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33⅓ Main Series #123
The Suburbs
The Suburbs is an incredibly sentimental and nostalgic album, which generally moved critics but was jarring to others. But it also made a heavy impact on fans and - to the surprise of many - won Album of the Year at the 2011 Grammy Awards. This immensely visceral album triggers a sincere celebration of not formative years spent in a cookie-cutter development, but of feeling self-important, immortal, and desperate to escape. It examines youth and amplifies an innate sense of longing and remembrance.
Eric Eidelstein's The Suburbs explores this weird, utopic recollection of youth by comparing the album to suburban scenes in film and television, such as Blue Velvet, Mad Men, The Americans, and Spike Jonze's Scenes from the Suburbs. Through the close examination of film and televised depictions of the suburbs, both past and present, Eidelstein delves into the societal factors and artistic depictions that make the suburbs such a fascinating cultural construct, and uncovers why the album creates such a relatable and universal sense of reminiscence.
Eric Eidelstein's The Suburbs explores this weird, utopic recollection of youth by comparing the album to suburban scenes in film and television, such as Blue Velvet, Mad Men, The Americans, and Spike Jonze's Scenes from the Suburbs. Through the close examination of film and televised depictions of the suburbs, both past and present, Eidelstein delves into the societal factors and artistic depictions that make the suburbs such a fascinating cultural construct, and uncovers why the album creates such a relatable and universal sense of reminiscence.
- GenresMusicNonfiction
144 pages, Paperback
First published September 7, 2017
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 30 reviews
May 29, 2024
3.5
Arcade Fire was a discovery for me, like for many others, when I happened to see them playing “Month of May” on an awards show I don’t watch and hadn’t turned on. The song immediately captured my attention and I sought out more of their work, starting with their album The Suburbs. I don’t listen to the album as much now, but I enjoy it when I do. And I enjoyed this book, which focuses on the meaning of suburbs, as filtered through both the album’s lyrics and music.
Appropriately enough for a film critic, which Eidelstein is, the author of this little book goes further, comparing the separate songs to certain movies and TV shows depicting the suburbs. I found it all fascinating and intriguing, especially the comparisons to Douglas Sirk’s All That Heaven Allows and Todd Haynes’ Far From Heaven. Perhaps that’s because the latter film comments on the former and, at least in my brain, all of this turns into a meta-fest, the kind of thing I love.
My only complaint is that the last chapter feels rushed and is riddled with typos. I can relate to the kind of person the author is and I love the unique metaphors he uses to write of his childhood self, but it’s as if he was told, right before publication, that he needed one more chapter and no one proofed it.
Arcade Fire was a discovery for me, like for many others, when I happened to see them playing “Month of May” on an awards show I don’t watch and hadn’t turned on. The song immediately captured my attention and I sought out more of their work, starting with their album The Suburbs. I don’t listen to the album as much now, but I enjoy it when I do. And I enjoyed this book, which focuses on the meaning of suburbs, as filtered through both the album’s lyrics and music.
Appropriately enough for a film critic, which Eidelstein is, the author of this little book goes further, comparing the separate songs to certain movies and TV shows depicting the suburbs. I found it all fascinating and intriguing, especially the comparisons to Douglas Sirk’s All That Heaven Allows and Todd Haynes’ Far From Heaven. Perhaps that’s because the latter film comments on the former and, at least in my brain, all of this turns into a meta-fest, the kind of thing I love.
My only complaint is that the last chapter feels rushed and is riddled with typos. I can relate to the kind of person the author is and I love the unique metaphors he uses to write of his childhood self, but it’s as if he was told, right before publication, that he needed one more chapter and no one proofed it.
July 20, 2018
What an underwhelming entry to this magnificent series. Eidelstein's passion is understandable; nonetheless, it's evident he lacked the material to pull an entire book. The first half is decent, considering his primary sources are mainstream hipster websites. However, it turns bad when he starts repeating himself; man, it's a short book, we get what you said five pages ago! But the worst part are all those arbitrary interpretations of movies and TV shows that could easily be omitted, especially those that are post-2010 (like, seriously... I love The Americans but it has no place in this book). I'm disappointed Eidelstein prefered to guess what influenced Arcade Fire (no actual facts whatsoever) than actual stuff from the band when there's so much of it... their EP, the soundtrack for Her, even Reflektor.
It's a shame how a young writer has a beautiful opportunity to be a part of Bloomsbury Publishing and instead chooses to create a high school essay of speculation with heart. 33 1/3 should consider marketing a double-feature series where two half-baked ideas can be merged so at least readers don't waste time with personal gibberish.
It's a shame how a young writer has a beautiful opportunity to be a part of Bloomsbury Publishing and instead chooses to create a high school essay of speculation with heart. 33 1/3 should consider marketing a double-feature series where two half-baked ideas can be merged so at least readers don't waste time with personal gibberish.
