Chapter I: Only Fools Rush In
Rush is one of those bands that I find myself loving more and more as I (and they) get older. I know. Weird right? Well let me explain a bit. The first time I ever heard Rush was as a young dude back in, oh let’s say 1985 or so? I had picked up one of those old school K-Tel (remember those?) compilations at the local K-Mart called White Hot: Masters of Metal. When I was a kid, these compilations were awesome because for one low price, I could find that I love Dio era Black Sabbath, discover a new (to me) band such as Triumph or Krokus and discover that Slade (even though Quiet Riot covered a couple of their songs) sucked. Anyways, what was I saying?
Oh yeah, White Hot. So I picked up this cassette and I vividly remember to this day popping that into the cassette player and among the metal of Black Sabbath, Krokus, and Quiet Riot was a distinctly different and unique sounding song. That song was called “Distant Early Warning” by Rush and I remember thinking that while it didn’t sound like metal, I really liked it. Matter of fact, I loved it and something about that song piqued my little developing 12 year old rock n’ roll brain. I was fascinated that they used keyboards but still sounded heavy. I was fascinated by the time changes in the song ( I had just started playing music myself so I was paying attention to this kind of stuff) and the singer’s voice. My god it was so high and kind of weird but again, something about it clicked with me and I wanted more. I went and bought the whole album Grace Under Pressure but after listening to it I just didn’t get it. The rest of the songs just didn’t click with me and I was pretty bummed. I found out that the band had nine fucking albums before this one. NINE! How the hell was I going to know what to listen to?
Maybe Rush was just a little too much for my young self to grasp onto at that time. As the years would go by, I would find myself being a fan of certain Rush songs that would frequent the local rock radio station. “Spirit of Radio”, “Fly by Night”, “Limelight”, “Tom Sawyer”, “Working Man”, these were all songs that I would hear and every time I heard them I loved them but something kept me from going in all the way. Something kept me from going through that mysterious door that none of my friends would dare go. None of my friends were into Rush so it wasn’t like I had an outlet to ease me into them or to truly allow me to submerge myself into those waters without a lifeline. I just couldn’t go there on my own but that would all change in 1989 with the release of an album that changed the way I would look at music forever.
Chapter II: Nowhere is the dreamer or the misfit so alone
I remember after school one day in 1989 sitting around and doing my homework in front the TV as always impatiently awaiting the Hard 60 on MTV. The Hard 60 was a daily after school show on MTV that played 60 minutes of nothing but hard rock and metal. While the usual “hits” of the day like Warrant, White Lion, and Winger would dominate the show, there were always these little dirty little diamonds that would shine through the rough and one of these diamonds came in the form of the Rush video for “Show Don’t Tell.” From the minute that intro kicked in can vividly remember stopping everything I was doing. I listened to every single lyric, I watched in awe at these dorky looking guys just ripping shit up and the suddenly a light went off in the attic of my mind. This is Rush. Is THIS what people were feeling early on that I just wasn’t? Well, better late to the party then never because from there I was hooked and when I picked up the album Presto, I was sold. While none of my friends dug this I couldn’t care less as I just felt completely moved by this album. Maybe a year later Rush released their compilation Chronicles and it was there that the doors were opened for me. Chronicles was (and is) a perfect mix of songs spanning Rush’s long career that was easy for me to digest allowing me to dip my toes into those progressive complex waters.
The waters of this progressive ocean seemed to be kind of scary and intimidating but this collection of songs made me feel less intimidated but it only took one, ONE song to truly captivate me. That song was “Subdivisions.”
Subdivisions
In the high school halls
In the shopping malls
Conform or be cast out
I picked up the DVD for Rush’s Clockwork Angels tour and as I settled into watch it, the opening song “Subdivisions” filled the room and a chill went up my spine. The hairs on my arm stood at full attention and I immediately felt a tear run down my face. There they were. Rush had come full circle making their way back to the forefront of my life. It was just like running into an old friend that even though you haven’t seen in many years, it was like no time had passed. Song after song, it was like we were catching up on lost time, reminiscing on the old days, and reconnecting a friendship that had somewhat faded but never fully gone away even after almost 30 years.
It’s been great having Rush back to playing such a big part in my life again. Not only have I been loving those songs that I loved so much all these years but I’m also completely loving the fact that I am connecting to aspects of Rush that I just never connected with even early on. There’s something truly magical and special about finding a connection like that and it’s like opening a door to a room that you never knew existed in a house that you’ve lived in all your life. This is an exciting time for me to be a Rush fan and those waters that were once so intimidating and scary are more welcoming and exciting as I ever hoped they could be. These days I have friends who share my love for this band and can serve as not only guides but as partners in my journey deep into the complex, intricate, and exciting world known as Rush.
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