Your first Rush experience

[Blacky]

Just wondering what particular event/song/thing/happening made you investigate Rush in the first place.

 

I'd heard a little about Rush and being a fan of Yes and other crusty prog bands, some of the articles I read seemed to mention Rush in the same breath. The first ever song I heard was New World Man but what really hooked me was seeing the video for The Big Money on the "Whistle Test" in the UK and watching Lerxst being interviewed shortly after. I soon added Power Windows to my collection and have never looked. Incidentally, I've heard mainly negative views about this album. IMOH, it's full of great songs, just a little over-produced. A typical 80's album you might say.....

 

[Blacky]

Sorry, should have said "....never looked BACK.."

[rickyrob]

Welcome to the forum

 

My first song was Cygnus X-1 which I first heard in 1978. Went to see them not long after and invested in Hemispheres and 2112 soon after that. The rest is history.

[circumstantial tree]

The first thing I ever heard by Rush was "Vital Signs", which I saw on MTV back in spring of 1982. I turned on MTV somewhere halfway through the tune and thought the band was Supertramp, until I saw the credits at the end of the song.

 

My response: Yeah, I like this tune. It was a good mix of hard rock and new wave. Both of these genres dominated the airplay on MTV at the time with bands like AC/DC, Judas Priest, and Iron Maiden to bands like Talking Heads, Police, B52's, and Flock of Seagulls.

 

Next I began seeing "Tom Sawyer" on MTV as well as Red Barchetta and Limelight. At that time I was only interested in Tom Sawyer of those three tunes and thought the other two songs were "OK"

 

It was then that I added Rush to my list of favorite bands (which included Journey as my most favorite, Jefferson Starship, and Pat Benatar)

 

But it was seeing the world premiere of Subdivisions on MTV that really grabbed me. I got Signals on Christmas Day, 1982 and became "hooked", and really liking Analog Kid and Digital Man from first listen.

[invisibleairwaves]

A family friend recommended them "You haven't heard real rock music if you haven't heard " Turns out I had already heard Closer to the Heart and Lakeside Park on the radio, I just didn't know who it was by.

[Romi - The Bringer of Love]

I started listening to Rush in my cousin's house, nowadays he's a medical doctor but doesn't do brain surgeries , mainly in Geddy, anyway, he's also a drummer and very fond of Neil Peart , he introduced me Rush, I used to stay there watching him playing the drums following Neil's steps, it impressed me so deeply that I became a fanatic for ever since, my first most favorite song was Subdvisions, he had an old Chevrolet model Caravan, and we went cruising listening to Subdvisions very loud , how it was delightful , I just can't describe through words, to this day, Subdivisions makes my mind , it was about 20 years ago.

[rushstarboy37]

My first experience was hearing tom sawyer, limelight and the spirit of radio on the radio, but i never knew the spirit of radio was called that until way later.

 

but one day after I heard rush on the radio again I was like, who is this? I need to get a cd. so sure enough I asked my parents if they had any rush cd's cause we like the same kind of music, and they had moving pictures, so I got that one off my parents. That was the first rush cd i ever had. then i spent forever trying to figure out what the spirit of the radio was, so i bought retrospective, but i accidently bought vol. 2 so later on I bought vol.1 and relized that it was called that. then I heard summertime blues on the radio and bought feedback, then rush in rio and i've been adding on ever since. those last 3 i all bought within like a week of eachother and the first 2 i just sort of had lying around for awhile until i started listening to the band more. and now they are on m top 5 favorit ebands list.

[Dweezil]

[Slaine mac Roth]

I'm pretty sure I've told this story here before but, what the hell, one more time won't hurt.

 

Let me see, it was back in 1979 and I was 12 and had just started getting into rock music (at the time, my favourite bands were Motorhead, Genesis and the Eagles - how's that for a mixture) when my sister came home and thrust a cassette at me saying I had to listen to it.

 

Well, I put it on and absloutely hated it. The tape was Hemispheres and, in my defence, it was a really poor copy that sounded as if someone had held a condesor mic against a mono cassette deck and taped it. There was no bass, half the guitar and drums was missing and so much hiss that it sounded like Radio Luxembourg on a car radio while going through a tunnel (anyone who lived in the UK in the 60s/70s will probably remember how bad Radio Luxembourg reception was).

