Your Top 10 Rush Songs
 

Here's mine (presently)

1. Presto
2. Bravado
3. Marathon
4. Armor and Sword
5. Time Standstill
6. Prime Mover
7. Mission
8. Second Nature
9. Faithless
10. Xanadu

I marvel at how great these 3 guys are....in my opinion only U2 matches their staying power over the years.

And I'm glad Steve Lillywhite never got his paws on Rush. He was scheduled to produce either Power Windows or Hold Your Fire but backed out at the last minute(to go work with U2 apparently), much to the disdain of Geddy Lee. But Lillywhite never could have been productive with Rush, as much as I appreciate his contributions with U2

only u2 matches their staying power?

well, i might not like what u2 has to offer these days, but their staying power is far beyond any comparison to what rush have done.

i mean seriously.

rush appeal to their fan base, and... quite literally, noone else (including their family and closest friends).

responsible parents don't let their children listen to or look at photos of geddy lee, and their music has aged terribly over time.

how can anyone listen to the song "in the mood" or whatever it's called, and not cringe or at least laugh their ass off?

picturing geddy lee singing those lyrics... somehow decipherable through his rodent voice makes the bottom of my feet hurt. you ever get that sensation when you're really uncomfortable with something?

ah well.

sorry about that.

if you like them, good on you. there's actually a fair number of fans who'll show up now and give me a right proper slating.

See kids, THAT's funny. Not very hospitable, but funny.

What's funny, is you have a picture of Patrick Swazye in "Roadhouse" under your name! What's the matter with you?

As for, the Rush hater in the first reply.... You clearly have no idea what you're talking about. Rush continues to make music thats as relevant as anything you'll hear from a band that's been playing 30 plus years. I'm the biggest U2 fan on Earth, and Rush is a distant 3rd on my list behind U2 and the Boss...but Rush BLOWS AWAY BOTH of the aformentioned outfits in musicianship. No greater 3 piece in the world of rock n roll.

When it comes to musical talent...

Geddy Lee is a god among men, not only for his "rodent voice" but his evil bass skills. Bono whored out his voice a decade ago. Geddy still sounds like he's 18.

Alex Lifeson makes The Edge look like William Hung.

And Neil Peart...we needn't even go there.

you're right, you changed my mind.
what was i thinking.

for a minute i thought you were talking about this band:
https://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=ZcfnGaX-BdQ

if you don't like rush get out of this thread and go listen to Muse or some other derivative radiohead ripoff shit...

in the meantime, here is my top ten:

1. Prime Mover
2. Spirit of Radio
3. Available Light
4. The Pass
5. Xanadu
6. A Farewell to Kings
7. The Big Money
8. Closer to the Heart (any live version)
9. Red Barchetta
10. Show Don't Tell

i could probably keep going. they're simply fucking amazing. they keep doing it, they have incredible chemistry, each man is essential to the band, their body*of work is fantastic. Sure, they made some clunkers, but every band does. their best songs are killer, they're fun, and they love their fans. the whole point is to make music that you love and hopefully your fans love. to knock a band for only being loved by the people that love them is simply stupid beyond further discussion. clearly, you don't like rush. kindly leave.
poo on the naysayers...

very well, but muse is awful. "derivative radiohead ripoff shit" is not my thing.

Well said, my friend. Well said!

If people wish to keep this thread going by contributing positively to the topic, that's wonderful. Everybody else...I think there's been enough negativity here. LastEdgeOnEarth started a nice thread on Rush, and I would appreciate if it wouldn't get ruined.

I'm not a Rush hater, but the staying power of U2? Come on, you have to realize that's a stretch. A big stretch.

I'll give you they are great musicians, but I'm not sure about your definition of relevance, I don't think Rush have been relevant since 1989...

Ok, time to revise my list...

1. Presto
2. Bravado
3. Marathon
4. Mission
5. Armor and Sword
6. Time Standstill
7. Prime Mover
8. Second Nature
9. Faithless
10. Xanadu

Moved up "Mission" because I just learned the chords and because it's a showcase of Geddy's beautiful melodies!

Well I'm a huge lover of Rush! Coming up with only 10 songs is tough. Here is the list:

1. La Villa Strangiato
2. The Camera Eye
3. Xanadu
4. By-Tor and the Snow Dog
5. Mission
6. Cygnus X-1 book 2
7. The Analog Kid
8. A Farewell to Kings
9. The Fountain of Lamneth (embarrasing but I like this one)
10. The Trees

Anyway, I think Rush does have just about the staying power of U2. Most of their contemporaries are playing county fairs and Rush are still playing arenas.

