Quote:
Originally Posted by insomniac
I would have nevered guess that you were a Rush fan. They were one of my favorite band growing up. I have been to about 3 of their concerts.
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When I was a tweener, my best friend at the time would play his 2112 LP over & over again. I couldn't stand the singer's high voice. He sounded like a girl! Plus he had posters in his room of them in kimonos, eye make-up, and platform shoes! I was like..."screw them! they ARE girls!".
But then something started to change. In 1981, our local top 40 station, "Hot Hits 98" started playing a track off the new Rush album, Moving Pictures. It was called...Tom Sawyer. I thought...wow! they sound MUCH better than that crap 2112 that Rob plays all the time. Then Rob bought the live album, Exit...Stage Left. He played in constantly! I was really getting into Rush finally! 2112 even started sounding good to me! But then came...Signals.
Signals was the follow-up LP to their multi-platinum selling Moving Pictures. It was very keyboard heavy. Many fans were outraged! I...kinda liked it! But, my buddy would have none of it! Rush was dead! He told me to forget about liking them as they sucked now. The constant sonic barrage at his house was now over. It was on to AC/DC and Van Halen.
At this point, it was 1984 and music had never been that important in my life. I was a geek, who SECRETLY read comics, but NEVER discussed this activity with my friends! Yet, all the other dudes were buying music & it seemed like the chicks dug it, so I went on to purchase my 1st album (which won the Grammy that year...I was so pleased with myself!), TOTO IV. Bad move on my part! TOTO was a dork band, according to the other guys! I didn't know better! I still liked it and was vindicated over time as I came to realize that TOTO was a group of studio musicians that played on some of the biggest albums ever, such as Pink Floyd the Wall and Michael Jackson's Thriller, plus the guitarist was/is Eddie Van Halen's best friend. Anyway...as much as I was loving my TOTO album, something was missing, something that sounded as good, but with a harder edge. I still found myself thinking about Rush & I would always turn up their songs on the radio.
I still remember that day on the Wildwood Boardwalk in the summer of 83. I had won at one of those spinning wheels, where you put your quarter down on the word/number/saying that you think the pointer would land, and the prize was an LP. I really wanted the RUSH album, Signals, but I knew that my friends would mock me. Remember...Rush was a keyboard band now. At that time in my youth, it was very important to be liked by my peers. I was the guy who collected comic books in shame! So, I wound up choosing a more "acceptable" album that my buddies held in high esteem...Journey "Frontiers." When I got home and listened to it, I thought...OK...this has about 3 good songs on it, but...but...it's filled with keyboards & worse yet...there were all these love songs! How could my friends think Journey was cooler than Rush?!?!?!? That's when I began realizing that many people are sheep and they just follow along with the herd all the while patting themselves on the back! I decided, I like Rush! I don't care what these bozos say!
I had a paper route and every week, I would save some money and buy 1 Rush album. The first was Moving Pictures, then Exit...Stage Left, and of course, Signals! I would put my Dad's headphones on and just absorb every note, word, nuance, etc...this was MY band! Screw what everyone else thought! I started buying any magazine that featured an article on them and eventually learned that a lot of their fans were Marvel Comics fans as were Rush themselves! David Anthony Kraft had even dedicated an issue of The Defenders to them! My two worlds had met and I felt...cool!
What cemented my life-long obsession with Rush was that fateful night at 3 in the morning when the local radio station said..."up next is the brand new single from the forthcoming Rush album, Grace Under Pressure....I jumped out of bed, slapped a TDK blank tape in the cassette player & hit record! The DJ announced...this is the 1st single, "Distant Early Warning." I was blown away! I LOVED it!!! I played that tape over and over and over again! I was there at the store on release day to buy RUSH - Grace Under Pressure. The madness was cemented and I never looked back!
Remember now, this was 1984...who would have thought that in 2008, my favorite band would still be releasing top of the chart albums and be one of the highest grossing touring acts in the world? And they would achieve this by being largely ignored by the media, such as Rolling Stone, MTV, top 40 radio, etc...I really got lucky! I watched my friends bands come & go, burn out & fade away, become irrelevant old men, or just die. All the while my guys are playing stronger and better than ever! I took my brother last night. He hadn't been to a Rush concert since 1987's Hold Your Fire tour. He couldn't believe how good they still were and how much better they were than all the other bands he's seen in recent years! That made it all worthwhile to me!
I learned through Rush's music to be an individual and be proud of who I was and what I liked. I stopped hiding the fact that I collected comic books and loved to draw. I was able to finally speak up when others put me down or pushed me around. Rush made it cool to be a geek! Again, I'm so lucky at 39 years old to still have my teenage fav band still alive, healthy, and strong. Hopefully, it'll stay that way for many more years!