In a way, that hatred is as impressive as the loyalty of their fans. Women famously hate Rush, but most men have hated them just a little less fervently. (Not the band Yes, although they’re in the top twenty.) Rush are easily, beyond any rational dispute, the most intensely despised rock band who ever existed. It’s how hated they are.Īre Rush the most hated band of all time? The answer is simple: yes. And then there are the people who hate Rush just as passionately, who for lack of a better collective noun we can call “the rest of the world.” The singular thing about Rush isn’t how beloved they are. Real Rush fans are the hard-core believers, one of the most doggedly loyal audiences in the business. But casual Rush fans do not really count in the grand scheme of things.
In all these friendly arguments, I developed a real affection for the band, as well as an admiration for their devotees, so I guess I was a casual fan. I was officially opposed to Rush at the time, so I enjoyed goading him about the band’s flaws. Over the years he has kept me up to date on how Rush have revised their philosophy, as their ideas keep changing in response to a world where changes aren’t permanent, but change is.
Rush 2112 album meaning free#
Arun could elaborate the Rush philosophy, with the individual’s struggle to choose free will in a conform-or-be-cast-out world. He explained (Rush fans love explaining things) how the drummer Neil Peart wrote the lyrics, even though bassist Geddy Lee was the one who sang them. I heard tons of Rush in my college dorm, because we all listened to the local rock station WPLR, which apparently stood for “Plays Lotsa Rush.” My Rush friend (every North American male has a “Rush friend”) was Arun, now a neurosurgeon. His squeak-of-the-damned voice made the whole class giggle, as Miss Blake talked us through the libretto and explained the symbolism in “Temples of Syrinx.” We spent all afternoon listening as Miss Blake taught us to appreciate the “rock opera” format by playing us "2112." These songs had a plot, about a future society where music is banned and Geddy Lee defies the elders by learning to play guitar.
Rush 2112 album meaning full#
So I assumed their music was scary older-dude stuff, full of drugs and the occult. The name Rush was also associated with a drug the older kids smuggled into school-bottles of amyl nitrate with a lightning bolt and the word rush on the label. To my surprise, I was the only kid who raised a hand, and even then I’d never heard their actual music: I’d seen the newspaper ad for their latest album, "A Farewell to Kings." I was intrigued by how dangerous the band members looked on the album cover, which probably gives an idea of how dangerous I was. But one week, she happened to ask, “Has anyone heard of a band called Rush?” She usually brought in classical records.
I never thought of her (or any teacher) as a rock & roller. Miss Blake always seemed so mild-mannered, with her corduroy smocks and beaded necklaces and straight black hair. Instead, it gave me a lifelong grudge against wizards. A typical 1978 suburban public school scenario-we studied "2112" in music class, while in English, we spent the whole year studying "Lord of the Rings." Our teacher believed that spending the golden hours of our childhood frolicking through the Shire with orcs and hobbits would make us peace-loving members of an agrarian future society. It was a woman who introduced me to Rush: Miss Blake, my sixth-grade music teacher at Pierce Elementary School.
Excerpted from "Turn Around Bright Eyes: The Rituals of Love and Karaoke"
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