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

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.

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

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So Bands like Yes Genesis and Gaint,was more "outdated" at the time, than Bands like Rush Floyd Jethro, because they had allways been more rooted in Rock, and Rock was not "outdated".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

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

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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.