Rush: Classic or Dud?

this is pretty hackneyed but

when i was nine (in the early 80s) i nerdily qualified to go to a nerd olympics in eagle rock, georgia. i was assigned to the back seat of a greyhound bus as we drove through the night and i was already v. homesick -- it was the first time i'd been away

wedged between the bus seats was someone's c60 cassette, adorned with someone's ballpoint pen rendition of

https://i.pinimg.com/236x/66/1a/bb/661abb949d5256fd1c46eb7134a7bf1c--tour.jpg

i guess i had a walkman? the cassette was taped off the radio, and the first song was the exit stage left version of 'the trees', and then the second song was 'working man'

not even sure what, if anything, was after that, but i listened to those two songs again and again that week, and here we are almost 40 years later. i can't say they were ever my favorite band, but i always loved them for their unparalleled combination of being totally \m/ and not too serious and just totally decent. which is pretty much how i (more hackneyed) feel about canada too, stereotypes notwithstanding. what's better than good people making good music?

otm

https://i.redd.it/gke1ov58l1a41.png

That’s awesome.

Just read that the Spirit of Radio riff is a sped up version of Grieg’s Morning Mood (referenced in the opening verse). Had never noticed this before.

#NeilPeart4Ever

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OjbvZJaxcbw

That dinner is the best. Neil is laughing at everything the other two say

On a personal/human level, it sucks that NP had to deal with this shit so soon after the final tour when he obviously desired to spend it with his family in presumed good health. Everyone deserves that, but it’s hard not to also think of what happened to him 20 years ago and his obvious request for privacy. The man deserved better.

I took Ghost Rider on holiday years back, not a massive Rush fan but certainly interested in them. There are a couple of passages in there that completely broke my heart, it's a good book but not an easy read as you might expect. It's kinda dry in places and hard for me to relate to having never visited North America, but it's well written and candid. The act of unpacking and structuring the pain of loss and directionless grief is to be admired for sure, a lot of the book is in letter for to a friend, and (paraphrasing very heavily, so forgive me) he writes, in relation to his wife and daughter and probably himself too, about how he once thought that being a decent person and trying to make your way through life as best as one can somehow meant that no real harm would come to you, "but sadly, t'aint so" That broke me. Rest In Peace man.

OMG, I've never seen that Dinner with Rush video. What a bunch of mentches.

I would be interested in sund4r or some others presently in Canada can tell us what the response is there. My wife knows the big hits but has no conception of the personas, so I was suggesting that it might be like if Springsteen, a musician dominant in public life in a particular country, died, but I'm not sure…did his death lead the evening news? Is it above the fold in like the national post? in the U.S., he would only speak to the drum press and his obit in the NYT (Pareles) is below that of a crisis management PR guy…

The last few years have been hard on Canadian rock music fans, Gord Downie, John Mann, now Peart.

I'm not sure if it led the news anywhere, since Flight 752 is dominating this news cycle in Canada, but yeah, it's getting plenty of notice. Trudeau did a tweet. However, here too, I feel like the big Rush songs are a lot more famous than Peart himself. I wouldn't say he's exactly a household name on the level of Springsteen in Canada.

I'm trying to find a figure on their Canadian album sales. 25 million albums sold in the US, and 40 million internationally - my sense is that they owe their popularity just as much to some US and international markets as to Canada.

beyond the lighted stage is one of the most charming rock docs ever made btw. i’m gonna try to set aside some time to watch it this weekend

xpost You want to see a crazy international reception, watch that Rio show the band released, which might be the first time they played Brazil. Those fans are nuts, anyway, but they go craaaazy. Check out the way they react to "YYZ:"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1eSlvoO3Vw8

Peart's been so private the last couple of decades I don't think his profile (Canadian or otherwise) made him much of a public figure. Per that privacy, I'm really impressed how quiet everyone kept this, out of respect. Obviously Geddy and Alex knew, but while they've constantly been asked about Rush performing again over the past couple of years they stayed totally mum (and kept it together). But I just saw an interview with Mike Portnoy, for example, and *he* knew, too, so I assume a bunch of people knew but respected Peart's wishes for privacy. Even the gentle suggestion of donating to cancer charities was on the down-low; nothing specific named, no pressure (I've seen a lot of people posting donations in the value of $21.12).

Jmm OTM, also JiC re: Peart's desire for privacy (made clear as early as "Limelight"). This is definitely getting coverage but Downie was probably closer to a Canadian Springsteen-like figure. I believe it was Midwestern US radio that first broke Rush? Cleveland iirc??

Yeah, Cleveland.

I was just talking to someone (on ILX?) about the importance of regional fan bases for certain '70s acts. For example, Bob Seger, obviously big in Detroit, was also big in Boston, so could always zip there to make some money during the lean years. And Springsteen, obviously OK in New Jersey and New York, had big fan bases in Phoenix and Richmond, VA (for some reason), so could travel there for a paycheck. I'm sure the same was true for other future rock superstars with no real airplay, like, say, Metallica. That era has long since past.