 

Anyway, a few weeks later she came home again and thrust an album at me by the same band. Naturally, I turned my nose up but she kept on at me to give it a listen. Eventually, I capitulated, largely attracted by the cover.

 

The album was 2112 and I was blown away. No so long after, Spirit of Radio was released as a single and I was hooked.

[Arndrake]

For me it was the video for Distant Early Warning in 1984.

 

Being newly introduced to rock and to music videos after having had to spend my earlier childhood only hearing country music (damn stepfather, I still hate country to this day), I was very intrigued by the sound and the message of the video. After all, many of us were a bit cynical about the future with Ronnie heating up the Cold War.

 

I had also seen the video for Tom Sawyer but didn't pay much attention to the song (foolish me). Afterward, I heard The Big Money on the radio, then Time Stand Still, but I didn't purchase my first album until 1988.

 

While stationed in Orlando, occasionally I would hear the Rush Hour on Q-96. "When you need Rush, you need Q-96 FM." This intrigued me, so I decided to get a CD. The first one I grabbed was Moving Pictures, then A Show Of Hands right after.

[Superbaldguy]

In the late spring of 1980, a somg named "The Spirit of Radio" was #1 on a local radio station and I sort was curious about this Canadian band called Rush, as some people told me they were pretty good. I remember in June of that year, I bought Permanent Waves while staying at a friend's house who had a nice stereo system.

 

I bascially played that LP all weekend, and it sounded better and better each time it was played. I sort of forgot about being with my buddy. After I got home, I continued to listen to PM and came to the realization that RUSH ARE AN AWESOME ROCK BAND!!!!!!!!!!

 

A few months later, a poor 17-year-old boy had all their albums to that time.

 

I remember waiting with great anticipation to get Moving Pictures in 1981, the year I graduated from high school. Wow. I literally wore out one LP of that and promptly bought a second.

 

You can only imagine how *happy* I was when CD's started coming out and I soon sold off my Rush LP collection to my cousin for almost nothing and replaced them with CD's.

 

Anyway, that's about it. I was fortunate enough to see the boys on the HYF tour in November 1988, the last time they were east of Montreal.

 

[Want2bLikeBrutus]

Lets see...Walkmans were all the rage...so must have been '83 or '84?? Just got the thing but didnt have any of "my" music to play on it so I got one of those K-Tel (oh dont look at me like that, you had them too!!) and New World Man was on there. Had no clue or taste then (some would say still!!). Then my freshman year in college (1990) one of the guys on my floor who I hung out with a lot right around 4:20 was playing some CD and I'm like Hey I know that song!! Aint looked back since!!!!!!!!!

[GhostGirl]

Welcome to TRF, Want2b...what an AWESOME name! Yeah, I'd like to be like Brutus, too...riding bikes with Neil and hanging out.

 

Anyhoo...make yourself at home. Great to have you here.

[Drumnut]

The first time I heard Rush was the day my brother borrowed 2112 from a friend on a Friday after school back in 1976. He put it on the turntable and it played for the whole weekend only stopping to turn it over at the end of a side.

[pingling]

My adventure with Rush started in 1990/1991 with "Presto". One of Polish radio stations had a programme in which new and old records of various bands were presented (i.e. played from beginning to end so that you could record them - this was our main source of "Western" music in the communist era). "Presto" was one of them and I found it recorded on one of my Dad's cassettes. Rush? What the hell is it? I played it couple of times and even liked it - a strange voice and a strange "dry" sound of music. Different from all the pop/"soft-metal" I listened to at that time.

 

Few years passed. One of the hits on a Z-rock 50 is "Nobody's Hero". They say it's Rush. Hmmmm.... I've hear that name before... And then I remembered where. I dug out the old cassette with "Presto", listened to it again and I thought - "is this really the same band"? Nevertheless I bought the "Counterparts" cassette to check other songs and... I listened to it countless times In the same year a big article about Rush appeared in a Polish rock magazine presenting also the full Rush discography with a short description of every record. Using it as a guide I bought "2112" CD . And then it really started - next month "A Farewell to Kings" then "Hemispheres"... until I finally got all their records Some of them I love and some of them not but still Rush is one of my favourite bands.

