Yes, that is a BOSTON quote. Because BOSTON ROCKS. I've been thinking a lot about all the young, loud, and snotty punk rock I listened to post-1984 (which I consider the "year of my conversion," when my cool friend Joan Chasson let me borrow her copy of "London Calling," and when Dave Holley and I went to Kemp Mill Records in Rockville and argued for ten minutes about which one of us should buy the No Trend record, and who was gonna buy the Minor Threat 7" comp [red jacket - I came out the winner], and I somehow wrangled a copy of "Urgh! A Music War" on cassette from my friend Fikri Yucel who was new wave when new wave wasn't cool) as I have been listening to Rush, Boston, and AC/DC. Now, AC/DC has had closet cool lo these many years with punkers because, let's face it, even though they weren't punk, they were total punks, and that made them okay among the less doctrinaire of us who were into music for the music, anyway.
But Boston? And - gasp - Rush? Boston remains, and will probably always remain, a guilty XM pleasure for me - something I won't turn off when it comes on, but that I don't really find myself craving, the way ex-smokers NEVER LOSE THAT YEN. Rush, my friends, is another matter. I stumbled across a fabulous site (fabulous if you are a complete and utter music nerd - join me, brothers and sisters!) which I have gone so far as to bookmark: ProgArchives.com. It is a wonder to behold, if you have absolutely no interest in retaining any cred whatsoever with people who used to think you were cool.
All you proggers reading this (and I bet there are more than a few, because, let's face it, proggers are nerds, and Jawbox was a nerd band, and DeSoto is in many ways still a nerd label, so if you're here, you're probably a nerd and hopefully damn proud of it) might think, "F* you, pally, I still am cool! And so is Dream Theater!" Of course, you are wrong, but I'm not here to argue why. If you don't know, you are proving my point, and if you do, then you are also proving my point - this is what we call in Philosophy 101 a "no-win situation for proggers."
(Speaking of Philosophy 101, my old friend Joe Cruz is now a philosophy professor at my alma mater, Williams College, and still, god willing, has his 6-string Specter bass and still, god willing, LOVES RUSH).
I digress (my lifetime habit, I know). The point is that I found ProgArchives.com and spent about 3 hours (that I was supposed to be working - don't tell my boss, wait, I am my boss, dang, I will have to fire myself one of these days) totally geeking on Magma, King Crimson, Can, and ... you guessed it, Rush. Damned if I didn't download (I feel justifiably, since I have owned the vinyl of the records in question for over 20 years) "La Villa Strangiato," "Cygnus X-1" (prologue and all three movements of Book One!), and "Jacob's Ladder," and spent the next three days playing them constantly. I did. I admit it. Let he who is without prog sin cast the first stone. Mm-hmm. That's what I thought.
The point ... there was a point in there somewhere ... ah yes, the point being, and someone please write this down (someone besides me, because nothing is real on the Internet until it has been repeated/quoted ad nauseam): Be Not Afraid of Rush. Geddy Lee is still a bit of a stretch on the vocal front (so is Jon Anderson, but yes, yes, my friends, I like Yes), and Neal Peart's (over)playing is a bit, erm, exaggerated at times, but man, those guys were tight, and had a remarkable ear for melody, played delicate and heavy with equal aplomb, and had really awful hair.
So go forth now. Especially that dude that was complaining about the days when all I had to rant about were wallet chains and Hot Pocket wrappers on my lawn. Savor the prog. I think I'm going bald.
Rush rocks! The music still holds up. I can remember being in high school and singing to all of those bands along with my friends. Tell me that is not corny! Oh wait your a musician. Maybe not so corny! There were also I think 2 or 3 Boston songs that really rocked out! I think back on those times and Wow they were so amazing! That is what I love about music. It captures a moment or period in life that can be looked upon later and savored maybe just a little more than when it actually happened. so "hold this moment a little bit longer" do not know the name but that is my fav Rush tune! Peace Bill
Preach on, brother! Rush is the ultimate in ultrauncool cool. And you know, I'd always thought I was crazy for thinking some of the riffs on Novelty a little Lifesonesque. I suppose it's like a secret society...we can always recognize fellow members.
