Post a controversial music opinion

i did a rush runthrough just last month and now i feel like doing it all over again lol

Continuing down the path of Rush opinions no one wants to hear about, I’d say Moving Pictures is probably my least favorite of their first ten years…I’ve just never been a big fan of tracks like YYZ or The Camera Eye which for some reason (probably unfairly) feel devoid of humanity in the same way that something like technical death metal does…I’m just always left cold by that album…even Red Barchetta doesn’t do a ton for me.

On the other hand, their first album with John Rutsey also feels massively underrated to me…sounds like Led Zeppelin with better bass lines and if nothing were overwrought/bombastic.

Permanent Waves tour was my first rock concert. I made my dad take me. i thought i was gonna die. i was so excited. this is that show in lo-fi.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5L7rp0ljc_c

i bought a program and a t-shirt. wore that thing to shreds. it was kinda the peak of my concert-going life. haha! i mean it was just beyond anything i had ever been to or seen or heard.

(that clip is missing a lot though...)

Permanent Waves is probably my fave these days, though I love love love Power Windows, too. The former is perhaps the best blend of first and second wave Rush.

Despite them being my favorite band in high school, I never had or listened to Caress of Steel back in the day. I finally got around to cleaning a copy I had that had been moldering in someones basement for years and ended up loving it. It's an album whose title is also its mission statement.

Singer now shaves his head

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r2U-3J5FCbQ

as a balding male, all i can think is "fuck, i wish my dome was THAT perfectly symetrical and beautiful." mine looks like a damn dented coconut.

― a single gunshot and polite applause (Hunt3r)

so, fun fact, i'm a lesbian, and speaking as a lesbian, _bald women are so hot_. persis khambatta in star trek. oh. my. god. one of my friends actually got electro on her scalp so that she didn't have to keep shaving her head. she wears wigs but she looks _amazing_ without one.

Continuing down the path of Rush opinions no one wants to hear about, I’d say Moving Pictures is probably my least favorite of their first ten years…I’ve just never been a big fan of tracks like YYZ or The Camera Eye which for some reason (probably unfairly) feel devoid of humanity in the same way that something like technical death metal does…I’m just always left cold by that album…even Red Barchetta doesn’t do a ton for me.

― Slim is an Alien

YYZ _is_ however the best song ever written about the toronto airport

Hemispheres absolutely rocks. I even like Neil's libertarian screed against egalitarianism, "The Trees."

Hemispheres absolutely rocks. I even like Neil's libertarian screed against egalitarianism, "The Trees."

― immodesty blaise (jimbeaux)

when i was growing up i didn't really understand the difference between equality and equity... "harrison bergeron" really confused me because i was like "wait i thought kurt vonnegut was a liberal, why is he against equality"

kurt vonnegut wasn't a liberal, he was a _leftist_ lol. growing up i didn't know _shit_ about the difference between liberalism and leftism

peart, of course, was going through his "ayn rand is a genius" phase. put me off rush for a good long while. my username was actually meant to make fun of rush. i'm cool with them now, though. i just had to deal with too many objectivist meatheads when i was younger.

YYZ _is_ however the best song ever written about the toronto airport

― Kate (rushomancy), Tuesday, February 27, 2024 11:04 AM (thirty-nine minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

inarguable! i love that song

YYZ _is_ however the best song ever written about the toronto airport

"about"

Or maybe I should say "aboot."

xxxp In addition to her political sins and the malign influence she has had on generations of young men, Rand was just an execrable writer.

Richman to Rush, are we proceeding alphabetically?

I saw someone once loosely organize Rush's albums chronologically into pairs, with the first album being sort of proof of concept and the second one solidifying the idea/evolution. So, first album is their take on hard rock, second Rush album is where they come into their own with it. "Caress of Steel" dips its toe into concept album territory, "2112" nails it. And so on, with paired variations (prog, new wave, synths, AOR, back to basics).

Do you recommend the "Roadrunner" book?
― Lily Dale, Sunday, February 25, 2024 10:08 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink
yes indeed.
― The Ginger Bakersfield Sound (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, February 25, 2024 10:11 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

read most of it on the subway yesterday, it's really great, basically a big essay, propulsive like the song

TY JR&tB

I saw someone once loosely organize Rush's albums chronologically into pairs, with the first album being sort of proof of concept and the second one solidifying the idea/evolution. So, first album is their take on hard rock, second Rush album is where they come into their own with it. "Caress of Steel" dips its toe into concept album territory, "2112" nails it. And so on, with paired variations (prog, new wave, synths, AOR, back to basics).

This absolutely makes sense to me all the way through the 90s at least (Fly By Night as an extension of the self-titled is maybe a stretch but I’ll allow it) and I think I kind of vaguely do this in my head with their albums as well without being explicitly aware of it. The only point I’d disagree on is that it’s always the second one where they nail it…I prefer Caress to 2112, Permanent Waves to Moving Pictures, Signals to Grace, etc.

