HBO is airing the HOF ceremony this Saturday May 18th.
If you haven’t seen it yet, here is their acceptance speeches, at 4:40 Alex Lifeson is hilarious Blah Blah Blah speech!
I’m not going to get into a debate about this, taste is subjective and all that. Yes, I am aware of the philosophy of Rush. It still strikes me like the kind of stuff one of the arty or angsty kids would write in their notebooks during class in high school. That’s all. It’s not a deal breaker. I like a lot of bands with lyrics that I feel have an adolescent bent to them, and plenty with no philosophy whatsoever other than “drink, screw, and have a good time!” So I’m not casting aspersions on Rush. I’m just stating how the lyrics sound to my ear. Obviously, many people love them for their lyrics, in addition to the music. That’s cool.
No, it should not.
The premise of this thread is that it is for people who have “discovered” them. Or at least, that may wish at some point to do so.
I, too, do not understand the apparent need of some to participate when they have no interest in the topic. Yes, it is well understood that many do not like Rush, and some have never even heard of them. So what?
I call it Soccer Syndrome. Start any thread about soccer, and within 20 posts, we’ll be told that it is just a child’s game not fit for men or some such shit.
Rush is the musical corollary. I can’t think of another band that experiences so much “I Hate Them” threadshitting as Rush does.
At any rate, I just voted for the Rush album I enjoy the most and am familiar with the most: Moving Pictures.
I discovered them in 1991 listening to the local rock station – songs like “Tom Sawyer”, “Limelight”, “Closer to the Heart”, “Freewill” and “The Spirit of Radio”. No idea what to pick in that poll due to the inclusion of album names.
In 1980 while staying with my cousins in Florida “Spirit of Radio” was getting a lot of radio play. I went out right away and purchased Permanent Waves.
I’d liked them since high school with 2112 but when I was in college Moving Pictures came out and took it all to a different level. I remember my roommate and I going to the college music store and buying every single album they’d released and making killer cassette tapes.
I avoided this poll for a little while. Why? Well, I was learning bass around the time Moving Pictures was popular, so I knew almost all of that album on bass at one time or another, and individual songs spanning from Hemispheres to Grace Under Pressure. When I moved to guitar, I learned a lot of the guitar parts. However, the first bands that I was in that went anywhere were punk rock bands. Want to make a bunch of punk rockers irritated? Start playing Rush at them. To this day, I can make the guitarist of my current band cringe by playing Tom Sawyer on bass. Though, I did have one drummer of a punk band that was pissed that I didn’t know the solo to Limelight when we broke into an impromptu version of it when the singer broke a string (yeah, it’s hard to come out of that solo into the chorus of the song without doing the ending to that solo).
All that said, I don’t listen to a lot of Rush these days. Like most of the big prog/metal acts I used to listen to, they were at their best when they were writing songs about part of their own lives, hopefully the parts that others can relate to. The only Rush songs I yearn to listen to these days are Limelight and The Spirit of Radio. Both are gorgeous songs, that are enhanced by their immense skills as musicians, and their ability to write an intricate song. I’d cover The Spirit of Radio as a country song ( as seen in the linked video above) if I could figure out how to edit out the reggae breakdown that I can’t play (stupid sense of rhythm…), and governs the second half of the song.
tl;dr: Moving Pictures. Good band, I wish they wrote simpler songs
BTW, I recently saw a RUSH ‘documentary’ called “Rush: Beyond the Lighted Stage” on the channel Palladium. It was interesting even though I’m not a huge fan, just have enjoyed them over the years. It covered a lot of their history, influences, critical reviews, etc.
I don’t have any of their albums, except for their anthology, which came out in the 80s. I have heard a lot of their tunes on the radio, particularly “Tom Sawyer” and “The Spirit of Radio,” which always seem to get a lot of airplay. I enjoy a lot of their songs. I even remember “Take Off,” the tune Geddy Lee did with Dave Thomas and Rick Moranis, aka Bob and Doug McKenzie from SCTV.
Just wanted to drop back in and say I’m sitting in a restaurant right now and “Freewill” is playing. 
Good thing for you that you don’t.
I don’t hate them, I like a lot of their songs. Been to a concert even. Their fans on the other hand…more insufferable than Radiohead fans? Probably. The band member themselves seem pretty cool though (once they outgrew their Ayn Rand crap)
So this thread is just for gushing about how much we love Rush, like pre-adolescent girls talking about Justin Bieber? That is not how the SDMB usually works. If someone wants only fans to notice and respond to a fan poll they should post the poll on a fan site. Here, it’s a poll and some of us like to look at, and maybe respond to, polls. Dopers are an opinionated lot, after all.
Did anyone say that they hate Rush,* or were the “haterz” just expressing bewilderment that the poll left no room for the people who like Rush okay, as second-tier prog bands go. I mean, they aren’t Pink Floyd, Yes, or ELP. And “discover” means something other than how the OP intends it. By the generally-understood meaning of the word, I “discovered” Rush in 1974, and nearly forty years later my original opinion, “Yeah, they’re okay,” still stands.
I try to not get butthurt because some strangers on the internet are unexplainably wrong with their opinions of things I like, but like Yookeroo noted, some Rush fans take indifference or support that is merely mild as personal attacks.
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- Maybe somebody did. I didn’t go back and check. I know I didn’t.
Well, to get back on track, I discovered them in 1976 when a friend intoduced me to the 2112 8-track tape. I bought the album from Columbia House and went on from there.
I’ve taken a lot of abuse from people for being a Rush fan, a Star Trek fan, my love of D&D and video games, especially MMORPGs, my choice of college fraternity, and the length of my hair. Not everyone is enlightened or intelligent enough to get the things that move me, so I just ignore the abuse until it gets too strident, then I fight back.
I’ve seen Rush only twice, once in 1978 in Pittsburgh, and in 1988 in Hollywood, Florida. I wish I could go again, but I just don’t have the means anymore.
I have never seen this shared here, so for you fellow Rush fans, here’s your internet radio station: Rush Radio 2112
2112 was my introduction to this Band.
After hearing ‘Overture’, I was a fan.
Still am.
They deserve to be in the Hall.
How about a solo performance of YYZ by a little girl: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4XsYuHbXZUk
She played the guitar, bass and keyboard parts but the drums were pre-programmed.
For some reason Rush were virtually unknown in Australia. I have been a big music fan since the late 60s and worked in live sound and recording during the 80s and knew nothing about them until the recent past. I don’t think I have ever heard a piece of their music ever played anywhere locally and don’t know anyone who has their stuff.
I was astounded when I discovered how successful they were as it’s a mystery that they remained anonymous.
Like the man said, there was plenty of Rush on the radio as long as I can remember.
I have a feeling that the band was never that well-known outside of the Western Hemisphere.