Hmmmmm, Boston, Magma, Can, and AC/DC I can live with, but I haven't gotten to the point of crossing over to the dark side, and listening to Rush. O.K. I know they were a big influence on Drive Like Jehu (one of my all time faves, just listen to Do You Compute and Rush's Xanadu!) But I just can't.
Oh yeah that artwork on ELP's Tarkus, is priceless, best LP cover art ever, EVER! All bow before your new god, the armadillo-tank-monster.
you bastard. that song is going to be in my head all day! i have no shame over liking boston -- if "more than a feeling" comes on the radio WATCH OUT. but rush?? umm, NO. can't get past geddy's voice and, well, i'm not *that* geeky. come to think of it, the only rush fans i've ever known were male. stupid boys. heh.
Alright ... First. Josh Newton, you should be ashamed of yourself - you're basically admitting that when you joined Shiner you hadn't listened to a lick of their music! Of COURSE Allen is a total Rush freak! Look at his command of the Torus pedals!
Next - Steve Reeder, you should be ashamed of yourself! How can you like Jawbox AND Drive Like Jehu and not get into the roots rock that is Rush? And to have a favorite ELP album cover on top of that? For shame!
Last, Debbie Lee, you should be ashamed of yourself! You accuse me of being "*that* geeky," when I know for a fact because I saw it with my own two eyes that you have been in a They Might Be Giants cover band! Now THAT is geeky!
Thank god for the Johns and Joes of the world who GET IT!
Okay, so all the Rush I've ever heard, albeit covertly delivered to me on unlabeled mix-tapes by shady men in dark trenchcoats, I've secretly liked. A lot.
That being said, I must plead ignorance to the vast canon of Rush's work. If one, in the hopes of increasing his nerd rock knowledge, were to take a deep-dive into the realm of Rush, where would one start?
Which albums, for instance, are essential listening? Where does one start an official education in Rush, when they've seemingly released more albums than I have fingers and toes?
Inquiring nerds want to know...
The words of an ashamed, anonymous coward, at
6:55 PM
well, it is always nice to find out that someone, whose opinion you respect, both as musician, and now as a friend, is very much in line with your own. i was a "everything else sucks" punk rock kid, until i realized that there was no reason to discard music i loved before, just becuase it wasn't punk. very liberating indeed.
i too own much of the aformentioned music (boston's first lp on vinyl!). my tastes lean a bit more towards the blusey stuff (led zep, jethro tull, etc.) but the sentiment is the same. i do enjoy the rush. i once sat down and figured out all of 2112. oy.
Next: to the anonymous coward, a great place to start is with one of their most popular records: Moving Pictures. Purists would flog me for that, but in terms of a bridge between the old (rather proggish, totally hobbitish) Rush and the new (a pop band in prog clothing) Rush, you can't beat it. "Tom Sawyer" has become totally cliched by the Wayne's Worlds of the world, but the song is great, as is "Limelight," "Red Barchetta," and the music nerd's piece de resistance, "YYZ." And they remastered it, and it can be got new for like $8 on Amazon.
Going back, you can also pick up Permanent Waves ("Spirit of the Radio" is a classic, as is "Free Will"), and then definitely on to 2112 (the pinnacle for their sci-fi obsession, but no less an interesting record because of it).
Unfortunately, their greatest hits packages tend to load up on post-Moving Pictures-era stuff, which I find too fluffy (although "New World Man" and "Subdivisions" from Signals are good songs). To be honest, I went punk right about that same time, so I got "too cool" to follow the later records the way I religiously jammed on the first 8 records (!).
Once you've been bitten, you should pick up the two live records (they did 4 studio records, then a live record, twice) from the early era. I find live records to be a hard way to get into a band, but once you have a taste, they serve as a good intro to some of the other more obscure records (Hemispheres, Caress of Steel, Farewell to Kings, the debut, Fly By Night, etc.).
Wow. I've never been HUGE into Rush (but I do appreciate the Yes comment), I have a friends who are (my former-soon-to-be-current-again drummer, for example). Geddy Lee's voice was always hard for me to get past (and keep in mind this is coming from a guy who used to listen to Snapcase).
Question: what do you think of the supposed Prog revival? Any of these bands that are being labeled as Prog worth their weight in eight minute songs?