Also I think of Hold Your Fire and Presto as being a pair which leaves Power Windows as an odd man out (or as a threesome with the two albums prior).

I saw someone once loosely organize Rush's albums chronologically into pairs, with the first album being sort of proof of concept and the second one solidifying the idea/evolution.

I mean, they kinda did this themselves - for a while they were on a cycle of releasing a live album that documented each stage in their evolution:

Rush, Caress of Steel, Fly By Night -> All the World's a Stage
2112, A Farewell to Kings, Hemispheres, Permanent Waves, Moving Pictures -> Exit...Stage Left
Signals, Grace Under Pressure, Power Windows, Hold Your Fire -> A Show of Hands
Presto, Roll the Bones, Counterparts, Test for Echo -> Different Stages

And Roll The Bones belongs with Presto and Hold Your Fire as Counterparts and Test for Echo

Richman to Rush, are we proceeding alphabetically?

I have some very controversial opinions on Jennifer Rush.

…seem to be their own thing

from abba to zappa

Zabba would be a crazy idea for a gimmick cover band

abba lend themselves to those much more easily than other groups

just recently i was thinking of an abba/springsteen gimmick band (bjorn to run/in the usa etc)

see also Gabba

Or maybe I should say "aboot."

https://e.snmc.io/i/600/s/197362394e445cd9d852fd80438e52d3/11151239/zabba-w-lindner-and-carsten-bohn-vollbedienung-of-percussion-cover-art.jpg

I hate Trees, it's like "we will, we will, oppress you."

Yeah, but it fuckin' rocks.

I used to know someone who swore blind that song was just about trees arguing with each other, and wasn't a metaphor of any kind.

it's a document of a conversation that Neil Peart overheard one day on a hike in a local forest

see also Gabba

i do loooove Gabba (cycling wet weather gear)

I used to know someone who swore blind that song was just about trees arguing with each other, and wasn't a metaphor of any kind.

OK, but . . . who's wielding the hatchet, axe and saw?

My apparently (and increasingly) controversial opinion is that Rush are a steaming pile of horseshit, whatever era.

That's not controversial, it's just wrongheaded.

I am an 80s person (for evidence, see my last seven thousand posts).

I will probably not put it as Tom D. has.

But I am never going to embrace Rush, Yes, Marillion, Dream Theater, Tool, etc. It's not my thing. No judgment on those who find those artists compelling.

Funnily enough that list contains two of my all-time favourite acts, two of my most hated and one I'm totally indifferent to. Prog - love it and/or hate it.

Rush, Yes, Marillion, Dream Theater, Tool, etc.

I would argue that there is a Grand Canyon-sized gulf between the first two artists on this list and the latter three.

Rush — I don't listen to the albums that often, but they were amazing both times I saw them live. Yes — one of my favorite bands ever.

I have never heard a Marillion song as far as I know, and I hope to go to my grave with that streak unbroken. Dream Theater are some of the nicest people I've ever met in my life but their music is agonizing. And Tool live up to their name in every way.

Xp Matt #2: of course, like what you like and dislike what you dislike. Just stating my own view here.

I graduated high school in 83, right when Rush had really hit their mid-career stride. And yes, they were great live--I saw them on the Moving Pictures and Signals tours, and despite major technical issues on the second, they were two of the best shows I've seen.

I kind of lost interest in them after that, though. It's only in the past ten years or so that I've rediscovered them.

I would really encourage people to listen to Dream Theater and how shitty they are before you even invoke them in a Rush conversation

The point I'm making is that, like Longfellow's little girl, when prog is good it's very good indeed, but when it's bad it's horrid. Apart from Fruupp who are kind of mediocre.

I 2nd everything that Unperson said. I don't think I can even make it through a song by Tool. The ICP of prog. Marillion and Dream Theater i never really listened to and there has to be a reason I have avoided them this long.

I've never warmed to Tool (heh), but their drummer is incredible.

every single person without exception - and there have been a bunch after 15 years of business - who has come in my store and asked if i had any Tool has never bought anything ever. they just want to ask if i have Tool. 99% of the time i don't because i hate them and avoid buying their stuff and 100% of those people don't look at a single record and then they leave. after annoying me by talking about Tool. i consider them an extra-musical rock band. you don't actually have to like music to be a fan. same with Phish people really. they never buy anything either. ever.

I vaguely remember the old Phish discussion board--Phishook?--being a hive of insufferable assholes.

Tool's drummer should start a band with the guitarist for RHCP because "he's actually really awesome have you ever heard his solo albums?". (i hear that a lot. and same with the tool drummer thing about how awesome he is.)

i'm glad they get a paycheck though. if they can stand playing that music for a sweet life of being a well-paid working musician more power to them.

A friend of mine (a good friend, really) showed me a 13-minute YouTube video of the Tool drummer in isolation. I had to admit, he is really skilled. But 13 minutes is a lot.