August 2, 2020
Arcade Fire's "The Suburbs" is my favorite album of all-time, to the point that I actually wrote a treatment to write this book. In my version of the book, I wanted to dig into why music is so intertwined with our memory, so that a song can so vividly remind of us a place, and vice versa. Why can a note or a single line transport us to the past, to the point that we can almost experience these moments completely anew?
I wanted to write this book because my love for "The Suburbs" is so tied into the time it was released. "The Suburbs" came out on August 2, 2010, so I decided to finally read this book on the decade anniversary. At that point in my life, I was extremely depressed after a long-term breakup. When I found out the woman I loved was dating someone else, I was listening to an Arcade Fire album, on my way to buy tickets to Arcade Fire, and it put me into a spiral. It was the only time I drank so much that I blacked out and strongly considered ending my life. But when "The Suburbs" came out just a few months later, and coincidentally, the day before said girl's birthday, it felt like someone understood my pain, like someone was saying exactly what I needed them to say. Every song featured a line that hit close to home. I remember smiling listening to the album for the first time, while tears streamed down my face. Family and friends had tried to console me at this time to no use, but this band of Canadians knew exactly what to say to me.
I would see Arcade Fire a few days later, and planted firmly in the front of the crowd, the band played the song "Wake Up" as their final song. I burst into tears, an uncontrollable punctuation to everything I had felt. At the end of the song, one of the band's leads, Régine Chassagne, came over and held my hand, almost as a way to tell me everything would be all right. It was at that moment, thanks to Arcade Fire and the importance that "The Suburbs" had on me at this dire point in my life, that I decided to quit mourning the past and work on my future. As the second song on "The Suburbs" ends, "Now I'm ready to start."
This is all to say that "The Suburbs" is a deeply personal album for me, and while I hate when people say an album "saved their life" or whatever, or that they love an album more than other people, with 'The Suburbs," I kind of feel that to be true. Every song off "The Suburbs" is so deeply ingrained into the most fraught time of my life that I can't help but feel a certain amount of ownership of this album. I wanted to write this book because of the songs that remind me of this relationship, despite the album having not been written while it existed. How can an album so deeply remind me of past events - both good and bad - of holding someone in a car because you don't want to say goodbye for the night, of feeling that pain of being told you aren't loved anymore, of seeing that person with someone else?
It's because of this deep connection to "The Suburbs" that I held off reading Eric Eidelstein's version of this book. I knew going in that I would innately have a hard time digging into another person's experiences with an album that is so personal to me. But my biggest problem with Eidelstein's book is that he doesn't seem to have much of a person response to this album at all. While "The Suburbs" reminds me of deeply important moments in my life, for Eidelstein, it simply reminds him of other pieces of entertainment he likes that just so happen to occur in the suburbs.
Now, I'm not saying that my experience with "The Suburbs" is more important than Eidelstein's, but I found this book to be such a reductive look at what this album is. Eidelstein uses "The Suburbs" more as a jumping off point to talk about other entertainments. Some of these are things I love as well, such as The Leftovers, the films of Douglas Sirk and Black-ish, but it's wild to me to think that the best way to tackle this album is to compare it to an episode of Mad Men that occurs in the suburbs. Eidelstein tries to present an idea of what the suburbs mean, but by doing in under the guise of this album, it seems so haphazard and poorly tied together. Eidelstein doesn't necessarily want to talk about Arcade Fire's "The Suburbs," but rather, the suburbs in general.
This wouldn't be a terrible topic if Eidelstein actually had something interesting to say about the suburbs, or if there was some distinct tie between the music and the TV and films that he wanted to discuss. But most of this breaks down to "The Incredibles takes place in the suburbs, here is a line from Arcade Fire's album that reminds me of that film." Eidelstein puts "The Suburbs" on the back burner while he dissects the use of suburbia in Blue Velvet or John Waters' Polyester, and it just doesn't seem like the best use of space for a book about this album.
Now, of course, I'm probably overly sensitive about this book. It's an album I love and this is clearly a book I wish I would've written. But even if I didn't have that deep connection with this album, I would still find the structure of this book strange. If your big connection to this album is that it reminds you of other media, that's not exactly a big connection. I've read other books in the 33 1/3 series that don't focus on the album, but still make tremendous points about what the album means to them and larger points overall, and absolutely loved them, so I don't need the entire book to necessarily focus on the album itself (as my pitch for this book didn't do that either). Eidelstein doesn't even go that far into what "The Suburbs" means to him, other than it reminded him of his childhood when he listened to it years after it came out.
I love "The Suburbs" about as deeply as someone can love a piece of entertainment, so it bums me out to read a book ostensibly about said album, only to have the writer use it as a jumping off point to talk about other entertainment that he seems to appreciate more.
