R.I.P. 2020
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Friends have been sending me links to photos of billboards along freeways across the U.S. commemorating Peart. Fans with big wallets are forking out to honour their guy.
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Iâd say not. I seem to recall hearing âCloser to the Heartâ played on Hauraki, maybe once, in 1978, and that was it.
Although they released a ton of records (incl. many, many live records), they were really a touring band. They made it a point of their identity that they didnât want to make studio records that the three of them couldnât replicate live on stage, so they were touring constantly â but they never made it to NZ or Oz.
Itâs also notable that critics hated them for the first decade of their existence, and Geddy Leeâs voice was certainly a part of that. They didnât get accepted into the mainstream until the Moving Pictures album in â81, and then they kinda exploded. I believe there was only 5 platinum-selling rock records in the USA that year, the worst year for rock record sales since the birth of rock, and Rush fully accounted for three of them (new fans who discovered them started buying the earlier releases). As far as hard rock meets prog at the time, Bonham was dead and Yes became The Buggles v2, which left Rush holding the bag.
Critics still werenât on board, but the kids were, and the more the critics lambasted them, the more it galvanized those kids and made them intensely loyal. Nobody gave critics the middle-finger the way Rush fans did. And then they started dominating the musicians polls, Peart especially. He was treated like he was superhuman philosopher-king, which was why he retreated from public life. The fandom was suffocating him. How many times can a man hear âYouâre the greatest everâ before he wants to climb into a hole, and he was hearing this from the time he was 24 years old.
I remember many observers being gobsmacked in the mid 1980s when Los Angeles radio station KROQ, at the time the pre-eminent classic-rock and contemporary rock FM station in America, was having annual listeners âBattle-Of-The-Bandsâ tournaments and it was coming down to Rush vs Zeppelin, and Rush was winning!!
My own preferences for hard rock-prog-fusion in the 70s/80s were more for Crimson, Jeff Beck, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Return to Forever etc., I didnât really rate Rush. But some of their songs were guilty pleasures, and Iâve come to appreciate them over the years simply because there was nobody touring like them.
Check out youtube some time, search for âBilly Corganâ + âRushâ and youâll get an insight into the intensity of the band; He claims if they came out now âPitchfork would be all over them, because theyâre strange-as-fuck.â And if you want to see one of the best rock documentaries ever, download âRush: Beyond the Lighted Stage.â After I saw that, I surrendered. I couldnât help but like the band and their values.
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@Salacious-Crumb said in R.I.P. 2020:
Iâd say not. I seem to recall hearing âCloser to the Heartâ played on Hauraki, maybe once, in 1978, and that was it.
Although they released a ton of records (incl. many, many live records), they were really a touring band. They made it a point of their identity that they didnât want to make studio records that the three of them couldnât replicate live on stage, so they were touring constantly â but they never made it to NZ or Oz.
Itâs also notable that critics hated them for the first decade of their existence, and Geddy Leeâs voice was certainly a part of that. They didnât get accepted into the mainstream until the Moving Pictures album in â81, and then they kinda exploded. I believe there was only 5 platinum-selling rock records in the USA that year, the worst year for rock record sales since the birth of rock, and Rush fully accounted for three of them (new fans who discovered them started buying the earlier releases). As far as hard rock meets prog at the time, Bonham was dead and Yes became The Buggles v2, which left Rush holding the bag.
Critics still werenât on board, but the kids were, and the more the critics lambasted them, the more it galvanized those kids and made them intensely loyal. Nobody gave critics the middle-finger the way Rush fans did. And then they started dominating the musicians polls, Peart especially. He was treated like he was superhuman philosopher-king, which was why he retreated from public life. The fandom was suffocating him. How many times can a man hear âYouâre the greatest everâ before he wants to climb into a hole, and he was hearing this from the time he was 24 years old.
I remember many observers being gobsmacked in the mid 1980s when Los Angeles radio station KROQ, at the time the pre-eminent classic-rock and contemporary rock FM station in America, was having annual listeners âBattle-Of-The-Bandsâ tournaments and it was coming down to Rush vs Zeppelin, and Rush was winning!!
