Rush: How did they conquer the 80's with integrity

I think it all come down to the kind of Prog. Is was mainly the Symphonic prog, that got out of fasion by the end of the 70's.

So Bands like Yes Genesis and Gaint,was more "outdated" at the time, than Bands like Rush Floyd Jethro, because they had allways been more rooted in Rock, and Rock was not "outdated". The transition was easier for them, if it was better music, is a matter of taste.

Personaly im not the biggest fan of : Grace Under Pressure, Hold Your Fire. Presto i dont know.

Edited by tamijo - September 12 2014 at 11:53

Catcher10 wrote: ^ I am not holding on to anything as there is nothing you posted worth holding on to...so I am good.

Long live RUSH!

Edited by Rednight - September 12 2014 at 16:52

Catcher10 wrote: Rednight wrote: Prog_Traveller wrote: [How all perfectly smug. And Mad Man Moon is played to death on FM radio, second only to Bad Company's Rock and Roll Fantasy. And what is the proggiest song on 'Tail', hmm? I'd love to hear your answer. Also, name your post-Gabriel epic for the band-I'm all eyes.] Well I don't know where you live but I have NEVER heard "mad man moon" on FM radio. Maybe you are thinking of "follow you follow me." That is the one that gets over played. As for favorite post Gabriel epic my vote might go to Dukes Travel's/Dukes End although there are a few. At one point "home by the sea/second home by the sea" was my favorite Genesis song period. Now it's lucky if it makes my top twenty. Anyway, how did we get on the topic of Genesis. I thought this was about RUSH. The topic of Genesis was breached when the Rush guy wrote that Mad Man Moon reflected Phil Collins' "pop side." And, no, I've never heard Mad Man Moon played on regular rotation FM radio either (that was facetiousness). Mad Man Moon, in fact, was the grand statement of a classically great album (their best post-Gabriel one, IMHO) that graced our ears at just the right time. "Night guy"..Did you pay attention to the OP?? He specifically mentions both Genesis and Yes...You took it to another level by asking people what their fav song on ATOtT is and also post Gabriel song, sorry Gabe-Meister My points in using Genesis and Yes were to reply to Steve G.....read the OP again, I think you should "night guy".

Let it go, Catch', let it go.

Rednight wrote: Prog_Traveller wrote: [How all perfectly smug. And Mad Man Moon is played to death on FM radio, second only to Bad Company's Rock and Roll Fantasy. And what is the proggiest song on 'Tail', hmm? I'd love to hear your answer. Also, name your post-Gabriel epic for the band-I'm all eyes.] Well I don't know where you live but I have NEVER heard "mad man moon" on FM radio. Maybe you are thinking of "follow you follow me." That is the one that gets over played. As for favorite post Gabriel epic my vote might go to Dukes Travel's/Dukes End although there are a few. At one point "home by the sea/second home by the sea" was my favorite Genesis song period. Now it's lucky if it makes my top twenty. Anyway, how did we get on the topic of Genesis. I thought this was about RUSH. The topic of Genesis was breached when the Rush guy wrote that Mad Man Moon reflected Phil Collins' "pop side." And, no, I've never heard Mad Man Moon played on regular rotation FM radio either (that was facetiousness). Mad Man Moon, in fact, was the grand statement of a classically great album (their best post-Gabriel one, IMHO) that graced our ears at just the right time.

"Night guy"..Did you pay attention to the OP?? He specifically mentions both Genesis and Yes...You took it to another level by asking people what their fav song on ATOtT is and also post Gabriel song, sorry Gabe-Meister

My points in using Genesis and Yes were to reply to Steve G.....read the OP again, I think you should "night guy".

Prog_Traveller wrote: [How all perfectly smug. And Mad Man Moon is played to death on FM radio, second only to Bad Company's Rock and Roll Fantasy. And what is the proggiest song on 'Tail', hmm? I'd love to hear your answer. Also, name your post-Gabriel epic for the band-I'm all eyes.] Well I don't know where you live but I have NEVER heard "mad man moon" on FM radio. Maybe you are thinking of "follow you follow me." That is the one that gets over played. As for favorite post Gabriel epic my vote might go to Dukes Travel's/Dukes End although there are a few. At one point "home by the sea/second home by the sea" was my favorite Genesis song period. Now it's lucky if it makes my top twenty. Anyway, how did we get on the topic of Genesis. I thought this was about RUSH.

