If Arcade Fire never "happens" for you, Hermesacat, maybe it's YOU, not so much the band.  I say that not unkindly. I'm a little older than you, but not by much, and I'm with you: most of today's music doesn't move me much, either.  It's a factor of age. It doesn't grab us because we're not 18-30 any more.  And a whole lot of what used to turn our music cranks back 30 or 40 years ago--take a listen to it now! Crank's not turning much on THAT stuff, either. You admit it yourself, at least, as far as Patti Smith goes.