Explain 2112 to me

[CalMeacham]

I am incredibly clueless about a lot of pop music. I’m a big fan of classical and some other varieties, but I’ve never been really tuned in to popular music or properly appreciative of it.

Several months ago, a friend loaned me a copy of Rush’s 2112 and eagerly awaited my opinion of it.
Don’t tell me the basic plot and the parts – I can get that off the Wikipedia entry:

2112 (album)

2112 (song)

The music isn’t really the plot, though – it’s the composition and its execution. I found the plot seemed trite to me, anyway. But a lot of operas are the same way. never judge an opera by its plot. or at least by its plot alone.
in any event, I didn’t find the music remarkable, or technically interesting. I found it repetitious, in fact, and that alone made it uninteresting to me. When I told me friend this, he was aghast.

Repetitious? Uninteresting? Didn’t I realize that it was filled with variations and was technically demanding?
Well, no. It sounded as if I’d been listening to a completely different album than the one that fired him up. Not only was he clearly upset that I didn’t take to it as he had, I think I’ve fallen several notches in his estimation.
but I’m not a musical ignoramus – i studied piano and cornet for years, and played in the high school orchestra and band, and I’ve listened to music of all types for years. But I don’t see what the big attraction here is at all.

[Acsenray]

@CalMeacham

Didn’t I realize that it was filled with variations and was technically demanding?

My response would have been “so what”?

I’ll be interested in seeing the responses. Previous rock music discussions on this board have revived my interest in bands that didn’t impress me when I first encountered them years ago – AC/DC, for example. I have a feeling that’s not going to happen with Rush.

[Acsenray]

This is what George Starostin says in his review:

Overall, 2112 is like Tarkus for ELP: the first side is this lengthy bombastic progressive fantasy tale, the second side is this bunch of short songs that all sound like outtakes from the sessions for the first side. Only where ELP were on a groundbreaking innovative trail and had boatloads of catchy melodies and immaculate musicianship and production, Rush are just following in everybody’s footsteps and have boatloads of mediocre melodies and a homebrewed, boring production.

[CalMeacham]

From that site:

Add to this that the production and arrangements really suck: twenty minutes of music that all sounds exactly the same without any breaks, where you can concentrate only on the overblown vocals and simplistic riffage, is a bit too much for me.

So evidently I’m not alone in thinking it repetitious, and it might not be my pop music tin ear responsible for my perceiving it that way.

Who’s George Starostin? Is he a figure of some standing in music criticism, or just a guy with a blog?

[CaveMike]

There is nothing really to explain. 2112 isn’t particularly deep lyrically or musically.

Musically it is driven by the various rhythms – guitar riffs, bass lines, and drums. It is not technically hard to play (at least on the guitar). The chord voicings are basic. I feel it packs a lot of energy into each note.

Lyrically it is a basic SF plot; it leaves plenty of room to fill in the blanks from your own imagination. This is probably more compelling to a kid than to an adult.

Either it clicks for your or it doesn’t. Personally, it is one of my all-time favorites, but I could understand why some would not like it.