I wanted to write this book because my love for "The Suburbs" is so tied into the time it was released. "The Suburbs" came out on August 2, 2010, so I decided to finally read this book on the decade anniversary. At that point in my life, I was extremely depressed after a long-term breakup. When I found out the woman I loved was dating someone else, I was listening to an Arcade Fire album, on my way to buy tickets to Arcade Fire, and it put me into a spiral. It was the only time I drank so much that I blacked out and strongly considered ending my life. But when "The Suburbs" came out just a few months later, and coincidentally, the day before said girl's birthday, it felt like someone understood my pain, like someone was saying exactly what I needed them to say. Every song featured a line that hit close to home. I remember smiling listening to the album for the first time, while tears streamed down my face. Family and friends had tried to console me at this time to no use, but this band of Canadians knew exactly what to say to me.
I would see Arcade Fire a few days later, and planted firmly in the front of the crowd, the band played the song "Wake Up" as their final song. I burst into tears, an uncontrollable punctuation to everything I had felt. At the end of the song, one of the band's leads, Régine Chassagne, came over and held my hand, almost as a way to tell me everything would be all right. It was at that moment, thanks to Arcade Fire and the importance that "The Suburbs" had on me at this dire point in my life, that I decided to quit mourning the past and work on my future. As the second song on "The Suburbs" ends, "Now I'm ready to start."
This is all to say that "The Suburbs" is a deeply personal album for me, and while I hate when people say an album "saved their life" or whatever, or that they love an album more than other people, with 'The Suburbs," I kind of feel that to be true. Every song off "The Suburbs" is so deeply ingrained into the most fraught time of my life that I can't help but feel a certain amount of ownership of this album. I wanted to write this book because of the songs that remind me of this relationship, despite the album having not been written while it existed. How can an album so deeply remind me of past events - both good and bad - of holding someone in a car because you don't want to say goodbye for the night, of feeling that pain of being told you aren't loved anymore, of seeing that person with someone else?
It's because of this deep connection to "The Suburbs" that I held off reading Eric Eidelstein's version of this book. I knew going in that I would innately have a hard time digging into another person's experiences with an album that is so personal to me. But my biggest problem with Eidelstein's book is that he doesn't seem to have much of a person response to this album at all. While "The Suburbs" reminds me of deeply important moments in my life, for Eidelstein, it simply reminds him of other pieces of entertainment he likes that just so happen to occur in the suburbs.
Now, I'm not saying that my experience with "The Suburbs" is more important than Eidelstein's, but I found this book to be such a reductive look at what this album is. Eidelstein uses "The Suburbs" more as a jumping off point to talk about other entertainments. Some of these are things I love as well, such as The Leftovers, the films of Douglas Sirk and Black-ish, but it's wild to me to think that the best way to tackle this album is to compare it to an episode of Mad Men that occurs in the suburbs. Eidelstein tries to present an idea of what the suburbs mean, but by doing in under the guise of this album, it seems so haphazard and poorly tied together. Eidelstein doesn't necessarily want to talk about Arcade Fire's "The Suburbs," but rather, the suburbs in general.
This wouldn't be a terrible topic if Eidelstein actually had something interesting to say about the suburbs, or if there was some distinct tie between the music and the TV and films that he wanted to discuss. But most of this breaks down to "The Incredibles takes place in the suburbs, here is a line from Arcade Fire's album that reminds me of that film." Eidelstein puts "The Suburbs" on the back burner while he dissects the use of suburbia in Blue Velvet or John Waters' Polyester, and it just doesn't seem like the best use of space for a book about this album.
Now, of course, I'm probably overly sensitive about this book. It's an album I love and this is clearly a book I wish I would've written. But even if I didn't have that deep connection with this album, I would still find the structure of this book strange. If your big connection to this album is that it reminds you of other media, that's not exactly a big connection. I've read other books in the 33 1/3 series that don't focus on the album, but still make tremendous points about what the album means to them and larger points overall, and absolutely loved them, so I don't need the entire book to necessarily focus on the album itself (as my pitch for this book didn't do that either). Eidelstein doesn't even go that far into what "The Suburbs" means to him, other than it reminded him of his childhood when he listened to it years after it came out.
I love "The Suburbs" about as deeply as someone can love a piece of entertainment, so it bums me out to read a book ostensibly about said album, only to have the writer use it as a jumping off point to talk about other entertainment that he seems to appreciate more.
October 22, 2017
Have you ever started writing a term paper and then realized that you only have enough material to fill about half of it? You know how you just start ad-libbing to fill space? This book is like that.
A real shame--I wanted to know more about one of my favorite bands. Instead I got to read a book by a guy that tries to relate movies that are set in the suburbs to the Arcade Fire.
A real shame--I wanted to know more about one of my favorite bands. Instead I got to read a book by a guy that tries to relate movies that are set in the suburbs to the Arcade Fire.
