I've been a rush fan since I bought 2112 when it came out as a teenager. loved all of their early records, and saw them on the Permanent Waves, Moving Pictures, Signals tours. I consider myself a lifelong fan, and yet agree with your critique but with some comments. The songwriting isn't "lame" (i.e. Trees) it just makes it's point bluntly and simply which grabs younger male audiences while still communicating thought provoking topics. It's Ayn Rand in 5 minutes with room for solos...you have to cut some corners on nuance. I agree - I can empathize with people who dislike the vocals. I played some Kate Bush for my wife in the car yesterday....I like both her vocals and Geddy's (sometimes) but her reaction was pretty much what people complain about when they hear Geddy hit the high parts of Bytor" Neil reeled things in over the years, but all of the iconic roto-toms to toms to bass drum to cymbal fireworks fills like on "Tom Sawyer" and "Limelight" sound over the top to me as well after 40 years. He's very original sounding though. While I like Cozy Powell or Ian Paice better as hard rock drummers, I have to admit I wouldn't be able to pick them out from one another as I could Neil. But I agree, after repeated listens, his over-the-top style has become a bit too much for me to handle. Just to prove I'm not a hater, I will say that the more I listen to Alex Lifeson's guitar, the more I think he was/is brilliant.
You opened this thread, so you invited opinions. Your comments were, as you knew very well, provocative, so it's natural that others may disagree. Your post does read very much as something a troll would post.
Back in the ancient days of the early 90s when cassette players were still a thing I dated this girl who had this giant wooden cassette rack on her wall. Surprisingly it was full of every Rush album and tons of Rush live bootleg cassettes also. Only girl I ever knew that dug Rush. I mean it was her band. She literally listened to them constantly. Maybe she was a keeper hmm.
1. Pretty lame songwriting, especially lyrically (i.e Trees, but there are tons of examples) I think this overstates the issue. Some of Neil's lyrics from the 70's seem a little forced. There are parts that are a bit lame. I don't consider "The Trees" to be one of them, but there are others that I could cite. In addition, I think they sometimes struggled to find the right vocal melody for Neil's lyrics, so Geddy's vocals sometimes sound halted or staccato. I think they really hit their stride with Permanent Waves. From that point forward, it all sounds brilliant to me. Even with the early stuff, Neil's lyrics were still a hell of a lot better than Geddy's early attempts. "Need Some Love" and "Take A Friend" are cringeworthy. Also, I don't think Rush's lyrics are any worse than, say, Pink Floyd's. 2. "unique" vocals Yeah. I gave up on talking people out of this one long ago. If people don't like Geddy's voice, nothing is going to change that. It is what it is. 3. I am typically a big fan of drumming, but let's face it, Neil is way over the top about 90% of the time This is truly a matter of taste. Yes, Neil is over the top, but it is not too much for me. The other day, I was watching a video of them playing "By-Tor & The Snow Dog". I had forgotten how much Neil had packed into that song. Yet, I found that I still loved his drumming on that after all these years. For people who don't want to hear that much drumming, The Rolling Stones and AC/DC exist. Am I wrong, or should I get back on the train? I honestly don't see why you're jumping off, but if this is the way you now feel, that's fine. There are a lot a artists that I was a big fan of in the past that I no longer even own a record or CD of. If it doesn't float your boat anymore, that's okay. If you are doing because you are being influenced by other people's opinions, that's not okay.
I don’t get the point of starting a thread about how you don’t like a band, or things you don’t like about them. Do you want people to try and change your mind. If I don’t like something, I don’t really care how anyone else feels.
I just read the lyrics to "The Trees." Never heard the song before. All I can say is "boy oh boy oh boy." And maybe add an "ay yi yi."
This, which I wish I’d written myself, so much does it echo my own thoughts. I have to confess that Rush, who I loved from their debut album, lost me for a couple of decades after Power Windows, when I felt that their songwriting suffered at the cost of their increasing technical excellence. Later evaluation proved me wrong. Like most of my favourite music across many genres, I get most satisfaction from that which requires a little more patience and work on my part. Rush - particularly from the 80s onwards - typify such music. It takes effort, but more than repays it. And sorry, but I won’t accept that any trio of rock musicians can beat Rush for all round musical taste, sensitivity, power and excellence. What a legacy. Enjoy it!
Proud that they are one of the best bands to come out of Canada, but I only like their old heavy stuff, right up to 2112. After that they got too commercial for me. Story of my life for a lot of bands that went commercial.
The songwriting was frequently bad, but it's rock music - I don't pay attention to lyrics a lot of the time anyway. And when their lyrics were worse (1970s) there were often instrumental breaks that made them less conspicuous. For example: while The Tree is amateurish, hamfisted, stupid, etc. there is still the cool instrumental middle part.
My wife was a fan starting before I knew her, she's also a bass player so that probably explains some of it. But I guess I consider myself lucky considering the above link. When we saw them back in 2011 there were actually lots of women at the show.