The topic of Genesis was breached when the Rush guy wrote that Mad Man Moon reflected Phil Collins' "pop side." And, no, I've never heard Mad Man Moon played on regular rotation FM radio either (that was facetiousness). Mad Man Moon, in fact, was the grand statement of a classically great album (their best post-Gabriel one, IMHO) that graced our ears at just the right time.

In the late seventies and early eighties Rush were viewed by many as a hard rock and heavy metal band. They had a prog following also but I'd say a lot of people who were fans of heavier stuff also were fans. This meant that they had to please more than one kind of fan. However, RUSH were and still are very much their own band and did what they wanted to do. They were open to new ideas and experimenting with different textures, themes and sounds. RUSH didn't do the same album twice like a lot of bands seem to do. Because they were able to take control of themselves without worrying about what the record label thought they didn't have to put out hit singles. Why were they able to do this when Genesis and Yes weren't? I'm not really sure and I don't think there is a definitive answer to that. It might have something to do with the fact that bands who are heavier or at least have a reputation of being heavier aren't expected to be commercial sounding or have hits. How many hits did Iron Maiden, Metallica, Black Sabbath and Judas Priest have in their early days? Even Led Zeppelin weren't exactly known as a top forty band.

Edited by Prog_Traveller - September 10 2014 at 11:34

Tail is bad in general. Either of the first songs on Wind and Wuthering is better than anything on Tail. In either the scope of progressiveness or just honest song quality. 

Edited by Horizons - September 10 2014 at 09:09

HolyMoly wrote: I think at the time, Rush's embrace of 80s sounds was viewed pretty negatively, at least I was a bit turned off by it (especially when Power Windows came out, I thought they had gone too far with that one).  The difference is really how well it has aged.  With the passage of time, the Rush 80s stuff has held up very well.  I think this may have to do with the the fact that their music, even when heavily synthesized, was not done so in a trivial or superficial way.  The arrangements still had the same depth and sophistication  they had before, maybe even more depth.  In 1985, all I heard was "KEYBOARDS! AAUGH!" but now I hear it as creative orchestration.  Yes, on the other hand (not to pick on them, but just using your example), used 80s sounds in a much more "novelty" oriented way.  It didn't feel as genuine and as well integrated into the musical ideas like Rush's did.

Rednight wrote:   As for Mad Man Moon reflecting some kind of "pop side," FOOEY! The song is perhaps the proggiest number on A Trick of the Tail, argueably Collins' finest vocal performance on record, and the band's greatest epic since the departure of the Gabe-Meister.

Catcher10 wrote: I think Genesis departed more from their 70's roots than Rush did. Loosing two main members, it seems Genesis had to do something to keep going. We all know Phil Collins has a pop side to him (More Fool Me, Mad Man Moon, Follow You Follow Me) and he took over as the flavor of Genesis, but they did it well enough to attract another legion of fans. To me Yes with 90125 and Big Generator, were closer to what Rush did but Yes were more commercially accepted, by that I mean on the FM radio. Rush still did not dominate the FM radio waves, but only with Tom Sawyer and Spirit of Radio, the rest of the success was still via album sales and droves of under ground fans, mainly the prog community. Back then it seemed if you dominated the FM dial PLUS music videos on MTV, you were a commercial pop success. Gosh, I remember seeing the Yes videos played over and over and over...Rush not into music videos. Bottom line I think Rush incorporated the "new wave 80s" sound into their music just enough to keep it fresh but not fall off the edge like people view Genesis and Yes did. Rush lyrics were still based on albums like Hemispheres, AFTK and 2112....whereas Genesis and Yes were writing more about love and feelings, emotions and relationships. The Police and these other new wave bands had that in their lyrics, but Rush picked up on the music side, the sound that they were making and incorporated that into their 80's albums. The progressive and hard rock/metal fans obviously liked it and made them some of their best selling albums....There is some amazing music on those albums.

As for Mad Man Moon reflecting some kind of "pop side," FOOEY! The song is perhaps the proggiest number on A Trick of the Tail, argueably Collins' finest vocal performance on record, and the band's greatest epic since the departure of the Gabe-Meister.