Music and The Fickle Audience...

I was having an interesting conversation this evening with my wife Olivia, about what breaks an artist in this day and age, more specifically Canada. It was a topic that came out of us leaving my parent's house for a visit, and her asking me if we had any other CDs in the car that we could listen to. I've kept "Logic Will Break Your Heart" by The Stills in the car, since we found it about 4 months ago. The Stills hold significance for us as one of the first concerts we attended together....uh...together...if you know what I mean. Anyways, we started talking about what it is exactly that breaks a band or genre of music. We were discussing how Montreal, where The Stills hail from, is currently considered the mecca du jour of the great Canadian musical landscape that for a long time many people will argue was dominated by the likes of the I Mother Earths, Our Lady Peaces, and Tea Partys of my generation.

Did I just unfairly and unneccesarily date myself?

Anyways. Is Montreal the country's best kept secret? I'd say it is for a lot of things, but music?
I'm hestitating to agree with that statement, because these are the kinds of debates that open up the likes of agreesive defences. Things like..."Music is what you make it! I can name awesome bands in Vancouver that have been around for twice as long as The Stills, WTF!". I'll note that discussions, and what quickly turn into debates about things like this, can bring music know it alls and rock nazis who think they're the next Lester Bangs out of the wood work very quickly. It can lead to physical confrontations. People need to disagree about stuff like this fundamentally....primarily because it is impossible for people who like music to all agree on what is the best, which they need to do... it's kind of like religion... and secondly, no one wants to live in a world where it's all fucking roses and daisies, and every jock and every skater sit next to each other listening to Creed and Pennywise, agreeing that the power of music is what enables them to get over their differences.

Anyways...bit of a rant....The Stills are a remarkable band, and my vote is that they are up there with Rita McNeil as important Canadian artists.