Maybe it's the fact that he always seems to be smiling in pictures, or the excessively jubilant live shows of his band, the Flaming Lips, but Wayne Coyne has always seemed like a pretty nice guy, which makes his comments about Arcade Fire seem that much more surprising.

During a recent interview with Rolling Stone, Coyne did not hold back his feelings about the band; essentially, that they're pompous jerks. The full text of Coyne's quote read: 

I'm a fan of them on one level, but on another level I get really tired of their pompousness. We've played some shows with them and they really treat people like shit. Whenever I've been around them, I've found that they not only treated their crew like shit, they treated the audience like shit. They treated everybody in their vicinity like shit. I thought, "Who do they think they are?" I don't know why people put up with it. I wouldn't put up with it. I don't care if it's Arcade Fire or Brian Eno. If either of them walked into a room and treated people like shit I'd be like, "Fuck you, get outta here."

People treat Arcade Fire like they're the greatest thing ever and they get away with it. Those sort of opinions change my view of their music. They have good tunes, but they're pricks, so fuck 'em. Who does Arcade Fire think they are? I've been around groups. I've been around the Edge from U2 and he's the fucking sweetest guy ever. I was around Justin Timberlake when he was young and he was just a normal, nice, kind person. Anyone can be polite and kind and people who have the privilege and money and attention should understand that. If they don't, then fuck 'em.

 

Look on the bright side Arcade Fire, he seems to enjoy your music. The very Internet-active, former Arcade Fire violinist Owen Pallett (Final Fantasy) saw fit to defend the band, saying via Twitter, "Win [Butler] might not be all hugs and rainbows and kittens, but neither is he drug culture, confetti, pot paraphernalia and bullshit." While them is most certainly fightin' words, Pallett later removed that tweet and replaced it with "[Insert snarky comment about Flaming Lips here]."

Only one thing is left to settle: who would win in a cage match between Wayne Coyne and Win Butler? Or better yet, who would win in an inflatable bubble match between Wayne Coyne and Win Butler? I say Coyne definitely, if he's allowed to use his confetti gun.

[Pitchfork]