Read
December 11, 2017I used to know a guy who, when asked where he was from, would answer 'suburbia', on the grounds that he had more in common with other suburban kids than anyone who'd grown up in the centre of the city his happened to be near. It was a fair point. Similarly, this book uses Arcade Fire's breakthrough album - and definitely not my favourite - as much as anything for a peg on which to hang an essay about the questioning of the idea of the suburbs in American art since the War. And it should be noted that this is a US definition which seems also to include small towns - Blue Velvet's Lumberton, for instance - in a way which felt alien to this British reader. The recurring idea is that paradox of feeling at least partly nostalgic for somewhere which, at the time, one couldn't wait to escape. And on that much, I certainly know what Edelstein means. Indeed, I think it's more common than he dreams; there's a well-meaning but slightly embarrassing aside on nostalgia as a function of privilege, which I don't buy at all. What about all those rappers who drop tracks expressing nostalgia for their early days in the hood? They may well lose their innocence younger than suburban kids, but the trajectory and principle are the same. Hell, The Wire's fourth season, often considered its finest, had that same arc as its spine. Sure, they're still in the US, but what about JG Ballard? He does get a passing mention here, but without reference to the way that he clearly felt at least glimmers of nostalgia for a Japanese prison camp, because that was where he was young. I don't think there's a spot on Earth so forlorn that someone who grew up there doesn't feel the odd moment of missing it.
Still, one can forgive such earnestness in the young, and Edelstein was only 16 when The Suburbs came out in 2010, which is now seven years ago, and isn't that terrifying? So one can also let him off the slightly clunky references to Sontag and Baudrillard, even when paired with the idea that the song title Rococo is pretentious, or the OS romance plot of Spike Jonze's Her sounds absurd rather than passé. His reading of Mad Men as Betty's story rather than Don's shows definite promise, and more than anything he's made me want to go back with fresh ears to an album I never rated all that highly - which is surely exactly the sort of impact a 33 1/3 should have.
(Netgalley ARC)
Still, one can forgive such earnestness in the young, and Edelstein was only 16 when The Suburbs came out in 2010, which is now seven years ago, and isn't that terrifying? So one can also let him off the slightly clunky references to Sontag and Baudrillard, even when paired with the idea that the song title Rococo is pretentious, or the OS romance plot of Spike Jonze's Her sounds absurd rather than passé. His reading of Mad Men as Betty's story rather than Don's shows definite promise, and more than anything he's made me want to go back with fresh ears to an album I never rated all that highly - which is surely exactly the sort of impact a 33 1/3 should have.
(Netgalley ARC)
January 8, 2018
Here, Eidelstein has written rather a long essay which details the influences between Arcade Fire's seminal album, The Suburbs, and how it has affected his life. He dedicates his effort to the band, writing 'Thanks for being weird and open and uncomfortable and unrestrained and a piece of my life.' Sentimentality and nostalgia are both approached with The Suburbs in mind, and Eidelstein's passion for the band shines through. I liked the use of critics, and interviews with the band.
Of course, a lot of Eidelstein's personal critique is biased; he has his favourite songs form the album, just as I do, but we seem to differ rather a lot on our opinions. I had never read a book which was shaped solely around a single album before this, and very much enjoyed the experience. I learnt a lot about the influences behind the album, which I was not previously aware of, and found it ultimately quite insightful. Regardless of the focus upon the American suburbs, which are quite different from those found in Britain, this is a culturally interesting and quite important musing upon how we live, and the ways in which Arcade Fire have expressed this within their music. My only criticism is that Eidelstein sometimes goes off on tangents which have very little to do with the band; otherwise, this is an enjoyable read, and certainly offered something a little different to my reading list.
Of course, a lot of Eidelstein's personal critique is biased; he has his favourite songs form the album, just as I do, but we seem to differ rather a lot on our opinions. I had never read a book which was shaped solely around a single album before this, and very much enjoyed the experience. I learnt a lot about the influences behind the album, which I was not previously aware of, and found it ultimately quite insightful. Regardless of the focus upon the American suburbs, which are quite different from those found in Britain, this is a culturally interesting and quite important musing upon how we live, and the ways in which Arcade Fire have expressed this within their music. My only criticism is that Eidelstein sometimes goes off on tangents which have very little to do with the band; otherwise, this is an enjoyable read, and certainly offered something a little different to my reading list.
July 10, 2018
Where Marvin Lin's analysis of Kid A went right, this take on Arcade Fire's The Suburbs (one of my favorite records) goes utterly, sickeningly wrong. Ugh.
The book's first half is just disappointing. Eidelstein provides a synopsis and analysis of the album, but his analysis is so, so lacking in any real depth in my opinion. For a band so obviously inclined towards gestures of sentimentality and grandeur, it can be hard to build a super-literary analysis, sure. But why not at least respond to that in some way instead of, I don't know, treading water? This is the most hurried-first-draft-written-in-a-Starbucks book I've ever read, and that's without taking the numerous typos into account.
