The city has the venues, the schools, the rent and the reputation. What it does not have is geography, a single arts ministry, or a stable bylaw. A diagnosis of why the most-mythologized indie scene in North America still spits out a handful of breakouts per decade.

Two venues, two provinces, four decades of Canadian rock — Les Foufounes Électriques against The Horseshoe Tavern. Who carries more weight, who bled more, and why El Mocambo plays a different game.

The single that made R.E.M. globally famous is also the gravity well that kept them from escaping mainstream expectations. A diagnosis, not a takedown.