arcade Fire fan. I used to always think I never really understood the hype around this band, but after having gotten The Subarbs, Neon Bible and now this is quick succession... They're actually incredible. And then Reflektor is like the cherry on the ice cream sundae, that album is just killer. Shame it seems to have gone down hill and the lead singers a creep but Ive definitely come around on their music.

Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels) Neighborhood #2 (Laïka) Neighborhood #3 (Power Out) Crown of Lies Wake Up Rebellion (Lies)

It's one of the best debut albums ever and one of the best albums in the 21st century. The songwriting is exquisite and so are the lyrics and overall production of the album. My favourite songs are the gorgeous, uplifting Wake Up and Rebellion (Lies). The album has a perfecty slow and calm ending which makes the whole experience as round as it needs to be.

Probably the best debut album ever. My favourite live band of all time, musical genius tied up with exquisite song writing. Do not miss

# Album Name: Funeral # Artist: Arcade fire # Rating: 5/5 # Comments: Some of the vocals remind me of David byrne from talking heads. Overall, it was a good enjoyable album for me. Plenty of good songs.. The album really grew on me. At first it was a 4, maybe a 5. Came back to this one multiple times in the end. Ive developed an appreciation of this band. A great debut album. # Top Tunes: Neighbourhood 1-3 / wake up / Rebellion / sans lumiere / backseat # Would I listen to it again? Yes

Yes! Udødelig klassiker.

What just happened? I had every intention of NOT respecting this album. AF’s others on this list felt to me like they, umm, tried too hard. I described one of them as “U2 without the Edge,” pun intended. But this. This album was so enjoyable. Loved the sound. Enjoyed it all the way through. Every single song. Dang it. 5/5

Really fun listen overall. Exactly the sort of thing I enjoy listening to. I enjoyed the blending of how all the albums sound together, and I enjoyed overall listening to how it sounds. The writing was amazing too. Favourites: Neighborhood #2 (Laika), Une Annee Sans Lumiere, Crown Of Love

It’s funny sho many times I have listened to this album and never drew the influence of Bowie, it is definitely there! Right around Crown of Love and Wake Up (which I think is my favorite track on this album) it hit me. This could have been in the transition between the Cocaine 3-Pack and the sober Berlin sessions. This album is my favorite Arcade Fire, though admittedly it’s like picking a favorite ice cream when I love them all for different reasons. Arcade Fire offers variation in their music, like each member was allowed to throw in their favorite influence. Win Butler’s voice is both hopeful and haunting. The closer, Showcases Regine Chassagne’s almost Nico-like vocals, but I like her’s better, and feels very French. I also how the overall sound is avante guard in a complimentary way rather than weird for the sake of weird. This is a classic.

This album falls into the listened to this constantly when it came out, but later experiences soured me on the band, haven't listened to it in a while and was happy to revisit. In the case of Arcade Fire, it was seeing them live that sort of ruined it. They only played a few songs, none of the good ones, and weren't very good. Happy to be reminded of this gem.

Sounds of being young. Of endless hope and optimism and our whole lives ahead of us. That’s at least what I remember feeling when I first heard this album my freshman year of college (probably the ideal time to hear this album). Years since have proven me wrong - life has been difficult, ups and downs and trauma and hardship (even this band has proven to not be what they appeared to be - they were the same rock and roll exploitators they felt antithetical to at the time), but when I listen to this album, I can reconnect with that younger version of me. And I hope for him.

🧡

Rating: 4.7 Bonafide classic. Arcade Fire, as a concept, is an idea that should be too weird and corny to work. Reading their Wikipedia page makes them sound like an annoying art kid collective that just decided to fuck around and see what stuck. I mean they play the fucking hurdy gurdy. Despite all that, right out of the gates (for 10 grand!) they scraped together something insane and beautiful. I had never heard the entire album before and I only came away more impressed than I already was with them.

A great album. I listened to it a lot when it first came out and considered it one of the best albums of the 21st century. Revisiting 20 years later and with their image tarnished by the allegations against Win Butler, it still sounds fresh and every bit as good as I remembered.

One of my favourite bands! LOVE this album!

One of my favorite albums ever

On my first listen of this album I couldn't really hear the lyrics and didn't really appreciate them. When I listened through the album again and listened to the lyrics, I realised just how amazing this album is. Not only are the instrumentals and vocals great, the lyrics are complex and thought provoking. I went to many emotions as I listened to the album.

Katru reizi, atkal paklausoties Arcade Fire, ir sajūta, ka iegrimsti tīņu gadu nostaļģijā. Love it.