At least the first half is decently engaging thanks to the rich quality of the album - the second half of this book, however, is just bafflingly tedious. Eidelstein takes you on a tour through portrayals of the suburbs in popular TV and film from the last half-century; maybe he did this because of his background as a TV/film writer, but in the context of The Suburbs the album, it's just completely unnecessary. It doesn't help that the shows/films he names (Mad Men, Blue Velvet, Black-ish) have little to nothing to actually do with the album, besides their setting and emotional themes. Essentially, then, what we have here is a basic, boring exercise of comparing this album to TV shows the author has watched. And that's a pretty boring read.
Also, screw literalism! Art doesn't just mean one thing! It doesn't just mean what the artist says it does either! Cultural context matters!
The book's first half is just disappointing. Eidelstein provides a synopsis and analysis of the album, but his analysis is so, so lacking in any real depth in my opinion. For a band so obviously inclined towards gestures of sentimentality and grandeur, it can be hard to build a super-literary analysis, sure. But why not at least respond to that in some way instead of, I don't know, treading water? This is the most hurried-first-draft-written-in-a-Starbucks book I've ever read, and that's without taking the numerous typos into account.
At least the first half is decently engaging thanks to the rich quality of the album - the second half of this book, however, is just bafflingly tedious. Eidelstein takes you on a tour through portrayals of the suburbs in popular TV and film from the last half-century; maybe he did this because of his background as a TV/film writer, but in the context of The Suburbs the album, it's just completely unnecessary. It doesn't help that the shows/films he names (Mad Men, Blue Velvet, Black-ish) have little to nothing to actually do with the album, besides their setting and emotional themes. Essentially, then, what we have here is a basic, boring exercise of comparing this album to TV shows the author has watched. And that's a pretty boring read.
Also, screw literalism! Art doesn't just mean one thing! It doesn't just mean what the artist says it does either! Cultural context matters!
March 30, 2018
Arcade Fire's third album, The Suburbs is not my favourite AF record, but it definitely is the one that made them superstars and win awards. Usually when people say they don't like the Arcade Fire I pass on the The Suburbs and it has an instant effect on them. Plus it also has some of their strongest songs.
Eric Edelstein's volume on this album follows the personal route, something that is quite rare in the 33 1/3 canon. Here he speaks about how the album changed his life, how it affected him as a teenager and then he relates the themes of the albums to other films about suburbia.
For a subjective book like this, it is weirdly academic. Edelstein quotes a lot of cultural theorists and his film knowledge is encyclopedic and it was fun seeing Arcade Fire songs compared to Lynch's Blue Velvet or Todd Solondz's Welcome to the Dollhouse. However Edelstein never strays from his feelings and this is what makes the book such an interesting read.
January 5, 2021
I felt Edelstein threw a bit too many references in the book for my liking. I would have loved him to delve a bit more in the dystopia Arcade Fire created and its roots.
But I believe he did understand the album completely and made me understand it more myself. A good read for anyone interested in the suburbs, 'The Suburbs' and/or Arcade Fire.
But I believe he did understand the album completely and made me understand it more myself. A good read for anyone interested in the suburbs, 'The Suburbs' and/or Arcade Fire.
March 23, 2021
Decent enough read - and really interesting pulls from the world of cinema related to The Suburbs although other books in this series go into way more depth on the album’s creation and musical decisions.
November 18, 2021
Many of the books in the 33 1/3 series are groundbreaking examinations of records or artists which take on the album in question in a way that feels fresh, incisive, and illuminating. And then there are the books in that series that feel a bit longwinded, padded out in order to be a little over 100 pages, and kinda okay but not especially insightful once you get deep into it.
"Arcade Fire's The Suburbs" is the latter.
It's fair to say that "The Suburbs" is the last AF album that I really got into, and I definitely fell in love with it upon its release in 2010. I'd gotten into AF through "Neon Bible" in 2007 (it sounded like Joy Division with U2's sonic reach and Springsteen's appeal). I really liked "Funeral" when I went back and got it, and I listened to "The Suburbs" a lot when it came out.
This book starts out being a detailed look at the album and then sort of takes a detour through pop-culture speculation land, which is usually in my wheelhouse as a fan of any sort of critical writing about pop culture. But it doesn't quite come together for me; some of the comparisons to pop-culture artifacts from the past or more recent vintage feel forced, like the author is just looking for an excuse to mention certain shows or movies that he likes (and I have been guilty of doing that myself, in some of my own critical writing, so in some ways this is the pot calling the kettle black. But I'd like to think I'm more artful about it than what is presented here). Some of the insights about the record are good, but after a while it's not really about the record anymore but some of the TV shows this guy has watched.
I think "The Suburbs" was the last time I got excited for an Arcade Fire album, and I really haven't had much interest in checking out their work since then. I can't recommend this one if you haven't already heard the album (the mark of a great book about music or any other piece of pop culture is that it makes you want to seek out the artifact being discussed), and I would be surprised if this book made non-Arcade Fire fans curious about the band or their albums. It's a decent book for the first half about the album, but the wormholes it goes down in the second half don't quite come together.
"Arcade Fire's The Suburbs" is the latter.
