When most people listen to Rush

They play air drums, not air guitar.

Discuss.

 

Agreed.

 

Not much to discuss. Neil Peart is the best part of Rush.

 

I feel like Geddy Lee doesn’t get the credit he deserves. Nor does Alex for that matter. But agreed, without Neil Peart …. Rush wouldn’t be Rush.

 

How can one short post be so very wrong.

The answer is Geddy's vocals.

 

https://youtu.be/Eh_9NY56Sxw?si=iMxGYMBVqVmo5jg1

 

Been a Rush fan since the beginning or I should say when they submitted a tape to WMMS in Cleveland in the early 1970s just before they released their first album. They sent in Working Man and WMMS had to keep playing it because of all the requests. I remember they said to play Working Man at maximum volume. When I first heard it I was like who the hell are these guys? Couldn't wait to get that album and nearly every one since. I think Rush contributed to my hearing loss and is why I wear hearing aids today and say what? a lot.
The band was 4 incredibly talented musicians. I do include John Rutsley when I say that. Neil Peart on drums and as writer of lyrics was unrivalled and few come close to what he could do. I couldn't wait to get each new release just so I could read the lyrics. Geddy Lee with his screaming banshee voice was an acquired taste but when he tuned it down he had a great voice and there is nobody who can play a bass the way he does. Alex Lifeson is just as amazing to hear and see live. John Rutsley is often forgotten but he could play drums with the best of them in the early days. Rush was then and still is my favorite band.

 

Laying on my floor in the dark listening to them was good therapy for a lot of my early adult life. Neil was the drive and creativity, but with out the talent and shared vision of Geddy and Alex, Rush would not have been what they became. Saw them live in the mid 80s and for the first 20 minutes I purposely sat in the back right of Neil's kit to watch the Master. Never knew what he was really capable of until then. The man had a digital precision in his approach that imo, will never be duplicated again.
On one outro, he hit his snare twice, flipped one of his sticks 20 ft in the air, it came back down, hit the snare in perfect time and then bounced into his hand. I was sober, completely blown away and will always remember that scene. I looked at my girl and said, Did you see that!!?? She simple responded with OMG, that's amazing. He was constantly twirling both sticks in between those tight rolling phrases that he was famous for. I think his timing was so precise that in his mind he had to challenge himself in these little way to keep it razor sharp. RIP Neil. I still think your drive, creativity and passion are still yet to be fully appreciated by most people.
Rush was the epitome of 70s talent, that has been completely watered down and ruined by the music industry of today. There is plenty of talent out there but their expression is suppressed and directed into imagery, debauchery, and messaging. Not musical expression.

 

FYI, today is Neil's Birthday. My favorite since 1979. Thanks for starting this Bent Wheel.

 

Grew up in NE Ohio and was a teen in the 70’s. If you weren’t listening to MMS and ‘Working Man’ on Friday night, you were nobody. At different times our group of about 8 guys (plus assorted girlfriends) there was always 1 or 2 unemployed. I remember the time the song came on and we all looked at each other and realized everyone was working. And the wild escapades began.
Edit : recently recorded a Rush concert on PBS they played in Cleveland that is really good. Probably find it on the www somewhere. Time Machine tour.

 

It's Zed, and Niel Peart stands alone.

 

Scientists say: The therapeutic effect of playing air drums approaches that of banging on the bongos.

The inner clock in the brain responds favorably.

But you can’t be sloppy….

 

I was a early teenager when I 1st heard "Fly by Night". I rode my BMX bike to the local Record and Tape traders and bought the album. As I'm playing the record, I'm reading the lyrics and finding words that I didn't know/understand. I'd go the library, find a Thesaurus and learn new things. I'd see the quotes that they would make at the bottom of the lyrics about the sources that influenced the song. I'd go find those books and try to read/comprehend them. I was from a blue collar family, so it was an mind opening experience for me to thing of things outside of my "normal" and I stayed a fan to the very end.

When some of the younger guys at work hear me listening to Rush, they all want to know who the band is. I explain about who they were and their relevance to life in general. When I show them something on the web, they are always blown away that 3 guys were making all of that sound.

I know that this response isn't exactly what the OP was asking for, or who knows- maybe I'm not the only one that was intellectually stimulated by the band.

The Trees... who the hell else could have had the idea to write a song about life in the forest from the perspective of the trees ??

 

You are not alone.

We called Rush, "The thinking man's Rock."

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DtfnKPkQRbg

 

I do like Rush but I think I'd like them more if Geddy Lee's voice was better.

 

I dabble in guitar but when Rush is on, it’s air drums, always.

 

My Brother was a big fan, I surprised him with tickets to a show at Radio City Music Hall, about 10 rows back, God I wish they had small digital cameras back then.
It was the 80's we were young, life was good!
My favorite is Limelight, that intro....

 

There is a quote by one of the famous Motown songwriters who said a song either makes or breaks in the first 15 seconds. Smokey maybe. Think about all the great song’s intros. My Rush go to is Tom Sawyer and Distant Early Warning.

 

https://youtu.be/EYYdQB0mkEU?si=DVpINeSFAU12z9aB

His presence drove the mood and feel.

Few play air drums throughout an entire song, but most will play the last 12 bars of this one.


EDIT: That just brought a tear to my eye.