The number of times a DJ dropped “Midnight City” from M83 the whole is almost incalculable at this point. The track originally appeared on the double album, Quick, we’re dreaming, released in 2011. According to a brief summary of the album’s success, “The album ranked #3 on Pitchfork’s Top 50 Albums of 2011 list; the single “Midnight City” was ranked 1st on the Top 100 chart. On January 26, 2012, M83 came in at number 5 on the Triple J Hottest 100 with the single “Midnight City”.
It was a huge success in every possible way and arguably single-handedly led to the massive popularity of M83. However, Anthony Gonzalez, the band’s only remaining member, has repeatedly stated in interviews that he laments the song’s popularity. In an infamous 2019 interview with VICE, he said, “[…] these days I just want people to forget about me and my previous success— Quick, we’re dreaming and “Midnight City”.
Now, in a more recent interview with Resulthe doubled.
“I’ve mentioned this before in an interview, but it’s almost like I want to keep ‘Midnight City’ fans out – which I mean mostly as a bad joke,” Gonzalez said.
“For me, the struggle to be a successful artist with this album, Quick, we’re dreamingand especially with this track, ‘Midnight City’, is that all of a sudden I had this massive EDM following. EDM is probably one of the styles of music I hate the most.. All of a sudden I have these EDM DJ brothers playing my music, and I don’t care. Sometimes I wish I could erase that fan base, but I don’t think it’s possible to do that.
It’s not something EDM fans will necessarily take personally, but it’s nonetheless disheartening to hear that the artist behind a song that pops up popularly in hundreds of sets a year has slandered an entire fan base.
The interview precedes M83’s ninth studio album, Fancywhich is due out this Friday, March 17. You can read the full interview here.
Photo by Rama via Wikimedia Commons