It's fair to say that "The Suburbs" is the last AF album that I really got into, and I definitely fell in love with it upon its release in 2010. I'd gotten into AF through "Neon Bible" in 2007 (it sounded like Joy Division with U2's sonic reach and Springsteen's appeal). I really liked "Funeral" when I went back and got it, and I listened to "The Suburbs" a lot when it came out.
This book starts out being a detailed look at the album and then sort of takes a detour through pop-culture speculation land, which is usually in my wheelhouse as a fan of any sort of critical writing about pop culture. But it doesn't quite come together for me; some of the comparisons to pop-culture artifacts from the past or more recent vintage feel forced, like the author is just looking for an excuse to mention certain shows or movies that he likes (and I have been guilty of doing that myself, in some of my own critical writing, so in some ways this is the pot calling the kettle black. But I'd like to think I'm more artful about it than what is presented here). Some of the insights about the record are good, but after a while it's not really about the record anymore but some of the TV shows this guy has watched.
I think "The Suburbs" was the last time I got excited for an Arcade Fire album, and I really haven't had much interest in checking out their work since then. I can't recommend this one if you haven't already heard the album (the mark of a great book about music or any other piece of pop culture is that it makes you want to seek out the artifact being discussed), and I would be surprised if this book made non-Arcade Fire fans curious about the band or their albums. It's a decent book for the first half about the album, but the wormholes it goes down in the second half don't quite come together.
December 11, 2017
I'd recommend this book for three things.
First, the fact it encourages you to revisit one of the best albums of the 21st century. So much of the emphasis in pop culture writing is on the here and now and the immediate future--the latest controversy, what are you working on next, the best of the year, top ten most anticipated, and so on--that it's refreshing to read something that looks at something that came out almost a decade ago, and encourages you to re-experience it, and remember what it was like to listen to it then, and see what it is like to listen to it now.
Second, Eidelstein's general survey of representations of suburbia in film and television, from classic melodramas to Mad Men and The Americans. As someone who, like the author, is also culturally omnivorous and also likes to find connections between different works of art and media--I'll just say, it's nice to recognise a kindred mind.
Third, the author's more personal reflections and recollections on his own suburban upbringing, particularly at the beginning and at the end of the book. Eidelstein's experiences are both unique and eminently relatable.
The book's weakness? I wish it were a different book. I wish it were a memoir or autobiographical fiction about Eidelstein's experience of suburbia--since those was by far the most engaging sections in the book--or that it were a general survey of representations of suburbia in popular culture--since Eidelstein clearly knows the subject well, but I feel that those sections weren't as in-depth as they could have been due to the constraints of the 33 1/2 series (the book has to be short, and it has be mainly about an album). Also--don't walk in expecting a particularly complex or mind-blowing analysis of Arcade Fire's album. Not that I think that's what Eidelstein was aiming for. Read this book if you want to think about connections--between The Suburbs and other works of art, and between The Suburbs and your own childhood and adolescence.
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley.
First, the fact it encourages you to revisit one of the best albums of the 21st century. So much of the emphasis in pop culture writing is on the here and now and the immediate future--the latest controversy, what are you working on next, the best of the year, top ten most anticipated, and so on--that it's refreshing to read something that looks at something that came out almost a decade ago, and encourages you to re-experience it, and remember what it was like to listen to it then, and see what it is like to listen to it now.
Second, Eidelstein's general survey of representations of suburbia in film and television, from classic melodramas to Mad Men and The Americans. As someone who, like the author, is also culturally omnivorous and also likes to find connections between different works of art and media--I'll just say, it's nice to recognise a kindred mind.
Third, the author's more personal reflections and recollections on his own suburban upbringing, particularly at the beginning and at the end of the book. Eidelstein's experiences are both unique and eminently relatable.
The book's weakness? I wish it were a different book. I wish it were a memoir or autobiographical fiction about Eidelstein's experience of suburbia--since those was by far the most engaging sections in the book--or that it were a general survey of representations of suburbia in popular culture--since Eidelstein clearly knows the subject well, but I feel that those sections weren't as in-depth as they could have been due to the constraints of the 33 1/2 series (the book has to be short, and it has be mainly about an album). Also--don't walk in expecting a particularly complex or mind-blowing analysis of Arcade Fire's album. Not that I think that's what Eidelstein was aiming for. Read this book if you want to think about connections--between The Suburbs and other works of art, and between The Suburbs and your own childhood and adolescence.
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley.
February 3, 2021
This book is difficult for me. This difficulty certainly stems from a mix of my unyielding love for The Suburbs and a large respect for the author of this piece. Eric is certaintly passionate about this album, and draws upon similar sentiments I've felt while listening to The Suburbs. Eric also appreciates art - almost to a compulsive extent - which I can totally relate to at times. However, this collection of essays doesn't perform any previously unthought of analysis or anything over the baseline of the album it's derived from, at least not to the level I'd expect from a 33 1/3 entry.