🕯️ What It Sounds Like: • A suburban uprising led by kids with accordions • Snowfall over a broken childhood memory • An emotional symphony for people who still believe shouting can be healing It’s dramatic in a way that earns the drama. No ironic distance. No smirking detachment. Just real, raw urgency wrapped in orchestral beauty and electric desperation. ⸻ 💥 Rating: 5.0 / 5

Perfect

Funeral was the actual blue print for indie rock in the 2000s and into the 2010s, and it’s still amazing today! I forgot how much I loved this album, I’m putting it straight back into my usual rotation Fav songs: Une Anne Sans Lumiere (the build up to the end is so good!, Wake Up

Man. I probably listened to this album a hundred times 20 years ago. Was really nice to revisit this and it still hits really hard.

If the last time you played outside with your friends could be distilled into music, this'd be it. The genius of this album is that the band understood that growing up and coming of age is fundamentally about pain and loss, and further understood that the music doesnt need to be overtly morose to capture this truth. I hear that iconic, nostalgic opening melody on Neighbourhood 1 and as it swells into grand, lush instrumentals and Butler's pleasantly screeching and desparate vocals, it feels like the gravity of these sad truths couldn't possibly be explored any other way. The whole album is like that. And it never cops out, never offers a remedy - Wake Up is arguably optimistic as it gets and even that reads more to me like Holden Caulfield's dream of catching children from going over the cliff edge in Catcher in the Rye - it's a well intentioned but futile attempt to help the kids stave off the abyss of adulthood. The closing track's sad metaphor - the rite of passage that is going from travelling in the peace of the back seat to learning to drive yourself - does not sugar the pill. Growing up is painful.

If you ask me, Funeral is the defining album of the 2000’s indie boom. It’s one of my all time favourites, and I’m so excited to see it on this list. Funeral is at its centre an album about loss: loss of childhood innocence (Tunnels), loss of community (Haiti), loss of trust in the people around you (Rebellion), loss of loved ones (In the Backseat); it’s a simple and effective concept, executed in a powerful way thanks to Arcade Fire’s lush multi instrumental arrangements and deeply personal lyrics. The songs are well-paced, swinging from highly energetic, to quiet and contemplative. Each track is incredibly distinct thanks to the unique combination of sound textures and genre crossing within the songs themselves. The album is cohesive, and carries a universal message about finding community amidst the turbulent backdrop of adolescence. For people that came of age at its release, it hits in a particularly resonant way. So for listeners like myself it’s especially tough to separate the music from those formative late 2000’s years. However! For as strong as the writing on these songs can be, there are also hints that Win Butler wasn’t the master lyricist his staunchest fans make him out to be. On Crown of Love, Butler sings “I carved your name across my eyelids/ You pray for rain, I pray for blindness.” It’s corny, and more than a touch over dramatic. While the writing itself can be incredibly sappy, the strength of the performances ultimately leave a more endearing quality with the listener. Wake Up is the perfect example of this. The song really shouldn’t work owing to its preachy message - “Children, wake up / hold your mistake up”- but it does work; and the result is an anthem for the era. I have immense love for this album and I know I’ll still be listening to it 30 years from now. An extraordinary debut from one of my favourite bands. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Lamenting the fabric of suburbia pulling apart at the seams, this album is the fraternal twin of Green Day’s “American Idiot”, both of which hit me right in the childhood. I have had transcendental and existential experiences listening to this record while biking through the Mill Creek neighborhoods on still summer nights. I’m especially enamored with “Neighborhoods #4 (7 kettles)” as a more meditative, placid moment in the middle of Funeral. The song juxtaposes the surface level serenity of suburban life, with all the underlying reasons people never end up feeling actually happy with the way their suburban lives are turning out. In a microcosm, that’s what this album is about to me: grasping at a perfect life in acquiring a docile “American dream” life (even though the band is canadian) and realizing through the passage of time that not all of life can be controlled or painted to perfection. Brilliant album because it’s a meditation on a loved experience Ive more or less been through, 5/5

When it came out, it spread through the word of mouth first, then got the adornment from the likes of David Bowie and Springsteen. Eventually, you could even hear it in a random clothes shop. There is a reason why it's gained so much popularity despite being a quirky indie album. Every song here evokes a flurry of emotion particularly for us older millennial. There is something generational about it. A nearly perfect album.

This year's 'Pink Elephant' was such a disappointment. But it's beautiful to know that this and 'The Suburbs' will always be there to wash away the bad taste.

Shocked and appalled at the global score for this one. This is a flawless no skips album, a cornerstone of modern indie rock and definitely a huge inspiration for many bands since. It’s also been one of my all time favourite albums for 10 years so no bias there at all. Also possibly the best live band I’ve ever seen.

a favorite of mine

the beautiful debut album of Arcade Fire that combined chamber and baroque pop with indie and symphonic rock that starts out with a 4 part suite dubbed the Neighborhood suite that focus on life in a small town during a power outage in winter and then expands to encapsulate beautiful, anthemic classics that deal with death, change, and loss of childhood innocence. The album's title and themes are drawn from a number of deaths experienced by band members during the album recording process, and it's melancholy yet emotionally charged tracks ranging from the euphoric yet witsful "Wake Up" to dance-influenced, art pop tinged, punchy indie rock anthem of "Rebellion (Lies)". Incredible album.

