What is it about Rush?

Yeah, kinda, but not like 2112 or Hemispheres. If I didn't know about the overall concept, I'm not sure I would have guessed it from the lyrics (although the repetition of the phrase "the Watchmaker" may have clued me in).

 

The element of Rand that appealed most to Peart is the artistic/romantic side: the idea of the individual pursuing his art despite the fact that other people don't understand it. That line from "Anthem" sums it up "People have always told you that selfishness is wrong/But it was for me not you that I came to write this song." If that's not an artistic credo (as opposed to an entertainer's credo), I don't know what is. Of all people, Perry Farrell said it best when he said the role of the artist is to come up with something that he thinks is beautiful, and then to share that with the world to see what other people think...not to figure out what people want and then create it.

I have never read anything that made me think that Peart's interest in Rand was political. I don't think he was reading Hayek in his spare time or anything.

 

Yes, there are those vocals, and that throws some people, but...

...I think the particular reputation you're asking about boils down to those lyrics.

It isn't that they aim at a seriousness or depth most rock music shrugs off.

It is the fact that the lyrics usually don't hit those marks, sounding like a high school kid's understanding of philosophy (or, as some mentioned, Ayn Rand). It frequently sounds too earnest while working a theme far more obvious than the band realizes.

Most of it just isn't as deep as it thinks it is, and that ends up sounding far more impressed with itself than it should.

It isn't unlike listening to stoned college freshmen working over ideas they're studying in their liberal arts survey courses.

I enjoy many of their songs, but I greatly prefer them on compilations rather than in albums. Breaking those songs up dilutes the quality that grates at times.

On top of this, they seem often to stand as the paragon for people who believe the difficulty of performing a piece of music is a direct measure of that piece of music's artistic worth, but that's probably a can I shouldn't open...

Shalom, y'all!

L. Bangs

 

Funny thing is I agree, in general, with the Rush lyrics being this college philosophy freshman thing. No, it's not really "deep." But that, for me, is part of its charm.
It is as mature about philosophy as blues-rock songs are about sexuality. Which is to say, not at all. But rock music is, at its core, pretty silly.

 

I can't get no...I can't get no...no no no

 

What about Madrigal from A Farewell To Kings? It definitely fits "a softer song" agenda to me.

 

Peart's lyrics are definitely a part of it, I think.

His entire vocabulary seems to consist of "10 dollar words." Sometimes you just want to ask him to write lyrics that a normal person could sing along to.
He doesn't have the gritty, street-tough poetry of someone like Lou Reed. It's a very middle-class, intellectual style.

I think another part of it is this:


I refuse to believe that those outfits were ever considered "cool."

That said, I really like Rush and I strongly disagree with the argument earlier on the thread that they pandered to nerds. They're goofy guys who were never good at being typical "rock stars," and I truly believe that they do what they want to do, not what they think will sell or appeal to a certain crowd.

 

What would you prefer? High school freshman lyrics? Can't believe Peart is taking **** for his lyrics. Here's a guy who writes some intelligent, insightful lyrics ( sorry he's not Dylan) and this board has a problem with it. I guess there's no middle ground here for rock song lyrics.

 

The songs and the singing aren't strong enough.

 

The original post asked a specific question, and I think most folks are trying to answer that question, not hand out ****.

Shalom, y'all!

L. Bangs

 

I have no problem with them.

 

"I know what I like"
- some prog nerd

 

No I said those lyrics are something I LIKE about them, part of their charm, right?

 

I think you might be right, seems like a pretty good argument to me.

 

Now people don't like Rush for the lyrics?

 

As a baby boomer, I grew up listening to lots of (what we might now call, but I don't care for that debate) classic rock -- Beatles, Stones, Cream, The Kinks, The Who, Deep Purple, Jethro Tull, Mountain, Black Sabbath, etc., and I just never cared for Rush. I didn't care for David Bowie either, but later in life I sampled some Bowie and really like some of his stuff (e.g,, Ziggy Stardust). But I still don't care for Rush and either sold or gave away the one Rush album I tried to like, and have never owned a Rush CD.

 

Next they'll be saying that the bass is too busy and the drummer can't swing.

 

OP, since you are a new member here, a fact of life on this board is that people here will very rarely respond to a question in exactly the form that is asked. For example, there are always threads that ask for ONE reply (ie--"What is your one favorite Rush song?") and maybe 1/3 of the responses will actually be just one song.

Another factor is that your subject title (What is it about Rush?) is rather vague, and some people will reply based mainly on the subject title instead of the nuances addressed in the the body of the question.

 

First impressions are hard to shake. Look at how many casual fans think the Beach Boys are nothing more than "Barbara Ann" and "Fun Fun Fun".

And "Tom Sawyer" does have its share of screech and since that is their "Hey Jude", that impression is something they will be stuck with forever now.

 

Listening to Rush always makes me smile. Very happy music

And lots of dweebs and dorks listen to Rush and wear Rush shirts daily so that's probably why Rush is often seen as a dorky band.

 

You could argue that the most confounding album in the catalog is Signals, coming after the album that both Neil (in Beyond The Lighted Stage) and Geddy (this year on Eddie Trunk's The Metal Show) say is "the best Rush". Certainly, to appease their sudden influx of new fans (like me) after Moving Pictures, they could have written 12 more new songs in that mode of playing, but they chose not to. They could have listened to Terry Brown and not become a "keyboard band." But, no, as you say, they followed their muse and did what they wanted to do, not what their fans wanted or what their producer wanted. That takes balls.

I found it confounding as a fan because I'm not a big fan of anything post-Grace Under Pressure and pre-Test For Echo, but I admire the band's creative integrity.

 

I think the lyrics in "Limelight" are spectacular. And "Red Barchetta" might be the best shortest sci-fi short story ever written. And the "Cygnus" suites, the dude is even good when he's ripping off Greek mythology, because with Neil it's more like he's giving Greek mythology a needed update.

 

love them, but years ago I had a difficult time with the vocals...now i enjoy them more...why? I do not know.

 

Not THAT much screech. I can sing it so it can't be that high!

 

Can confirm.

Played a lot of D&D and read superhero comics around 79-84. My cousins and I would spend all Saturday until well into Sunday morning playing D&D with Rush, Boston, Kansas, Styx, Queen, The Cars, Van Halen, Supertramp, AC/DC, Eagles etc playing in the background. And yes, we were(are) white bread midwestern boys if you hadn't already connected the dots.

I think the perception of Rush as being geeky is a mainly the subject of the lyrics and the nerdy persona of the band. In a genre of music where so many performers seemed to live to get high and drunk and bed as many groupies as possible, Rush's low-key, stable and cerebral members just feel so out of place in the mainstream rock world.

I guess a rock band get away with having a weird/ugly frontman like Geddy and a drummer who likes to stay in his hotel room and read books IF they wrote songs about partying hard and gettin laid... but when that band is actually pumping out songs about trees waging war with each other or a 20 minute epic about a guy in post-apocolyptic world who discovers an ancient guitar and is driven to suicide by visions... well it's pretty clear these guys fall into the nerd category. The general public perception is correct.

And I wouldn't change a thing