My own preferences for hard rock-prog-fusion in the 70s/80s were more for Crimson, Jeff Beck, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Return to Forever etc., I didnât really rate Rush. But some of their songs were guilty pleasures, and Iâve come to appreciate them over the years simply because there was nobody touring like them.
Check out youtube some time, search for âBilly Corganâ + âRushâ and youâll get an insight into the intensity of the band; He claims if they came out now âPitchfork would be all over them, because theyâre strange-as-fuck.â And if you want to see one of the best rock documentaries ever, download âRush: Beyond the Lighted Stage.â After I saw that, I surrendered. I couldnât help but like the band and their values.
I only know them from this
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They were Spinal Tap, if Spinal Tap were virtuoso musicians.
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If you watch any of the concert footage you will always see flags from various countries in the audience. I knew a Kiwi who flew to LA to take in multiple shows every tour. I regret not seeing them myself when I lived in the US.
That photo must be the billboard on the I95 near Philly that I read about.
Beyond The Lighted Stage is available on Netflix NZ.
As to local radio airplay, you still hear Tom Sawyer and Limelight on The Sound. For those that haven't heard Rush before Tom Sawyer is their biggest "hit". Even if you don't like the song you will enjoy the video intro they have used on recent tours.
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The other thing I will add is that Neil Peart also wrote some well-received books detailing his travels around the world. I haven't read them myself but those people that have enjoyed them.
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I found Rush by accident. My Mum went into Musicor record shop in Whangarei and asked the owner for something for me for Christmas, random 17 year old who liked The Led Zeppelin. He had an import of âArchivesâ that he convinced her I would love. I did, but funnily enough it was âWorking Manâ from their first album (that Peart wasnât on) that grabbed me first. Soon loved the weirdness of By-Tor though, and loved them ever since. I canât remember where I read it but I recall they toured with Kiss when they were at their debauched worst, and Gene Simmons said the Rush boys were very straight and nice. They would go out and play volleyball instead of getting wasted and laid.
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Rush are a bit musicians musician.
Iâd only heard of them in the same way as Grateful Dead- knew they were legendary US musicians with hardcore fans but thatâs it. When I first saw âI love you manâ I enjoyed what I heard so did some Spotify of them and found a lot of it recognisable. Similar to Led Zeppelin you hear a lot of their riffs / timings in other music.
Real artists.
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@JC By-Tor was one of the earliest songs that I liked, as far as 70s prog goes itâs an amusing fun song. They supported Kiss on a number of tours, played quite a few dates when Kiss exploded â74-76. In the Rush documentary Simmons talks about how they were always trying to get Rush out to party and score females, but were dismayed âcos they just wanted to go back to their hotel rooms and read books.
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@Bovidae The Washington Post published itâs 4th tribute yesterday, a story by one of their columnists about how Peart saved a relationship with his father. But thatâs beside the point. What boggles my mind is that number. The Washington Post published FOUR tributes to a drummer of a Canadian metal band.
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@Salacious-Crumb Jeff Bezos could be a Rush fan.
He did pick up The Expanse for Amazon which has a Rush reference in the name of their ship, the Rocinante.
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@Godder said in R.I.P. 2020:
RIP Rocky Johnson. Former WWE tag team champion and Hall of Famer, but best known for being Dwayne "the Rock" Johnson's father.
I saw him wrestle several times in person, and fondly remember when The Rock made his debut in WWE (as âRocky Maiviaâ) my buddies telling me he was Rockyâs kid. Must have made Dad extremely proud to see the enormous success that Dwayne had. RIP.
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Was reading today that Godsmack drummer said Peart was sick before the end of the last tour; and he said Peart had been confined to a wheelchair for months and couldnât speak. Very sad. Nice to see people are discovering his legacy, though...
Rush Claims 23 of 25 Spots on LyricFind Global Chart After Neil Peart's Death
Rush Claims 23 of 25 Spots on LyricFind Global Chart After Neil Peartâs Death
"Tom Sawyer" debuts at No. 1.
Rush: Beyond the Lighted Stage - Wikipedia
