ave you seen that Spike Jonze IKEA commercial? A sad-looking lamp sits on the curb awaiting disposal. It looks up at its former abode and slowly lowers its head (i.e. shade) looking melancholy and dejected. A Swedish man walks into the rain-soaked frame, turns to the camera and declares, "many of you feel bad for this lamp; that is because you're crazy. It has no feelings." Le Spectrum de Montreal has no feelings either; however, its soon-slated razing has inspired plethoric pathos and prolonged bouts of bittersweet nostalgia.

A mid-sized venue (capacity 1200), Spectrum was born in a time of musical upheaval. As post-punk and new wave clashed in the streets with ska, goth, prog, and a growing hair metal contingent, Spectrum emerged in the vacated (and well-loved) Club Montreal space. During its quarter-century run, it welcomed legends, upstarts, and supernovas. Montrealers, from music critics to earnest first-timers, experienced the venue, sticky-ing up its floors and furtively pulling on freshly bought t-shirts.

Standout Spectrum performers ranged from Icelandic innovators, goth-ish popsters, jazz greats, post-punk heroes, MCs par excellence, Canadian literary rockers, and troubadours aplenty. Here's a list of esoteric highlights (feel free to skip ahead):

Arctic Monkeys, Basement Jaxx, Beck, Ben Harper, Cat Power, the Cult, the Cure, Miles Davis, the Dears, Death Cab for Cutie, Depeche Mode, Celine Dion, Echo and the Bunnymen, Fugazi, the Fugees, Galaxie 500, Sarah Harmer, Kaiser Chiefs, KRS One, Massive Attack, Modest Mouse, New Order, No Doubt, PiL, Pavement, Psychedelic Furs, the Police, R.E.M., Radiohead, the Roots, Siouxie and the Banshees, Sloan, Elliot Smith, Social Distortion, Joe Strummer, the Sugarcubes, Tiga, Tricky, the Weakerthans, Weezer, and Wilco.

Inevitably, perusing Spectrum's best-of roll call (you didn't really skip ahead, did you?) encourages myriad stomach-warming "it was the smallest venue they'd played in years"-s, "it was my first show"-s, "it was the last time they played Montreal"-s, and "it was right before they exploded"-s. In the following months, as the building sits dormant on death row, expect remembrances to continue to fly. Try not to wax poetic.

Spectrum: born October, 1982, died,August 2007.

You're crazy.
-S.T.