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What is the SINGLE most overrated Rush song?


savagegrace26
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Also, The Pass. Great message and music, but the use of "dreamers learn to look at the cars" just to have a rhyme for "stars" is contrived. Was Neil channeling Steve Miller?

Hmm, that's the one part of the song I don't think worked out well. But I still don't say it's overrated.

 

"The line "All of us get lost in the darkness/Dreamers learn to steer by the stars/All of us do time in the gutter/Dreamers turn to look at the cars" alludes to Oscar Wilde's "We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars" from his play Lady Windermere's Fan."

Also, The Pass. Great message and music, but the use of "dreamers learn to look at the cars" just to have a rhyme for "stars" is contrived. Was Neil channeling Steve Miller?

Hmm, that's the one part of the song I don't think worked out well. But I still don't say it's overrated.

 

"The line "All of us get lost in the darkness/Dreamers learn to steer by the stars/All of us do time in the gutter/Dreamers turn to look at the cars" alludes to Oscar Wilde's "We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars" from his play Lady Windermere's Fan."

I was referring to the use of the word "cars", which doesn't really fit with the rest of the lyrics. Kind of like that godawful rhyme near the end of Hemispheres ("wondered and were sad"), it just seems like it's supposed to rhyme but it doesn't serve much more of a purpose.

 

Uh...I get it....

 

Do you think quoting you automatically means I'm debating you?

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Always liked that line in The Pass. Some poor sap lying there on the side of the street looks over at everyone living life, and getting on with it, in their cars, at least metaphorically. Good message.

 

The cars line sounded funny to me the first few times I heard the song too but it's not like it was chosen arbitrarily. It does fit the theme and meaning of the song.

 

Not the best lyric in the world but it's not out of place either.

 

Criticizing this line is overrated.

Edited by savagegrace26
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who the hell is out there overrating nobody's hero and middletown dreams??

 

It depends. Nobody's Hero seems generally liked by the public, though it's not a hit by any stretch. Middletown is adored by the hardcore here, though it remains unknown to a wider audience, largely because it's a bad song.

Middletown is a good choice. An admitted over-rater of this song, I love it to death, But yu make a good point that the casual fan wouldn't give it a second thought. My choice for this category is Between the Wheels, another track held up by RUSH fans as majestic.

 

Between The Wheels is a great song, but I would say its my least favourite song on GUP, aside from maybe Red Lenses.

:o It's my favorite from that album. The synths were irritating at first but they create a very effective atmosphere for the song that works very well. And that solo! :haz:

 

From AFTK through to HYF, I can safely say that there is not a single Rush song I do not love. Sure, I have my favourites from those albums, but my least favourite songs are absolute solid gold nuggets of awesome.

 

When I say I think Subdivisions is overrated, bear in mind the lyrics have never spoken to me the way I know they have for other fans. When I say I find Permanent Waves overrated, bear in mind I am aware I am a fool because I have simply overplayed it for the moment.

 

But when songs like Middletown Dreams or Available Light get picked as overrated, all I can ask is, by whom? How many people outside of the Rush fanbase have even hears of Power Windows or Presto?

 

However, most classic rock fans, or rock fans in general have at least heard Closer To The Heart, Spirit Of Radio, Tom Sawyer or Subdivisions. Heck, even the mainstream rock press note the historical importance and musical value of 2112 and Moving Pictures.

 

And of all the most recognisable songs in the Rush catalogue, the one that always leaves me cold is Subdivisions. For me, as great as the song is, on the album it comes from I think New World Man, Losing It, Analog Kid and Countdown completely overshadow it. As a commercial rock song, Closer To The Heart, Tom Sawyer, Limelight and Spirit Of Radio are far better.

 

These songs are all widely recognised Rush hits. Sure, we fans may perhaps harp on a little about our personal, more obscure favourites (at least "obscure" from the perspective of the casual Rush or rock music fan), but any raving about songs like Middletown Dreams, Available Light or even The Pass is surely not great enough to constitute as overrating?

 

Seriously, Tom Sawyer is pretty much the most played Rush song of all time. Most classic rock compilations, if they decide to choose anything by Rush, tend to go for Spirit Of Radio. Casual fans of Rush at least know of Subdivisions or Limelight. And who exactly has been able to avoid Closer To The Heart? These songs are the ones that have the potential to be overrated, not only because they are the most played Rush songs, but also because in many ways they are not even the most representitive songs off their respective albums.

 

Seriously guys, songs like Middletown Dreams or Available Light are almost certainly only minor fan favourites, never mind being widely known enough to ne classed as overrated.

 

As much as Presto is maligned by so many Rush fans, nothing from it can be considered overrated.

 

My point exactly.

