Max Webster’s eclectic blend of energetic bravado and Zappa-esque eccentricities made them one of the most original and popular Canadian rock groups of the 1970s. It also earned them an international cult following. Their first three albums—Max Webster (1976), High Class in Borrowed Shoes (1977), and Mutiny Up My Sleeve (1978)—achieved gold status in Canada. The band built a reputation for its magnetic live performances, due in no small part to Mitchell’s bizarre, often androgynous attire and hyperactive onstage antics. They opened for Rush on their 1977 tour and seemed poised for a major breakthrough when their 1979 album A Million Vacations went platinum in Canada and their single “Paradise Skies” reached No. 43 on the UK singles chart. They enjoyed a successful tour of the UK and Europe in 1979, and their live album, Live Magnetic Air (1979), achieved gold status back home. However, lack of promotion and poor representation from their label, mixed with the stress of touring, took its toll—the band began to fracture. Watkinson and bassist Dave Myles, who had replaced Tilka prior to Mutiny Up My Sleeve, left in 1980. Mitchell dissolved Max Webster in 1981.
In collaboration with Dubois, Mitchell wrote such popular Max Webster songs as “Hangover,” “High Class in Borrowed Shoes,” “Diamonds, Diamonds,” and “Paradise Skies.” A greatest hits compilation, The Best of Max Webster, was released in 1989, and the band’s first three albums were re-released in England by Rock Candy Music in 2011 and 2012.