Throughout, Eric mentions a plethora of films, tv series', and books that can be compared and contrasted from Arcade Fire's musings. In this, although he is incredibly well researched and pursues these thoughts with ambition and passion they inevitably fall flat. The essays turn less into discoveries relating to The Suburbs and lean more into using Arcade Fire's work as a stepping stone, while making discoveries about other pieces of a related subject matter. His conclusion to this was my favorite part, its waxed with sentiment, personality, and cemented in experience. It draws from a perspective I haven't empathized with before while honouring a cemented thought from the source material. Ironically, it also leverages the least external material across any chapter of the book.
This doesn't mean that I don't respect Eric's work as a whole. It just doesn't work for me in this context. Arcade Fire holds an incredibly large space of my teenage years and I felt as though this piece didn't give me any of the new thoughts I was searching for. If anything, I can always be thankful to Eric for - after each chapter - inspiring me to once again listen to an album that's shaped who I am.
"If I could have it back / All the time that we wasted / I’d only waste it again" - The Suburbs (continued)
Throughout, Eric mentions a plethora of films, tv series', and books that can be compared and contrasted from Arcade Fire's musings. In this, although he is incredibly well researched and pursues these thoughts with ambition and passion they inevitably fall flat. The essays turn less into discoveries relating to The Suburbs and lean more into using Arcade Fire's work as a stepping stone, while making discoveries about other pieces of a related subject matter. His conclusion to this was my favorite part, its waxed with sentiment, personality, and cemented in experience. It draws from a perspective I haven't empathized with before while honouring a cemented thought from the source material. Ironically, it also leverages the least external material across any chapter of the book.
This doesn't mean that I don't respect Eric's work as a whole. It just doesn't work for me in this context. Arcade Fire holds an incredibly large space of my teenage years and I felt as though this piece didn't give me any of the new thoughts I was searching for. If anything, I can always be thankful to Eric for - after each chapter - inspiring me to once again listen to an album that's shaped who I am.
"If I could have it back / All the time that we wasted / I’d only waste it again" - The Suburbs (continued)
July 13, 2020
I gave this book 3 stars though the first thing I'll say is that it's not really a 3 star book. I admire Eidelstein's effort and I applaud him for what he attempted to do with his crack at a 33-1/3, tying his experience with a suburban childhood and other entertainment and media (mostly TV shows) together with what the album represents to him, but where the effort and idea are laudable, the final product falls short. His main point seems to be that there is good and bad about the suburbs (the place to live, not the album) and that in looking back on our childhoods - those of us who grew up in suburban America - we (or Arcade Fire) see both the good and the bad. While true, it's not exactly earth shattering. Adding that by watching Mad Men or Black-ish or Blue Velvet you can glean the same epiphany - the suburbs are both good and bad - doesn't make it much better. Ultimately, none of this made me appreciate the album more or on a different level, which is what I want from a 33-1/3. So good try Eric - I agree with some of what you wrote, I didn't mind reading it and if nothing else it pushed me to listen to and think about a record I already loved, which is always nice. I really do love The Suburbs (the album, not necessarily the place).
July 31, 2024
The Suburbs is the 13th book in the Bloomsbury 33 1/3 series of books about albums and, while I love Arcade Fire and their album that garnered them a Grammy, sad to say this is the weakest of the books I've read so far. It feels like Eidelstein overreached in attempting to make a 'BIG STATEMENT' and while the topic may even be as he posits, his writing misses the mark too many times.
This is also the first of the books I've read from the series that doesn't go into the actual process of making of the album and I've added it to the "Memoir" shelf because that is close to describing what I found less than interesting with this book. While he tries to draw parallels with larger culture -- and he does this best when dealing with his parallels between Arcade Fire's album and Douglas Sirk's All That Heaven Allows too much of his own story makes its way into the text.
At times, it reads like a undergrad attempt at a graduate level cultural analysis. I've loved the other 12 books in this series that I've read and so I find myself feeling a bit bad giving this such a negative review.
This is also the first of the books I've read from the series that doesn't go into the actual process of making of the album and I've added it to the "Memoir" shelf because that is close to describing what I found less than interesting with this book. While he tries to draw parallels with larger culture -- and he does this best when dealing with his parallels between Arcade Fire's album and Douglas Sirk's All That Heaven Allows too much of his own story makes its way into the text.
At times, it reads like a undergrad attempt at a graduate level cultural analysis. I've loved the other 12 books in this series that I've read and so I find myself feeling a bit bad giving this such a negative review.
January 16, 2019
Arcade Fire mean a lot to me. Reflektor and Everything Now sandwiched my university years.
I remember when Arcade Fire won the Grammy for The Suburbs. No one had heard of them - despite their previous success. I was 16 and I hadn't heard of them but all the artists I admired at the time raved about The Suburbs. I listened to the album and couldn't get away with it, with the exception of 'Ready to Start'. I returned the the album again at 18 and I gathered a whole new meaning from it. I could identify with the need to get out of a claustrophobic environment and the anxieties of modern life. I could understand the links my favourite artists saw and I could see the themes Arcade Fire deal with in the films and literature I consumed. Arcade Fire are an important band and a clever band and they have partially shaped me as the adult I have become.
