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

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

with some comedy...oooooohh, scarrry!

LOL

Davesax1965 wrote: Hi Steve, you're right, there are no 3 minute songs, etc. However, it all seems so "designed to please a crowd", ie product rather than music. Other posts here have noted that Rush indeed did play to an audience. I think my dislike of 80's Rush is more a dislike of the music of that period in general.

I don't read that...Rush have always been about what they want to do as a band. Not really what fans and certainly the record companies want. If they played and designed to please a crowd, we would have seen more releases like 2112, Hemispheres and AFTK.

The vast majority of Rush fans progressed along with their musical progression into that 80's sound. Their concert crowds and popularity continued to grow during this time and it is when they went to an "Evening with Rush" concert format as fans wanted to hear more, so rather than the 1.5hr show with opening act it is now a 3hr show.

Its fine to dislike that period but I don't believe it is because they designed a sound to please the fans.....That is when bands fall apart, I doubt that ever happens to them.

Clever usage of the ol Trojan horse is my guess.

As for how Rush conquered the 80s etc, well, the mistake people make is to lump them with the other, and older, prog rock bands of the time.  Rush were a bigger influence on prog metal rather than prog rock and even some out and out metal bands like Iron Maiden were influenced by them (especially Somewhere in Time phase).  80s was the heyday of metal so Rush's music comfortably fitted in with the music aesthetics of that time whereas the older prog rock bands found their trademark instruments and tones sounding outdated and out of fashion and were forced to make an adjustment that wasn't very comfortable for most of them.  King Crimson could, but only by completely changing their style to the point where it had almost nothing to do with their 70s output and also including artists like Adrian Belew in the fold who actually knew what to make of the 80s.  Rush were younger than the likes of Yes or Genesis and being a little more on the metal side could make the adjustment more easily.  Even Iron Maiden wrote some really long, though not necessarily prog, tracks in that period so the rules of mainstream rock and pop did not apply to metal.  Same goes for Queenrsyche whose most ambitious phase fell square in the mid-late 80s. 

Given the state of prog in that decade, Rush was not so much the conqueror of the 80s but more like the fly on top of the sh*t.

Davesax1965 wrote: Anything after Moving Pictures leaves me utterly cold. It all smacks of "sell out" to me.

By this logic, they've been a sell-out since before that. They started out playing heavy blues rock in the vain of Led Zeppelin and the Who. The music was popular, so they played it. By 1975, prog was gaining some popularity on this side of the pond, so Rush began releasing some proggy albums. This continues on through the synthy, new wave era of the 80's.

I think Rush took popular sounds and styles and just incorporated it into their own, rather than completely transitioning. Also, Geddy knew how to play piano before Rush was even formed, so to him, the synths and other various were probably really exciting new toys for him to play with, rather than taking them up to streamline their sound.

Anything after Moving Pictures leaves me utterly cold. It all smacks of "sell out" to me. 

Metalmarsh89 wrote: SteveG wrote: Tapfret wrote: This is obviously some definition of conquer which I am heretofore unaware. For the sake of the question, let's imagine that the eighties was the most popular period for Rush. Was?

I'm sorry if I speak of 'general public' generalizations at times, but the early eighties was Rush's most popular era with FM radio singles like New World Man through to Subdivisions and (Heaven forbid) MTV music videos with Gedd even sporting a mullet and skinny tie on Time Stand Still.They also had the record sales to back it up with Permenant Waves and Signals both going 4X platinum each. But if you think I'm incorrect, I'm all ears.







"Doing the right thing is never superfluous."


Edited by SteveG - September 13 2014 at 13:37

Tapfret wrote: This is obviously some definition of conquer which I am heretofore unaware.

For the sake of the question, let's imagine that the eighties was the most popular period for Rush.

Until they sold out.  *cough* The Joshua Tree *cough*