Glad to see I'm nowhere near the only one with a checkered prog past. It's funny...you lost track of Rush just as I hopped the bandwagon ('80s Rush was my period). I find I listen to more harsh, ugly proggish stuff now that the interest is filtered through all the indie stuff, more Red-era King Crimson than Yes. They're not prog per se, but check out Sleepytime Gorilla Museum (especially the live show...true of all the best bands, to be sure). Imagine Tom Waits & The Art Bears covering mid-period King Crimson after ODing on Obituary albums...well, maybe it's better left undescribed.
Anyway, sometimes the prog roots show. Good. It'd be a pretty boring world without conflicting interests and impulses. That said, I'll not be listening to ELP anytime soon. A man has to know his limits.
My drummer loves Rush. Eric, your book should be on "Why Drummers only listen to Rush"! Gee...I donīt think that they deserve that kind of fascination. Iīd rather listen to King Crinsom. It seems that there is some kind of mistery or magic happening on Rushīs music that I really donīt get it. Geddyīs Lee voice is really annoying. The guitar (sometimes, dissonant)chords, often suceeds, but itīs effects are too "modern" in this the post-modern world. That "2112" it sounds really dated to me. The drumming is kind of complex, but I also rather give my aplause to Gang Of Fourīs Hugo Burnham. I understand what Rush may represent to some generation, but to me, they always sucked. Sorry Bill... Rafael Zimath - A Brazilian Jawbox Fan.
Look at you people go! This is by far the most intense discussion ever inspired by a billrant!
There was a question in there somewhere about the "prog revival," to which I have to reply, "Did prog ever really die?" I look back over the years between the heyday of bands like Rush and Yes (let's say, the entire decade of the 70's) and see LOTS of "prog" going on. First, King Crimson continually reinvented itself to adopt new technologies and voices (Adrian Belew, most notably), and had to my mind one of its most exciting periods in the mid-80's (Beat, Discipline, Three of a Perfect Pair).
But check out how long punkers have been progging - Honor Role/Breadwinner, June of 44, Polvo (there's your 8-minute song right there), Chavez, anything with David Grubbs, Rodan, Shiner (sorry, Josh!) et al. - and you'll see that prog never really died, it just got - erm - different. I think prog was often rightly criticized for being overly technical and often soulless, and it was a happy marriage to punk rock that expanded upon some of its most effective attributes - expansive song structures, non-traditional chord voicings, polyrhythmy, improvisation, musicianship. So no revival necessary!
My friend Dave emailed, apropos of nothing and apparently not aware of this thread, with the following bit of random Rushness:
"You've seen High Fidelity, right? And read it too. Nowhere in the book is Rush mentioned. And, nowhere in the movie is Rush heard. In fact, you see a King Crimson record album cover (Discipline), but that's as close as it gets. And yet, in the credits, there's Rush's "Jacob's Ladder."
"Took me forever to figure out where. When Jack Black first enters the store, playing air guitar, he's singing the guitar solo. AWESOME. Secret cred."
Rush is the only prog band I ever favored. I'd nearly forgotten them (have been living with my girlfriend for ten years - 'nuff said), then, sometime this spring, I was seized by the need to hear them, all the time. I had to settle for sound clips on their site, as I didn't own any of their stuff anymore...but it still held up, even their most genteel and multi-chaptered works. The Velvet Underground launched a thousand bands, but I'd guess Rush launched as many more.
Bill. Man, it was funny, a the editor of a commercial blog I contribute to and I got into this massive Rush-geek thing today and then I get an hankerin' to watch the "Savory" video and notice that there's a new rant.
As for Rush, they're the only prog band I ever really got into. Boston's definitely a big no-no to me. But I know back in the day you were a Maiden guy, so maybe you'll appreciate this. "2112" to me, sounds as close as anyone got to the prototypical '80s Maiden sound; the immediate post-DiAnno era. So when all I'd heard before was stuff from the then-current Presto, I was kinda like, "What's the big deal?" Then a friend of mine who was a Rush fanatic lent me 2112 Hoo boy! To this day, there are few pieces of music I rock out harder to than "The Temples of Syrinx." When I'm out and about and randomly hear it, it has the same effect on me as "Run to the Hills," "Search and Destroy," "For Whom the Bell Tolls," "The Last in Line" or "Complete Control."
But once they got to the '80s, forget it. Moving Pictures and Permanent Waves were all right (I'd take them over Boston any day), but hell, even at Hemispheres I felt they were kind of losing it.