Wonderful!

Great album, I tend to like the suburbs more but wake up is pure perfection

Probably impossible to separate some formative young adulthood from this, but man - they really came out of the gate with hooks and a sense of the epic that they never matched again as far as I can tell. Got daydream nation a couple days later - looks like big Wes was taking notes on the Joni song for Laika. Sneaky Houston Canuck ass.

01) Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels) - 9,0 02) Neighborhood #2 (Laïka) - 10,0 03) Une année sans lumière - 9,5 04) Neighborhood #3 (Power Out) - 10,0 05) Neighborhood #4 (7 Kettles) - 9,5 06) Crown of Love - 9,5 07) Wake Up - 10,0 08) Haiti - 10,0 09) Rebellion (Lies) - 10,0 10) In the Backseat - 9,0 TOTAL: 9,65 (97/100) Current ranking: 15/608 With "The Suburbs" at #10 and "Neon Bible" at #25 you could say I'm a fan.

I felt like I saw an Indie god while listening to this album. Nearly every song felt perfect. The instrumentation felt so intentional, it was hard not to pick up on every subtle detail. The lead's vocals sealed the deal for me, I loved getting to hear the woman's voice on a few of the songs too. I would listen to this over and over again, I can't believe I have never heard this album before! Packed to the brim with energy and talent, this album made it to my perfect albums list.

Children, Wake Up 1001 Albums Generator 72 (07/11/2025) Every music nerd has an opinion about Arcade Fire's debut album, Funeral. Many online music nerds revile Arcade Fire, and this album in particular, as Pitchfork slop. You see, in 2004, Pitchfork gave Funeral a 9.7/10, which is thought to have propelled this album into the starlight. Nowadays, we would use the term "industry plant", although I don't know if that phrase had caught on in the mid naughties. Either way, the ethos was the same as it is today and the vitriol from indie hipsters was widespread. Additionally, the style of Funeral is a mix of indie rock and chamber pop, a combination which had not been done much before, since indie had yet to really be separated from its punk roots in any meaningful way. However, those with eyes to see and ears to hear were able to understand the album for what it is. And not to defend music publications, but Pitchfork absolutely nailed this one, as Funeral ended up being the sound of indie to come, and a fantastic piece of art at that. Funeral starts (for the most part) with a 4 part "Neighborhood" saga. Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels) starts us off with a deceptively big and upbeat song. I love the piano line in this one and the song is quite theatrical and orchestral. It is a great introduction to both the sounds and themes of the album. Neightborhood #2 (Laika) has this great accordion (?) part throughout it and features lyrics inspired by the story of Laika, the Soviet dog who was the first animal to orbit the Earth. Neighborhood #3 (Power Out) is very dance punk-y. The heavily distorted sort of synth alongside the chamber instrumentation in the background is a great combination and the drums sound huge here. Unfortunately, the neighborhood saga ends on a bit of a whimper with Neighborhood #4 (7 Kettles). This song is slow and while I appreciate the change in pace, I don't think that it is nearly as good as the rest of the album. I love when this album allows itself to just rock out. The last minute or so of Une Annee Sans Lumiere sees Arcade Fire increase the tempo quite a lot and the guitars are kind of slacker-ish. Wake Up is the most popular song off the album, and for good reason. It is extraordinarily catchy and I really like the constant strings in the background. The wordless chorus will get stuck in your head no matter what you do. Rebellion (Lies) is very post-punk revival with its picked bass-driven verses, but of course Arcade Fire throw their signature chamber sound on top with the piano and strings coming in and out of the composition. The album ends with the slower In The Backseat, which is better than 7 Kettles as a slow piece. Once again, the strings steal the show. Funeral is an album that has been drenched in controversy since it came out (and I haven't even mentioned the more recent personal controversies), but it is a fantastic album. It inspired some of my favorite music of all time (especially Illinois and Ants From Up There) and manages to also stand on its own as a unique piece of art. Strong 4.5/5, rounded up to a 5. Favs: Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels) Wake Up Rebellion (Lies) Least Fav: Neighborhood #4 (7 Kettles)

Arcade Fire were part of a wave of bands that brought large line-ups and chamber music to indie rock, and they inspired many more such bands. But few if any did it as well as they did it on this album. The piano and strings perfectly compliment the guitar and drums, resulting in an album that's lush but still rocks at times. "Wake Up" is the big hit, but the first three "Neighborhoods" and the closer are even better. Speaking of the closer: the lyrics on this album can have a beautiful subtlety to them, something that's missing from the band's later albums. At no point does this show better than "In the Backseat," where metaphors hide the themes of growing up and taking control of your life as your parents and relatives disappear.

One of the best

One of my fav albums from the ‘00s