[Drumnut]

Welcome to The Forum pingling!!!

[gopherman]

In '77 my very "white bread" college room mate turned me on to 2112, then Farewell to Kings. I'm still amazed that my intro to the band came from such a source. I became super hooked on the group the first time I heard Subdivisions. I immediately went out and procured all their stuff prior to that, and I've been keeping up ever since.

[troutman]

some serious stuff back in 77' and a friend of a friend playing 2112

 

 

troutman

 

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v719/troutbum/a4231.gif

[imgoingbald]

How's this. I bought their first album on 8-track (wish I still had it) back in '76! Fell in love with it and I am still here today to talk about it. Any 8-track fans out there still?

[mollusc]

Probably Spirit of Radio in about 1980 at a party. Then a mate got Archives and incessantly played 'Fly by Night'. Went to see Pemanent Waves Tour at Newcastle City Hall (Postal applications only= shit seats). Hooked from then on.

[jbrod0919]

In the summer of 1982, I was at camp and all the kids were going crazy for Def Leppard, I was 10 and went along with everybody else not knowing any better. I had a counselor named Neil "Big Fish" Essenfeld who was huuuuge fan and he played tapes of a radio interview with the band that featured Working Man, Tom Sawyer, Fly By Night and others for me and my best friend Eric and the two of us got completely hooked. It was and is the most amazing music I ever heard and have been a fan ever since. I have now been to 30 shows with my 30th being R30 in Tampa and I will always be a Rush fan and will always try to convert people the way Fish converted Eric and I.

 

P.S. I may as admit that I still like old Def Lep too.

[ZYRANNIX]

Oddly enough Nobody's Hero has just popped up on Planet Rock (classic rock internet radio, www.planetrock.com) as I write about my first experience which was A Farewell to Kings when it was released, I was 13 at the time. A friend of my brothers kept going on about this band and 2112 which took up a whole side of an album. I was intrigued so when I saw AFTK in the "new" section at the record store I bought it and gave it a listen. I have to admit that at first I thought "What is this weird stuff?" and put it away. About a week later I gave it a listen and I was hooked and they immediatley became my favourite band and remain so to this day. Thats my story and I'm sticking to it!

[sullysue]

My first experience was in the summer of 1979. I was "babysitting" a 9-year-old neighbor kid. ("Babysitting" is strange term to use, since I was 12!) I was there to just make sure the little maniac didn't burn the house down. So, I would sit in the kitchen and watch soaps all day - Ryan's Hope, All My Children, etc. And, one afternoon this little kid started crank 2112 untill the windows would shake. Keep in mind that at this point in my life I knew every word to every REO Speedwagon and Loverboy song. (Yikes!) Since it was my job to keep the police from showing up, I started toward the little turd's room to tell him to turn that crap down, stopped mid-pace, and thought "Wow! That's cool, Man." I never had him turn it down, had him make a copy (on 8-track, no less) and got fired the next week because of all the noise. I love this story, and I've never stopped loving

 

 

[jbrod0919]

QUOTE (sullysue @ Apr 20 2005, 11:40 AM)

My first experience was in the summer of 1979. I was "babysitting" a 9-year-old neighbor kid. ("Babysitting" is strange term to use, since I was 12!) I was there to just make sure the little maniac didn't burn the house down. So, I would sit in the kitchen and watch soaps all day - Ryan's Hope, All My Children, etc. And, one afternoon this little kid started crank 2112 untill the windows would shake. Keep in mind that at this point in my life I knew every word to every REO Speedwagon and Loverboy song. (Yikes!) Since it was my job to keep the police from showing up, I started toward the little turd's room to tell him to turn that crap down, stopped mid-pace, and thought "Wow! That's cool, Man." I never had him turn it down, had him make a copy (on 8-track, no less) and got fired the next week because of all the noise. I love this story, and I've never stopped loving

Man and I felt guilty about liking Def Leppard!

[NeilPeartFan2112]

R30 tour at Blossom Music Center. One of the best experiences of my life.