When I was younger I used to watch The Kids In The Hall.  It is funny how the littlest thing can change the world view of a child. I saw this skit when I was probably 10 years old, but I still remember its message til this day.

After watching this I made the decision that if someone is familiar with only the greatest hits of an artist, they are not a real fan. A real fan knows every song a band plays during their set.  To be a real fan, your knowledge has to go beyond the greatest hits. There is nothing wrong with being a greatest hits fan, just admit it. This happens two different ways. Either you just never got around to listening to anything else or you just dislike the other material. I mean I LOVE the Band’s greatest hits, but I haven’t check out any of their studio albums.  Their greatest hits is all I need and therefore I am not a real fan.  I am a greatest hits fan for plenty of bands and I find they are more often bands from the 1960′s, 70s, and 80s. To name a few Queen, The Band, Prince, Cream, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Cat Stevens, The Doors, Elton John, Hall n’ Oats, Stevie Wonder, and Wham!.

There are those times when someone makes the leap of faith from on type of fan to another. That happened to me today.  I have been a greatest hits fan of Leonard Cohen for a very long time.  Last week I got two of his studio albums Songs of Leonard Cohen and Recent Songs. I am finding that all songs are equal (at least so far).  So, I am on my way.

The point of all this is that Leonard Cohen is a genius and everyone should listen to his music.

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