Amen to that, my friend! Also, people forget how many Top 10 singles they've had in the mainstream rock charts over the years. Many many... at least 1 from every album going back to the late 70's.

And nice pick with "The Camera Eye"! Great tune and the last of their "epic" songs period! I'd love to hear it live!

Not only just playing arenas, but they still have the energy to play 3 hour shows, and almost always find something in their back catalog that hasn't been played in years and unlike at aU2 show where huge % of 'fans' go get a beer or go 'WTF is THAT' during oldies like An Cat Dubh the Rush fans actually appreciate the older and more obscure songs being played.

The video screens Rush took around with them last tour were a thing of beauty, comparing them to U2s 'lights on a string' in terms of effect were like comparing HDTV to your grandparents' black and white TV. And tickets were about half of what U2 tickets were.

I'd like to see U2 have enough of a sense of humor to use South Park in their show........

https://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=O4nkbru2wXo

I love you man!

Or Jerry Stiller!!!

That's good :) More groups should do stuff like that.

Well, I'm not a big Rush fan, but I can come up with a list.

2112
The Trees
Subdivisions
Something for Nothing
Closer to the Heart
Witch Hunt
New World Man
Spirit of the Radio

Saw the Moving Pictures tour......... was underwhelmed, so I haven't been back :shrug: But we did have a lot of fun with 2112 back in college

Prime Mover
The Pass
War Paint
Red Barchetta
The Spirit Of Radio
The Analog Kid
Kid Gloves
Limelight
Marathon
Available Light

Yeah, or Garth on drums! :wink:

Lol - they are very divisive.

I have a love/hate thing going with them. Well, more like a like/meh thing. They're still played like crazy on Canadian classic rock stations. Every 5 years or so, I'll go on a Rush binge for a couple of days, and then I'll have had my fill for the next 5 years. I had to reach to come up with even 10 songs, but out of those, there are a couple that I absolutely love that I'm in the mood for at any time (those are asterisked):


Fly By Night
Lakeside Park*
The Spirit of Radio
Closer To The Heart
Cinderella Man
Subdivisions*
Distant Early Warning
Ghost of a Chance*
Time Stand Still
Battlescar (a collaboration they did circa 1980 with another Canadian band, Max Webster)

As you can see by the list, I'm not overly fond of anything by them that's too prog-y.

I'm suprised then that you don't have more of their radio-friendly, poppier stuff from the 80's on your list. I bet you would enjoy alot of the material from Power Windows/Hold Your Fire/Presto...and even into the 90's with Roll The Bones.
My list is UN-prog stuff(except Xanadu). Check it out!

well there's a difference between a 1-time-just-for-MTV thing and having it be a staple of your set. Rush incorporates a lot of stuff like tha tin their set, and as for them being 'relevant', what's the yardstick and who gets to make that call ? Certainly no one here !

Of those three late 80's albums you mentioned, there's really not much that appeals to me other than Time Stand Still. Roll The Bones has a few more songs I like on it.

I think much of the problem is, here in Canada (well, Ontario specifically, not sure of the rest of the country), they're played to death on classic rock radio, and not just a few of their hits, but a fairly wide range of all eras of the material. When you've listened to decades of it, I think it leads to listener fatigue for many of the songs.

I hear ya on overplay. Though I wish I had Canadian radio sometimes, because we don't enough of the Rush nuggets down here.
Just Tom Sawyer over and over!

In fact, as a kid I hated Rush because thats all I heard was Tom Sawyer.

The I saw "A Show Of Hands" concert on my satelitte and loved all those I'd never heard before and been hooked ever since.

Time Standstill is a great song off of Hold Your Fire, but that's only my 4th favorite on the album after Mission, Prime Mover, and Second Nature

That's the everlasting question, isn't it?

If that's all I'd ever heard of them, I'd hate them, too. I have an almost violent reaction to that album, because of its connection to an ex. :angry:

Natural Science
Jacob's Ladder
Circumstances
Earthshine
The Twilight Zone
Vital Signs
Losing It (underrated!)
The Enemy Within
Cygnus X-1
Cygnus X-1: Book Two - Hemispheres

Well, one answer could be that if one finds them relevant, they indeed are.

Just a thought.

No particular order. . .

1. Fly By Night
2. Tom Sawyer
3. YYZ (7-minute drum solo version)
4. Distant Early Warning
5. The Spirit of Radio
6. Subdivisions
7. Closer to the Heart
8. Red Barchetta
9. Limelight
10. The Body Electric