Passed.

“I would be interested in sund4r or some others presently in Canada can tell us what the response is there”

Well, after the news broke yesterday, Rush music was blasting from several garages and back yards in our neighbourhood. In January.

"Per that privacy, I'm really impressed how quiet everyone kept this, out of respect."

Neil attracted a stalker some years ago, as a result of which he had to have a bodyguard with him on his travels and at concerts. The delay in announcing his death may also have been due to that.

Good article by Annie Zaleski here; includes quotes from Donna Halper, who, w/r/t the discussion above re Cleveland breaking Rush in the US, was the music director who added them to rotation in the city, kickstarting it all.

https://www.npr.org/2020/01/11/795555335/remembering-neil-peart-a-monster-drummer-with-a-poets-heart

Meantime, Hank Shteamer with some deep (and very good) music nerdery.

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/neil-peart-rush-drumming-tribute-936430/

was thinking about the "middlebrow" tag of Peart, and while yes in one sense that is true, watching the documentary again I realized that, of course, the guy didn't have an education beyond high school and working at his dad's farm store. then he joined the circus and left for the rest of his life....but despite that he really tried, he read books on tour, he educated himself and evolved and grew as he got older.

how many people in his position do that? a lot of old rock stars are basically giant fucking idiots when asked to step outside of their own mythology or musical history. Peart cared, he wanted to be a grown up and stake out some kind of normal life that wasn't dependent on being the drummer for Rush

Springsteen did very much the same, I think. Self-educated, but made an effort to self-educate more.

That RS appreciation of his composition prowess is exactly what I was alluding to earlier, particularly "Subdivisions" (which could be the band's best song). This line particularly:

But it was in the early Eighties, as Rush started to master more concise song forms, that the full extent of Peart’s mastery really became apparent.

I didn't know many Rush fans growing up, and was never a fan myself. And btw I grew up in Willowdale, the Toronto suburb where Rush was formed. But everyone was in awe of Peart. How could you not appreciate the skill, even the athleticism in what he was doing. RIP to a true wizard.

I never thought about it much, but now that I am, I don't think I knew any Rush fans growing up, either! My friends were more Sonic Youth fans or Cure fans, tbh. But even as a Rush fan I was listening to Naked City and Fishbone and stuff, which were also ... solitary pursuits in 9th grade and beyond. But there must have been others.

I'm old enough to have seen a lot of Signals T-shirts in the halls of my junior high. They weren't the kids I hung out with, but they were definitely present.

what was confusing was seeing kids with COUNTERPARTS t-shirts

I'm old enough to have seen a lot of Signals T-shirts in the halls of my junior high. They weren't the kids I hung out with, but they were definitely present.

Yeah, that was my introduction to the band as well -- same period of time, upstate New York, one classmate had said shirt and wore it regularly enough that it stuck in my brain. I didn't actually hear anything by them until "New World Man" ended up in some sports program on TV I caught around the mid-80s.

Re: self-education -- Robert Smith's like that as well. Didn't do university and has famously said it was precisely because "Killing An Arab" aka their redaction of Camus's The Stranger was their initial mark that their fans assumed he was a total literary type and started suggesting and recommending books and poets and etc -- which he then followed up on and has continued to do to the present day.

Hoo boy I was rudely introduced to Rush fandom in the summer between 8th and 9th grade at band camp. It was my first year and the drummers discovered my dad shared his name w a Rush song (not Red Barchetta but that would have been cool) and didn't let me forget it for years. Diehard Peart fans were the most zealous music fans I had ever encountered in my life up to that point.

Lol band camp sounds about right. In college, I would sometimes see at the university orchestra perform, and their percussionist was this gawky dude with a long ponytail who always made sure his Rush shirt was peeking out from underneath his formal wear. Conform or be cast out!!

Lots of good tribute tweets collected here:

https://twitter.com/rushisaband

It really does say a lot that there are tributes from both Brian Wilson *and* Gene Simmons.

I didn’t hear Rush or know about them until I met my husband in the late 90’s/early 00’s

I remembered yesterday that I was aware of Neil as a kid despite not knowing that Rush existed. I had this big book of jokes Mum bought me from a discount store, published in England. I read that thing cover to cover a billion times. At few of the jokes in the “music” chapter had Neil Peart punchlines. I had no idea who he was, but gleaned that he must be a good drummer *shrug* lol

Also: I had Temples of Syrinx on a mixtape Mr Veg gave me back in the 90’s - I freakin loved it but for some reason didn’t seek out more (which is weird bc i usually do if it’s a band i havent heard of)
When I moved to the US, Mr Veg would play ‘Red Barchetta’ or ‘Tom Sawyer’ here & there, or put on Moving Pictures but initially I found it very weird & sort of, alienating? i couldn’t find a way in. I didnt even compute that it was the same band as Temples of Syrinx for some reason! (weird)
Then we got into Rockband and it all kinda came together for me: hearing Limelight for the first time while trying to sing it & i was all OH SHIT THIS SONG RULES and then we did Tom Sawyer & I was like aaaaahhh i get it now & i have been on board ever since

My favorite era is still the 70’s stuff though, 2112 for sure my go-to... just because it’s so cool & heavy sounding, and i love all that weird epic shit so much.