Eric Eidelstein's essay is brilliant and - for me - is relatable.
I remember when Arcade Fire won the Grammy for The Suburbs. No one had heard of them - despite their previous success. I was 16 and I hadn't heard of them but all the artists I admired at the time raved about The Suburbs. I listened to the album and couldn't get away with it, with the exception of 'Ready to Start'. I returned the the album again at 18 and I gathered a whole new meaning from it. I could identify with the need to get out of a claustrophobic environment and the anxieties of modern life. I could understand the links my favourite artists saw and I could see the themes Arcade Fire deal with in the films and literature I consumed. Arcade Fire are an important band and a clever band and they have partially shaped me as the adult I have become.
Eric Eidelstein's essay is brilliant and - for me - is relatable.
September 1, 2020
Great album, awful book. Who proofread this thing, let alone edited it? The only noteworthy moment involves an anecdote from Eidelstein's life that feels vividly observed and narrowly analysed - he and his classmates were made to shelter under their desks because a bank was robbed next to his school. He went home and sobbed into his pillow later that night. If the whole book had comprised such experiences, in order to gently and personally illustrate the content of AF's "The Suburbs", sort of like verbal concept art, well, that would have been far better than what he actually wrote: a middle-school-level exegesis of each track, preceded by a poor attempt at defining what an American suburb is and is not (and mostly just pointing at other works that have done this with greater rigor).
November 27, 2022
Love this album. Love this series. But this should never have been published. It reads like a college student’s essay, impassioned but not focused or polished or cohesive, stuffed with overwrought sentences and broad overstatements.
In the hands of the right writer, the first-person perspective that 33 1/3 allows can really conjure for you the rapture of putting on your headphones, setting the needle into the groove, and hearing the first notes of an album that would go on to change your life. In the wrong hands, we get unhelpful, irrelevant details about the writer’s own life. “I lived in suburbs” really isn’t enough to justify some of the details we get in this book.
In the hands of the right writer, the first-person perspective that 33 1/3 allows can really conjure for you the rapture of putting on your headphones, setting the needle into the groove, and hearing the first notes of an album that would go on to change your life. In the wrong hands, we get unhelpful, irrelevant details about the writer’s own life. “I lived in suburbs” really isn’t enough to justify some of the details we get in this book.
October 3, 2018
I was really excited by the premise of this series, and this book in particular. I love music criticism, essays on pop culture, and Arcade Fire. Unfortunately, I think the best music writing takes a long look at how the art impacts the author, and this writer keeps himself at arm's length until the last couple pages. The result is something that feels cold and aloof, the opposite of the music being written about. All in all, an overly academic dissection of a beautiful album that the writer doesn't convince us he's actually listened to.
May 7, 2020
Admittedly, I'm in the camp that found this record extremely tedious as a whole, and abhor Win and Regine's self-flagellation. But, even still, I'm always interested in the records people enjoy and they're story about those records. That said, Eidelstein has very little to say about the record; I found he sort of recycled his favorite quotes to really have a discussion on film/tv and their approach towards Suburbia. An interesting topic, no doubt, but not really a "why I loved this album" type of thing.
November 22, 2024
1/3 of this book in the 33 1/3 is about Arcade Fire and the music. It starts out with some really interesting insight and perspective then just completely loses all purpose and focus. 2 stars instead of 3 because whether by mistake or on purpose to help fit his narrative, many of the lyrics he quotes are just plain wrong.
December 16, 2019
Other than a couple of early chapters on the album the majority of this book is heavily indebted to the author’s appreciation of pop culture texts set in the suburbs. Don’t come to this book looking for insight into the band or their creative process.
April 2, 2018
Pretty good. Good unpacking if a bit overly self-reflective (but that's forgivable because what person DOESN'T have an intensely personal reaction to a good album?).
March 5, 2019
Read it on a plane
March 3, 2020
Loved this album, but the book is basically "sentimentaltity" is ok, after an awesome introduction. Would suggest buying for under 10 dollars
June 23, 2021
I don't mind it. I appreciate the comparison of The Suburbs to suburban settings in movies and television. I think it was effective. One shoulder shrug.
January 27, 2022
This book is barely about the Arcade Fire’s album. I was hoping for more of a album breakdown than a pondering about suburbia.
February 17, 2023
Apparently any piece of fictional media not explicitly set in the city is about the suburbs and is worthy of comparison. *eye roll*
December 19, 2020
comparing this album to other pop culture depictions of suburbs is a decent-ok idea (though I would've preferred a focus on the history of suburbs [discrimination!] and using the album as a marinade on that), but mostly the execution is whats really lacking. picture a fine but boring vulture article but its 100 pages.
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