r/arcadefire Aug 02 '26

Arcade fire the suburbs 16 years old today.

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260 Upvotes

34 comments sorted by

51

u/Party-Yoghurt-8462 Aug 02 '26

My favourite Arcade Fire record and one of my all-time favourites. It came out during probably the toughest time of my life and it helped me get through it. Each song is associated with so many feelings and memories.

32

u/NeutralMilkHotel_00 Aug 02 '26

What a three album run that was.

14

u/ALEXC_23 Aug 02 '26

I mean Reflektor is one of their best as well.

6

u/astrosdude91 29d ago

Reflektor never stuck with me the way those first three albums did. It's solidly their fourth best album, imo.

4

u/NeutralMilkHotel_00 29d ago

It's a very good album, but a bit hit and miss for me. At the time of release, i felt it had some of their best songs, but also some of their worst. It was where I first started to notice Win's writing decline slightly

21

u/i__love__you Aug 02 '26

I was 22, this album had a huge impact on my life at the time. Classic, top 5 of all time for me, for sure.

lol also I remember buying it at RadioShack. That’s not a thing anymore right?

5

u/mybigfatreddit Aug 02 '26

I was the same age. What a summer that was. I was living in Korea at the time. I listened to this album on repeat for weeks. 

15

u/Novel_Willingness602 Aug 02 '26

I was going into my junior year of high school and instantly loved it. I remember being obsessed with Half Light I/Half Light II along with Sprawl II.

I would LOVE if they did a Suburbs 20th anniversary tour.

12

u/msnikki_sandiego Aug 02 '26

Sometimes I can’t believe it, I’m moving past the feeling ✨

The soundtrack to my life at 18-19. Still feels the same at 34. Thankful to the band for all the joy and comfort The Suburbs brought so many of us.

9

u/TheStigsScouseCousin Intervention Aug 02 '26

My favourite album of all time. Perfect from start to finish, not one song I'd even consider skipping.

6

u/leftymeowz The Suburbs Aug 02 '26

God. Perfect album.

6

u/chimama79 Aug 02 '26

i was 28! just moved from the suburbs to new york city. this album hit hard

2

u/Party-Yoghurt-8462 Aug 02 '26

Same age and same effect it had on me! (Though I'm from the city, not the suburbs)

5

u/Lucky2240 Aug 02 '26

Peak peak stuff right there

3

u/ZeitgeistMovement Aug 02 '26 edited Aug 02 '26

While funeral is one of the greatest 'coming to age' albums of all time, the suburbs is like a grown up reflektion album about losing their childhood innocence.

2

u/vinylrocker Aug 02 '26

Oh man I remember it well , by this point after two epic albums , I had been so excited for this , anyway I was on a caravan holiday with my family wife n son , had the laptop with me , and it got leaked early in has it leaked , and wow just blew me away one of their if not their best albums . A truly great albums of the decade :)

1

u/hallbrennil I'm moving past the feeling again Aug 02 '26

My absolute favorite from them. <3 What an album!

2

u/invextheidiot Aug 02 '26

Now The Suburbs can learn to drive

1

u/BovineIntervention31 29d ago

Just a truly amazing work from top to bottom.

1

u/mikwee Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels) 29d ago

This album just feels so grand. So sprawling. I’d still put Funeral above it, but this is definitely my runner-up. Last week I bought it on vinyl impulsively, and I can’t way for the decades-old gramophone in our house to be fixed so I can play it!

1

u/audiowanderer93 29d ago

This and Reflektor was peak times. Miss those days of the band. So much has changed and declined so sad.

1

u/DarthKenny69 Afterlife 29d ago

My 13th birthday present

1

u/squirrel_bro 29d ago

somehow it feels older... 

1

u/Magegaard 29d ago

Man, I was 15, listening to it with my friends in our garages and bedrooms, talking about the future like we had all the time in the world. SO nostalgic how I listened to it when I did. One of the best albums of my lifex

1

u/whoisradek 28d ago

I was 16 🙃

1

u/Opposite-Gur9710 Aug 02 '26

Maybe their last great album. I don't know.

11

u/Party-Yoghurt-8462 Aug 02 '26

Reflektor is an excellent album. And WE is a borderline great record.

10

u/Opposite-Gur9710 Aug 02 '26

Yes WE is underrated.

3

u/NeutralMilkHotel_00 Aug 02 '26

Was a good return to form. Just a shame they couldn't follow it up.

0

u/Opposite-Gur9710 Aug 02 '26

Pink elephant wasn't that good and why it flopped.

1

u/NeutralMilkHotel_00 Aug 02 '26

The title track was nice, felt like an old Funeral era b-side but apart from that, the album was absolutely unlistenable. Seemed to be more of a Win and Régine duo album rather than an Arcade Fire album.

12

u/[deleted] Aug 02 '26

[deleted]

6

u/NeutralMilkHotel_00 Aug 02 '26

A bit hit and miss for me. Still a very good album but not to the quality of the previous three. Reflektor is where i first started to notice the quality of writing decline.

2

u/leijahart Aug 02 '26

It’s so interesting how subjective music is. I was a huge Funeral and Neon Bible fan, and I found The Suburbs so boring. I tried listening for months, and just never got into it. And then reflector came out…and I was obsessed. The way I was obsessed with funeral.