I havent’t dug into post Signals albums very deeply but I think I will explore that stuff a bit now

Set one of the Clockwork Angels tour video is such an awesome smorgasbord of 80s Rush. I was super hyped they played stuff like Geand Designs and The Body Electric. Their post 2000 tours were very generous about bringing back tons of obscure deep cuts.

I saw that tour and totally forgot how good the setlist was for an '80s Rush fan.

VG you have some fantastic listening ahead re the post signals records

Power Windows is among my favourite Rush albums and I waited years to see so much Power Windows material live. And sadly by the time it happened, Geddy Lee had lost his voice. On the Clockwork Angels tour he looked like he was painfully struggling to get the words out.

Incidentally my father, who took up the drums after hearing 2112 upon its release (and, sadly, died an untimely death from cancer like his lifelong idol) noted as we left a concert on the Vapor Trails tour that Neil Peart’s skills had clearly slipped a bit due to age – the drummer was almost exactly 50 years old at the time. As a non-drummer I didn’t notice anything and the drums on the following tours and albums sounded great, but did the drumming community overall know that Neil was no longer banging the tubs quite like a young man, but simply not say it due to politeness?

As a drummer myself, I never noticed him slipping at all, not an inch. (Geddy, fwiw, got better!) If anything Alex might have slipped a bit, but not much! They did "The Analog Kid" on that "Clockwork" tour, and that solo is nuts, especially given he was struggling with arthritis in his fingers.

xpost that's cool to hear about Robert Smith, Ned, also saw Lol Tolhurst tweet about Peart yesterday

I saw the last tour and he had slipped a tiny bit, though only relative to his own past, still better than any rock drummer you could find

mostly though you could see how hard he was pushing himself and at times he looked to be grimacing in pain

one of those tweets reminded me… Manic Street Preachers have 0 profile in the U.S. (maybe they have one in Canada?). Yet that is the UK band of the last 20-25 years big-upping Neil… acts like Suede or the various exponents of the Albarn-verse or lord knows Radiohead don't dare fuck with Rush…

Otherwise I don't know why you guys are saying that encomia is coming from varied sources…that thread is mostly coming from professional rawk/metal people who are nominally defensive that G/B/D is no longer dominant… it ain't like Camilla Cabelo or Angel Olsen is piping up

man I remember as recently as 2009 or 2010 mentioning that I loved Power Windows and Signals best and getting "LOL ok poseur" scowls from people who considered themselves fans. I was never more than a casual fan, but when I borrowed Chronicles in early '92 from the brother of a friend it was obvious the band had gotten their shit together by 1979-1980.

I guess I grew up thinking of Moving Pictures as "the" record, but every Rush fan I knew loved all the eras

but the early shit is great, man Hemispheres did my head in today

Big Money, Manhattan Project and Marathon are all part of the Rush canon

Moving Pictures is probably my favorite, but Power Windows comes close.

Geddy definitely sounded more yelpy and warbly in later tours, but he held his own. Back in the late 80s/early 90s, it seemed like they picked their set lists to avoid songs that tested his upper register, but they started bringing those back around Test For Echo, sometimes to mixed results.

I only noticed a difference with Neil on the last tour where it seemed like there were fewer songs with really intense and complicated drum parts.

acts like Suede or the various exponents of the Albarn-verse or lord knows Radiohead don't dare fuck with Rush…

I thought Muse are fans?

Rush sounded a bit like Muse in their later days tbh, esp on Vapour Trails.

Paul Anka posted to the tribute thread btw!

man I remember as recently as 2009 or 2010 mentioning that I loved Power Windows and Signals best and getting "LOL ok poseur" scowls from people who considered themselves fans.

I have a good friend who is really into prog and metal and therefore Rush. Weirdly, he'll rep for "Grace Under Pressure" as absolutely classic (correct), so he's got no problem with synths, but he inexplicably dismisses "Power Windows" (incorrect).

mostly though you could see how hard he was pushing himself and at times he looked to be grimacing in pain

Did you see the second doc? He was suffering from some leg/foot injury/infection from riding his bike in the rain (iirc), and he apparently literally was in pretty severe pain almost every night.

I used to read Modern Drummer and I would see Peart mentioned by all sorts of interesting folks, from Matt Cameron (makes sense) to David Lovering (more of a surprise but also makes sense, because ... he's a drummer).

I rewatched the 2010 doc last night - such a great watch, captures so much of their spark. I really love how much live footage they include - in a weird way it reminded me of Pearl Jam Twenty, somehow capturing some of the inner life & emotional connection of the bandmembers and the live footage going towards explaining their longevity somewhat.