Rush and Philosophy: Heart and Mind United

Chicago: Open Court, 2011 – edited by Berti and Bowman

Introduction: Why Rush? – Jim Berti and Durrell Bowman

“Listen to My Music, and Hear What It Can Do”

Here’s a book about the progressive/hard rock band Rush, written for a general audience and geared towards issues concerning popular culture and philosophy. Rush now joins the ranks of dozens of TV shows, movies, musicians, and others who have also been treated “philosophically”—such as Seinfeld, The Simpsons, The Matrix, the Beatles, and baseball. The band has largely remained outside of the mainstream, but it has also maintained a very large “cult” following, perhaps of “Rush-ians.” Rush usually preferred to keep a low profile, and the band often stayed away from the typical frenzy of popular stardom. However, for those people who have not always found lasting value in other forms of popular culture (not that there’s anything wrong with them) and thus remained on the fringes of popularity and/or success (“freaks,” “nerds,” “uncool,” etc.), Rush has offered a veritable lifeline, helping many to feel that it is OK to be different from the majority.

Some people have characterized Rush as a “thinking man’s band.” Despite often updating specific aspects of its approach, the band maintained a remarkably consistent, “individualist” mission and purpose over several decades. The group has done this partly through its virtuosic and structurally complex music and partly by calling attention to social, political, cultural, technological, and scientific issues. In fact, Rush achieved its most lasting artistic successes when it addressed such themes not only in its lyrics, but also in its music. Through the blending of “thoughtful” lyrics and “progressive/hard” music, Rush’s style triggers in its fans an unusual combination of air-drumming, air-guitar, singing along, and fist-pumping with a type of thoughtful reflection that does not often typify hard rock music. Conversely, Rush’s style often triggers in non-fans a highly-negative response, including dismissive words of dislike or even of passionate hatred. Rush may thus be for you a band you “love to love” or a band you “love to hate,” but in either case (or neither) you should be able to learn something from this book about philosophy, ideas, history, culture, and music. This book was not written by Rush fans trying to make you like their favorite band. (Thousands of Rush fans already try to do that on the internet.) Rather, it was written by an assortment of people who usually write and/or teach about other types of topics (philosophy, music history, etc.), but who have also found that there are quite useful threads for discussion within Rush’s lyrics and music.

For those of you not familiar with Rush, a brief overview may be in order. Rush began in Toronto, Ontario, Canada in 1968, with 15-year-old high school students who performed songs by Cream, Jimi Hendrix, Elvis Presley, Buffalo Springfield, and others. By the time the trio began recording in 1973, its repertoire included original songs that stylistically combined aspects of Led Zeppelin’s British “eclectic” hard rock with U.S. “blues and boogie” hard rock, such as KISS and ZZ Top. When drummer-lyricist Neil Peart replaced original drummer John Rutsey in 1974, Rush also began to explore elements of the structural, metrical, and lyrical complexity of British progressive rock. In the following decades, Geddy Lee’s virtuosic bass playing and countertenor singing style, Alex Lifeson’s emotive electric guitar riffs and solos, and Neil Peart’s elaborate drumming and lyrics endured as the central features of Rush’s sound.

Given the band’s virtual lack of Top 40 success in the U.S. (1982’s “New World Man” reached No. 21), its strong album sales, and its interest in performing the music of those albums live, Rush has subtly and continuously served as the very definition of “album-oriented rock” (AOR). This context includes the band’s album Moving Pictures (1981), which features such well-known “album rock” songs as “Tom Sawyer” and “Limelight.” By 2010, fans in various countries—especially the U.S. and Canada, but also the U.K., Germany, Japan, Brazil, and elsewhere—had purchased 45 million copies of Rush’s 33 albums (including live albums and anthologies) and probably at least 15 million of the band’s concert tickets. Twenty-four of Rush’s albums sold in the U.S. at gold, platinum, or multi-platinum sales levels (a total of 43 album certifications), ranging from a half-million copies to four million copies sold of each of those albums. Rush resonates widely for musician-fans and others interested in structural complexity, individualism, and a much wider range of literary and stylistic influences than is usually acknowledged by rock critics and others. The group has explored such genres as heavy metal and hard rock, progressive and synth-rock, and post-progressive “power trio,” along with various secondary influences. However, the band has also wandered among such lyrical interests as relationships, fantasy-adventure, classical mythology, European and world history, science-fiction, libertarianism, atheism, science, and technology.

This book was not assembled to change your views about Rush. Instead, it is meant for those who love to think, question, and reflect—and for those who are comfortable in their own skin, even if they fall outside of the “mainstream.” As you read, try to think of each chapter as part of an ongoing dialogue, perhaps akin to Rush’s own approach. Don’t hesitate to break down each chapter and to think about how an author’s subject matter or interpretation may apply to you, individually. The book explores the meaning of selected musical and lyrical passages found in Rush’s music, and its “philosophical” fields of inquiry unite it with its siblings in this series. Even if you have strong, existing views about Rush, the book provides a multi-faceted platform in which you might reconsider certain subject areas or specific topics (a song, an album, etc.) or to increase your general appreciation of Rush’s contributions to musical culture. The book might even help you come to an acceptance that being different—like Rush—is not necessarily a bad thing.