for all the nerds.

[SaggyBalls]

what's the key to rush's success??

just curious. it can't be the backstage groupie scene.

so if it can't be rockstardom what could it be?

[paisley]

progressive and grand, theatrical music... great air guitar (air bass, air drum) material

poetic songs about Canada, obscure history, gods people worshiped, the plight of the working man and the high school loner, rock and roll love songs, fantasy worlds

kind of like the Dungeuns and Dragons of rock music

its cool not to try to be cool, which is how Rush has always struck me... they're unique and one of a kind

people hate Getty Lee's voice but they're usally too young to remember turning on the tv in the 70s and seeing these witchy young men in black robes playing with serious faces, anomolies even back then but earnestly playing with all their hearts

as a bass player you should love them, Getty's fingers keep very busy while he sings

check out their first albums to get a solid feel:

Rush (1974)

Fly By Night (1975)

Caress of Steel (1975)

2112 (1976)

All The World's A Stage (1976)

A Farewell To Kings (1977)

personal favorites are the 2112 - Farewell To Kings albums but I also really enjoy the first 3 albums and the 3 after these... gets a little hit and miss for me in the later years but there's at least a gem or a few on every album

Fly By Night

Why try? I know why. The feeling inside me says it's time I was gone.

Clear head, new life ahead, it’s time I was king and not just one more pawn.

Fly by night, away from here. Change my life again.

Fly by night, goodbye my dear. My ship isn't coming and I just can't pretend.

Moon rise, thoughtful eyes, staring back at me from the window beside.

No fright, or hindsight, leaving behind that empty feeling inside.

Fly by night, away from here. Change my life again.

Fly by night, goodbye my dear. My ship isn't coming and I just can't pretend.

Start a new chapter, find what I'm after, it's changing every day.

The change of a season, is enough of a reason, to want to get away.

Quiet and pensive, my thoughts apprehensive, the hours drift away.

Leaving my homeland, playing a lone hand, my life begins today.

Soliloquy

"I have not left this cave for days now, it has become my last refuge in my total despair. I have only the music of the waterfall to comfort me now. I can no longer live under the control of the Federation, but there is no other place to go. My last hope is that with my death I may pass into the world of my dream, and know peace at last."

The sleep is still in my eyes, the dream is still in my head.

I heave a sigh and sadly smile and lie a while in bed.

I wish that it might come to pass, not fade like all my dreams.

Just think of what my life might be in a world like I have seen.

I don't think I can carry on, carry on this cold and empty life, oh no.

My spirits are low in the depths of despair, my lifeblood spills over.

A Farewell to Kings

When they turn the pages of history, when these days have passed long ago,

will they read of us with sadness for the seeds that we let grow?

We turned our gaze from the castles in the distance.

Eyes cast down on the path of least resistance.

Cities full of hatred, fear and lies. Withered hearts and cruel, tormented eyes.

Scheming demons dressed in kingly guise beating down the multitude and scoffing at the wise.

The hypocrites are slandering the sacred halls of Truth.

Ancient nobles showering their bitterness on youth.

Can't we find the minds that made us strong?

Can't we learn to feel what's right and wrong? What’s wrong?

Cities full of hatred, fear and lies. Withered hearts and cruel, tormented eyes.

Scheming demons dressed in kingly guise beating down the multitude and scoffing at the wise.

Can't we raise our eyes and make a start? Can't we find the minds to lead us closer to the heart?

[safety 4th]

I had dinner with my friend's family a few days after the SARS fest in Toronto.

His grandma was there and she was talking about the festival. She said she thought it was great, except for "that band with the man who looks like a bird and sings like a woman".

I almost died laughing. Geddy got burned by my friend's grandma!

p.s. thanks for starting this thread rob...now i've got closer to the heart stuck in my head!!! aaaaaaahhhhhhhhh!

[MarcO]

what's the key to rush's success??

Musicianship and the ability to create music that bridged the emerging forms of Progressive Rock and Heavy Metal musics in the 1970s, a lucrative endeavour. A series of radio hits in the late 1970's and early 1980's. Presumably, a kickass live show (to their great credit, just the three of them, no anxillary musicians). Also, just sheer time - they stayed together throught thick and thin.

[Mr. Musicface]

Hey, check it out, I haven't been here in weeks and lo and behold there's a Rush thread just waiting for me!

It's funny 'cus I think the subject line of the post says it all - as a long time Rush fan, I can honestly say I don't know any Rush fans who aren't also old D&D players and/or Lord Of The Rings readers, huge Star Wars fans, able to quote entire Monty Python sketches and Simpson episodes, etc, etc, etc. In other words, nerds or geeks (a truly geeky argument is one over how these words aren't completely interchangeable, but let's not go there for now.) I think Rush appeals to the same sort of geekiness that Dan Brown from CBC talked about in a recent commentary, check it out if you're interested:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/viewpoint/vp_browndan/20040907.html

Dan doesn't talk about Rush specifically, but the appeal is the same. Rush's music is unapologetic in every aspect, from Geddy screaming "WE ARE THE PRIESTS OF THE TEMPLES OF SYRINX" to the fact that their epic instrumental "La Villa Strangiato" has eleven separately named sections and a subtitle (which is, incidentally "An Exercise In Self Indulgence") just to emphasize how gawddamn EPIC it really is. And actually, it's the over-the-top-ness of the band that makes them fun. If you just listen casually to Rush, you think "what a bunch of pretentious wankers!" but if you pay careful attention, there's a tonne that's extraordinarily playful and even humourous in their music and lyrics. They also play a lot on themes that some of us were able to latch on to at an early age. When I first heard songs like "Subdivisions" and "Red Lenses" when I was growing up in Scarborough in the 80s, damnit those songs were about ME! It's the fact that not everyone cares to bother to find this side of the band that makes the people who love them REALLY love them. It's the essential appeal of a lot of culty type bands or anything I suppose, including the hardcore type fans that Phish, The Dead, etc. attract.

Rush, whether or not folks here realize, share a lot with those bands that are most beloved here - in terms of there being people who "get" Rush (or Phish or The Dead or INSERT CULT-Y BAND HERE), and then there's the rest of the planet.

Peace,

Mr. M.