By the way, I just have to mention that "By-Tor and the Snow Dog" is one of the most ridiculous songs I still think is good.
By the way, the intro (especially when it cuts into the chordal part) to "Bastille Day" totally sounds like it could've come out of DC any time between '81 and '87. Plus, the drumbeat during the verses is totally a stock '80s punk rhythm. I'd never thought of it that way before. Oh, and that long, multi-tom fils on 2112 are straight up Nicko McBrain classics, going back to the Iron Maiden thing. Drummers and their Peart...sheesh.
I don't know so much Rush, but I'm glad to see a little Boston lovin', even if of the lukewarm variety. They may have been the antithesis of punk, but, c'mon - DON'T LOOK BACK!
Brad Delp is still one of my favourite SINGERS (not vocalists). no one does what he did (and hopefully still does). i'm an old 'prog dog' from way back. can't say that i'm into Dream Theatre though. i like the old school stuff better, mostly the Yes/Genesis/Crimson material. i grew up with Rush as well but if anyone here doesn't know about their sister band MAX WEBSTER, they should find out. old school 70's rock with a sense of humour and a brain. chris
Y'all can chat up rush for another couple of pages if you would like but when it comes to whats going on with music now TLAT is simply an amazing band. Holy Crap!!!! Go see them if you get the opportunity! It is so nice to know that finally someone decided to go back and reclaim the music that everyone else seemed to only want to emulate! They are in my humble opinion clipping the belt back on the rope and hauling this dynamic thing we call music into a new sort of Hope I guess you could call it! Right around where maybe 94 95 96 left off! Some of those songs also remind me of swervedriver and that 4th song!!!! Chills up the spine! Play on Play on baby!
Wow! The moment of anticipation finially arrived and boy oh boy did it deliver! Bill, I hate to be cramming up your rants with obtuse subjects but I do believe this one relates. TLAT - nuff said! I also had the opportunity to read your brief entitled TLAT of TLAT and yeah man the entity of the band is so awesomely beautiful! O.K I am done! I am born again! so to speak. Late
Interesting. I interviewed Jawbox (specifically Bill and J) in Cincinnati at Sudsy Malone's, and I mentioned sometimes having a hard time telling what the song lyrics were about, except Mirrorful really jumped out at me. The meaning of it seemed to be very clear to me. I had just read a book called Lies My Teacher Told Me, and I loved it. I also mentioned that I like Rush's lyrics, too, because the meaning often seemed very clear to me. I remember very specifically Bill laughing at me and saying "Our songs aren't about wizards and unicorns." I mentioned that, first of all, I don't specifically remember any mention of either wizards or unicorns in any of Rush's lyrics, and second, Rush's fantasy period lasted for about 3 years, and that was 20 years ago. This didn't seem to stop Bill from telling me that Rush was just another 70's dinosaur band embarrassing themselves by living in the past. This exchange not only hurt my impressionable feelings a bit, but it also disturbed that an otherwise thoughtful (or so it seemed) individual could be so shallow. It disturbed me that someone who seemed "punk" (in the Mike Watt meaning of the word) could be so closed minded. Now that Bill claims to have Rush as one of his long time guilty pleasures, I am again not sure at all what to think.
I remember when I was a freshman in highschool I "discovered" Rush and was blown away, but at the same time a little leary about letting anyone know of my new found love.
I digressed: One day I was impressing my friends at my house with some Nintendo game when I innocently put some music on in the background. It was "Fly By Night." At first there was silence and everyone was pretending to be paying attention to the game. Suddenly I was hit by it: "Dude, what the f*** is this chick singing about? Are you gay?!"
All the teenage insecurities I had only *heard* about suddenly hit me. Was it possible that ones sexuality could be determined by ones taste in music? *Gasp* I had also enjoyed helping my mom plant flowers as well!
I remember yelling back: "She's not a girl! She's Geddy Lee!" My voiced cracked both times I said "She's." I then fumbled to explain that "she" was a "he." It was pretty bad.
In any case, it turns out that I'm not gay and that some kids just sort of drown in their own search for masculinity... or something.
Anyways, thanks for the great read Bill, and sorry for my boring story.
P.S. You are not a geek until you've listened to (and kept) MIDIs of Sega game music.
