Rush: Classic or Dud?

It's really dumb and obvious, but I always wondered why they quoted the "1812 Overture" in the "2112" "Overture" and for the first time this morning I suddenly realized, well, duh.

I don't care about the video, but Alex Lifeson grew a grey retirement beard!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z7ItG4jIfC0

God Lifeson is the nicest guy, cool to hear him talk about Rory

I thought this was pretty good:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gbMU8mV04YE

If the sound quality wasn't so cheesy I would totally use a sample of the drums from the first uh... "verse"? (~53s)

I was just listening to "Born To Run" and realized "Red Barchetta" is basically a futuristic take on the Bruce Springsteen automobile romance. The middle sections of the two songs are weirdly similar, check out those modulating IV-I chord patterns behind "Beyond the palace, hemi-powered drones" and "Well weathered leather, hot metal and oil". Those climbing chords give the impression of cars shifting gears, revving up to the big instrumental sections, and then racing to the end in the final verses.

Well, shit.

Canadian rock drummer Neil Peart dead at 67. Peart, primary lyricist for Rush, was known for his technical proficiency, and for weaving jazz and big band patterns with a hard rock style. Publicist says Peart died in California January 7. Background: https://t.co/r0QKiYdpdu

— CBC News Alerts (@CBCAlerts) January 10, 2020

fuck

This is terrible

I sm legitimately upset

Never been a massive Rush fan but Neil Peart was absolutely, objectively, utterly undeniable.

RIP

otm

rip to the god, have to respect the technique

67 way too young

hurts my feelings

For all his drumming proficiency, Peart should be remembered at least as much for his lyrics. There are some clunkers and I have issues with some of the Ayn Rand stuff but at their best, they were comfort for a generation of boys who didn’t fit in with social norms.

RIP

OMG, I can't believe it, this is the worst, I'm truly heartbroken.

no drummer wrote finer lyrics

wtf how did this happen

I was still holding out hope for more music

Was just talking about Rush in the blind spots thread - I was never a huge fan of the records, but seeing them live in 2011 and especially 2013 (the tour where they had a string section) was incredible.

Oh fuck, this one hurts.

If only every teenager who went through Ayn Rand phase could grow up like this https://t.co/F8xCZTqswB https://t.co/BaLa0UNa8v pic.twitter.com/y1plyVAD6S

— Scott Lemieux (@LemieuxLGM) January 10, 2020

Just heartbreaking.

i put on "prime mover" bc i really wanted to hear my favorite rush song but i actually can't make it through i'm so devastated

the point of the journey is not to arrive

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYYdQB0mkEU

Someone is going to have to break the news to the drummer in my brother's band... gently (poor old Denis).

So sad. RIP, Great One. "Moving Pictures" is seeped into my DNA.

same type of cancer as gord downie's, apparently

Holy shit. I was never a disciple, but he was an icon. You have to be to inspire multiple generations of drummers to set up giant kits and overplay in order to try and reach your heights. RIP.

same type of cancer as gord downie's, apparently

― mookieproof, Friday, January 10, 2020 2:44 PM (two minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

goddammit

Neil Peart September 12, 1952 - January 7, 2020 pic.twitter.com/NivX2RhiB8

— Rush (@rushtheband) January 10, 2020

I'm so sad

"Permanent Waves" was at its peak of popularity when I first started listening to the radio and buying records, gonna give that a good loud spin this weekend

RIP

Fuuuuuck

They were such an inspiration to me, they changed how I viewed music so much. I grew up with no cable TV, I had to drive an hour to buy cassettes and Rolling Stones and even that was just Musiclan. So most of what I bought was at Wal-Mart. And metal was IT, there was no other music for a period of time, basically. And Rush somehow got a "pass" as a metal band, they would get covered in metal mags, even though they weren't really and had never been a metal band.

So those early/mid 80s records, they were so different to me, the way they were combining synths and more new wave stuff from the radio but in their own identity.

Ultimately, I think they were so empathetic of their audience that's what I remember the most.

Also, the whole story of U.S. 90s underground rock was drummers who liked Rush before they were cool and punk and kept a lot of the stuff he did in their playing.

I think he's unfairly maligned too, I think he had a good sense of groove, or what groove had to be for Rush music. They weren't overplaying because they made their own style of rock that made sense of how THEY played together. They weren't in the studio cutting a Tom Petty record.

He was so inventive, esp on the ride and hi-hat, he would always do these cool syncopations instead of just straight 8s or 16s

kind of rambling, but I don't know hard to put in all in words

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4jSdyDt-Ync

he also never stopped learning new things to incorporate into his technique. when he felt like he was getting too stiff, he studied with freddie gruber to get looser. i found and find him so inspiring xp

RIP to a true master

Neil Peart and Rush made such a sweet place for outsiders and misfits that was never ugly or mean. Their earnest striving for excellence on their own terms will always resonate with the best kind of idealists.
RIP Neil Peart.
Exit the the warrior, Rush forever. pic.twitter.com/tsywyvWrkz

— matt sweeney (@theheavyjamz) January 10, 2020

was going through trending on Twitter and saw back to back heartfelt tributes from Gene Simmons and Ron Sexsmith, that's a rare kind of impact

plus brian wilson and chuck d

Ah Twitter. Of course. I just saw a reply guy elsewhere say, re Peart regretting the A. Rand influence as life went on, that Peart didn't get it and "I could explain it" to him.

Of course.

I didn’t grow up loving Rush; despite the putative ‘adolescence’ of their stuff i was in my mid thirties when they suddenly became one of my, idk, top 10 favorite bands. It was actually random exposure to mid 80s Rush that flipped the switch for me, the earnest and humane quality of that era of the band. I came to love almost all their records and also to just really like them as people. I managed to see them one time (MN State Fair, time machines tour) and am so grateful I did. Read Peart’s affecting ghost rider book and during one of the worst weeks of my forties that documentary that covered their retirement was so moving to me. I am so surprised and saddened by this.

they had not announced prior to this that he had cancer, correct? I suppose this explains their decision to stop touring a few years ago.

no, no one knew....in fact it sounds like he died on the 7th and it's just coming out now, he was very private

...In Ghost Rider (which is a little shaggy but at times very powerful, losing his daughter and wife in the space of one year, my god) he talks politcs a bit, mostly just vitriol at seeing George W Bush on TV in his travels, but he was very angry at the Bush administration at that time.

he seemed like a person that tried to grow and change

It was actually random exposure to mid 80s Rush that flipped the switch for me, the earnest and humane quality of that era of the band

same!!!

One of the greatest drummers for one of the greatest bands ever.

Feel awful for his family, Alex and Geddy. Hope they’re doing ok

One of the reasons why he was the ‘air drum’ king is that his compositional skills were so good; rhythms and fills as riffs and hooks of their own. That’s a big part of his legacy.

One of the reasons why he was the ‘air drum’ king is that his compositional skills were so good; rhythms and fills as riffs and hooks of their own. That’s a big part of his legacy.

― Master of Treacle, Friday, January 10, 2020 4:36 PM (thirty-five seconds ago) bookmarkflaglink

yes! this is so true. like rush was proggy to me but it always felt part of the songcraft

"earnest and humane" is a good way to describe them