 

And yet songs from it keep popping up in this thread

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YYZ, with Freewill close behind.

 

:eyeroll:

 

Sorry, I'm not trying to be ironic. I agree with those who are trying to point out that there are only so many Rush songs that can really qualify as "overrated." I don't go nuts for YYZ and Freewill to the degree that most board members or even casual fans do.

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Also, The Pass. Great message and music, but the use of "dreamers learn to look at the cars" just to have a rhyme for "stars" is contrived. Was Neil channeling Steve Miller?

That lyric is pretty lazy.
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And here we get the "I'm a real fan, because I don't like the songs that casual fans know, I only like the deep tracks" stuff.

 

Tom Sawyer is Rush's Paranoid. It's an amazing song. Period.

I gotta agree here. I listen to everything of theirs and this songs status is inescapable. No matter how many times I hear, the second that opening crash and synthesizer growl hits I can only do one thing: reach for the volume knob and see if it'll go further than the last time. It never gets old.

Edited by Snyder80
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Cygnus X-1 Book II: Hemispheres is obviously the most qualified.

YYZ, with Freewill close behind.

 

:eyeroll:

 

Sorry, I'm not trying to be ironic. I agree with those who are trying to point out that there are only so many Rush songs that can really qualify as "overrated." I don't go nuts for YYZ and Freewill to the degree that most board members or even casual fans do.

 

You both are blasphemous... :D Freewill, overrated?!?! The solo section is one of the most complicated pieces of rock music, ever. And the fact that they recorded it live and exploded with that kind of unpredictability and precision is almost unthinkable. Everytime I hear it just blows my mind and I've heard hundreds of times. When they wind out of it and Geddy starts that lyric...chills!!!! :rush:

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I'd say Subdivisions or 2112.

 

Dude, you're hurting my heart. Subdivisions? NO! NO! NO!.

 

This thread is difficult for me most of these songs I see listed the crowd goes ape shit for at live shows. Doesn't that oppose being overrated?

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Closer to the Heart

 

It's a good song. But it's not even the best song on AFTK. And my evidence it's overrated is it's the only song the band elected to put on two live albums in a row.

 

EDIT: At the time ASOH was released, of course.

Edited by Rick N. Backer
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Cygnus X-1 Book II: Hemispheres is obviously the most qualified.

YYZ, with Freewill close behind.

 

:eyeroll:

 

Sorry, I'm not trying to be ironic. I agree with those who are trying to point out that there are only so many Rush songs that can really qualify as "overrated." I don't go nuts for YYZ and Freewill to the degree that most board members or even casual fans do.

 

You both are blasphemous... :D Freewill, overrated?!?! The solo section is one of the most complicated pieces of rock music, ever. And the fact that they recorded it live and exploded with that kind of unpredictability and precision is almost unthinkable. Everytime I hear it just blows my mind and I've heard hundreds of times. When they wind out of it and Geddy starts that lyric...chills!!!! :rush:

 

Oh, I agree, Freewill's solo section is one of my favorite moments in the entire catalog, but I could take or leave the rest of the song. Still, I don't not like the song. I just think it's overrated. I was under the impression that "overrated" can only apply to songs that are widely regarded as being among the top ten. It doesn't take courage to suggest that some album cut that only diehard fans know is overrated. Just one man's opinion. Freewill will be fine either way! :P

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Nobody's Hero.

 

Ugh.

 

It gets too much hate to be overrated...

 

You can never hate Nobody's Hero too much.

 

A steaming dogs egg of a festering carbuncle trying to be a song.....yuck.

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Also, The Pass. Great message and music, but the use of "dreamers learn to look at the cars" just to have a rhyme for "stars" is contrived. Was Neil channeling Steve Miller?

That lyric is pretty lazy.

 

I don't think it's lazy at all. Neil's a car lover, and cars mean a lot to men of all ages; they mean freedom, sex, power, independence, success and thrill. Those things are lacking when someone is dark and on the "razor's edge" of suicide.

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Cygnus X-1 Book II: Hemispheres is obviously the most qualified.

YYZ, with Freewill close behind.

 

:eyeroll:

 

Sorry, I'm not trying to be ironic. I agree with those who are trying to point out that there are only so many Rush songs that can really qualify as "overrated." I don't go nuts for YYZ and Freewill to the degree that most board members or even casual fans do.

 

You both are blasphemous... :D Freewill, overrated?!?! The solo section is one of the most complicated pieces of rock music, ever. And the fact that they recorded it live and exploded with that kind of unpredictability and precision is almost unthinkable. Everytime I hear it just blows my mind and I've heard hundreds of times. When they wind out of it and Geddy starts that lyric...chills!!!! :rush:

 

I'm blasphemous? I'm the one that rolled my eyes

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