I was certainly familiar with Rush, but the album that came out at just the right time for me to latch on to it was “A Show of Hands”. The live version of Marathon on that album is still serious business.
I voted 2112, but I didn’t discover it until 1979. I was 15, and had discovered the kind of music that appealed to me. I asked a friend which Rush album I should start with - he said 2112. Wow. That was that.
I’m not finding this on Netflix. I really want to see it!
In the early 80’s, high school. A drummer friend loaned me Exit Stage Left; I liked it and decided to get the studio albums as well. ESL contained stuff from all over, so I just answered in the poll A Farewell to Kings, altho Grace Under Pressure was more in my age.
You guys now think it’s cool to be a Rush fan? How cute.
Actually, we don’t care if it is cool or not. And neither do they (the band).
2112, back in either 1976 or maybe 1977. I remember one of my friends playing “Overture” for me and I was hooked. At one point I owned every album from “Rush” to “Signals” and had seen them on every tour from “A Farewell to Kings” through “Grace Under Pressure”, at which point I really didn’t like the direction their sound was taking and never saw them again or bought another album. Until…
Fast-forward about twenty-something years later to the release of “Feedback” for their 30th anniversary. I don’t remember where I heard about it but I bought a copy and played the hell out of it, and then a couple years later bought “Snakes and Arrows” when it came out and did the same. I took my wife to her first Rush concert on the “Time Machine” tour a couple of years ago. (She’s not much of a Rush fan but she was a good sport for going.)
I was born in Canada in the seventies, so I never really “discovered” them. I don’t remember not knowing who they were.
I saw them in concert in 2010 and they were amazing. I still can not get over the energy level of their live show.
Permanent Waves. Specifically, the song “Freewill”. I was 14 years old and just starting to learn to play guitar. One of my best friends played that song for me (the recording, that is - he didn’t play it on guitar). Until I heard that song, I wasn’t even really aware of the bass guitar as a distinct instrument. But the song got to the breakdown in the middle where Geddy just starts going nuts on the bass … and that was simply the absolute coolest thing I had ever heard in my life. That was when I decided that I was going to be a bass player. Unfortunately, since I didn’t have any money, and my parents wouldn’t buy me anything cool, I didn’t get a bass until I was 19. But it’s been my primary instrument ever since. I’ve been playing bass 28 years now, and I’m still wishing I was anywhere near as good as Geddy. But I’m proud of the fact that I can sing and play bass along with Rush songs simultaneously, just like Geddy does.
The other song on Permanent Waves that really hooked me was “Natural Science”. Pure awesome. Trivia: You know the echo/delay effect on Geddy’s vocals during the first part of the song? That’s not a studio effect. Their recording studio was in the mountains. They set up speakers outside and pointed them at the mountains. Geddy sang his vocals through those speakers, and they used another microphone to capture the real echo off the mountains.
I remember with a chuckle that time back in the '90s when I was chatting on IRC, and some guy joined our channel claiming to be Canadian. When it turned out he didn’t know who Rush was, pretty much everybody in the channel questioned the veracity of his “Canadian” claim 
According to the Rush documentary DVD, “Beyond the Lighted Stage”, they pretty much kicked him out of the band for his own good. Unlike Alex and Geddy, John was really into the “rock & roll lifestyle”, i.e. drinking and partying. Given his health issues, they realized he would probably end up dead at a young age if he started touring. So they fired him gracefully enough that they still remained friends.
I was 12 when Moving Pictures came out in 1981 and “Tom Sawyer” was a huge hit on the radio. I really got into them during high school and went back and got some of the older albums. I saw them in 1985 on the Power Windows tour. I haven’t really kept up with them in recent years but I’m glad they finally got into the RRHOF. (Now if only Warren Zevon could get in.) 
A friend gave me Permanent Waves around 81, because he didn’t like the singing. On first listen I didn’t know what to make of it but after each successive listen I was more and more entranced.
I like everything up to Signals, where they lost me.
Well growing up in the 80s, it’s kind of like asking when I “discovered” Queen or Pink Floyd or AC/DC. I just remember hearing songs like Tom Sawyer, Limelight, Subdivisions or Working Man on the radio all the time. Probably before I even knew who sang them.
Probably around jr or sr year in high school I picked up the Chronicles 2 CD set which was a pretty good Rush starter kit. I also bought Presto and later Roll the Bones as a freshman in college. Plus a couple of mix tapes of songs I recorded off the radio.
Occasionally I still download their old stuff for my ipod.
Funny story. A couple of years ago I was in a bar in NYC. Tom Sawyer was playing and these foreign girls next to me are like “ew…we hate your stupid American rock music”. I’m like “This is Rush. They’re Canadian.”
You have to love a band that can do something like this:
(Seriously, I think that if Alex Lifeson hadn't pursued music, he could have had a fine career as an actor)This. Should have been on the poll.
Without looking, I’m hoping this is the Rash video (from the Haus of Sausage) with Neil Peart playing an Irish Catholic cop.
ETA: Yeah. Bwahaha.
“To me, you’re a genius. To O’Malley, you’re a genius. But to a genius, you’re no genius!”
This thread reminded me to order my Tme Machine concert DVD (and Season 2 of Game of Thrones while I was at it).
Wow. I’m only the 2nd 1974 vote.
My brother and I were always trying to one up each other with big new finds. He won this round, introducing us to Working Man. I got him back with Journey (1975) and Boston (1976)
You seem to assume that “discovered” equals “fell desperately in love with,” not “first heard.” First heard them back in the 70s and like them okay but never fell in love with them or even felt a need to buy an album. I understand some people whose tastes I otherwise respect like them very much indeed. For me it’s like Rap or Fifty Shades of Gray–I don’t get it.
Probably sometime in the early 90s, '91-'93. I don’t love them. I don’t hate them. I like them, although some songs, like “The Trees” or whatever it’s called, make me laugh at the adolescent lyrics. I think they’re a very good band, and I generally like their music, but they don’t hit me in the heart.
I almost forgot about that clip, freaking classic.
Alex Lifeson would actually be a better comedian, apparently he’s a blast at parties.
Didn’t Kim Mitchell tell a story about Alex wearing a lampshade on his head all night?
Why would I accomodate anyone who would just come in here to threadshit? I found it interesting that people have discovered Rush at various different points in their long career not just at the 2112 and Moving Pictures milestones.
I’m not the one who’s making assumptions. I’m not a huge Rush fanatic, I grew up listening to them in the 70’s, moved on to other music but kept tabs on them over the years.
WTF does “people whose tastes I otherwise respect” mean? You respect peoples’ musical tastes but not when it comes to Rush? Come on, even the biggest music snobs on the planet begrudgingly respect Rush for their musical talent, enduring career, and massive fan base.
In fact, most intelligent Rush critics would say “they get it” they just don’t necessarily like it.
Adolescent!? They may be simple but there isn't really anything adolescent about them. In fact, their meaning is still debated among fans, although Neil Peart once dismissed there being any political or social commentary and that he was influenced by a cartoon, most believe that he was just brushing off having to explain them.