Rutlefan

"The Other Window" by Wire. Good one. I believe that is one of those sunny Bruce Gilbert compositions (I'm being tongue in cheek with that "sunny" part).

I was obsessed High N Dry when it came out, but when Pyromania hit, every geek in school walked around the halls saying, "Gunter glieben glauten globen" (or whatever), and I distanced myself. Great writing, really catchy, just seemed a lot less hard rock to me.

"I don't know. Classic rock back in the '70's was... just rock. It was current." Yeah, what I meant was "what we now call classic rock"; of course when Get Your Wings came out no one said, "This classic rock album is destined to become a classic!" ;) As I saw things then in the late '70s and very beginning of the '80s, there were these bands (usually called New Wave) -- the B-52's, Sex Pistols, Devo, etc -- which just sounded different from the rock bands I grew up with. Except for the first couple Cars albums, which I grudgingly admired, I avoided it all, thinking it was all a novelty. As well, I thought it wasn't "manly" to like music that didn't have (at least) occasional power chords. I had even misinterpreted (I now realize) the title "Permanent Waves" as a snub aimed at "New" Wave, in the sense that new wave is a fad, unlike traditional rock. A couple years into the '80s I broke out of this myopia and came to love those weird/quirky/whatever bands, but I was dead set against it all, like the crazy neighborhood curmudgeon, until I was about sixteen or so.

Exactly. Another line from the Onion piece: "I've got nothing against Zep—they're awesome," said James Savich, 16, a longtime friend of Campa's. "But Mark acts like he's the first person ever to really get into them when he's, like, the 59 billionth."

You're right, top 40 has always sucked, and still sucks, and will always suck. Whenever I come across someone who dismisses a whole era of music, whether today's or whenever, it's always based on what's played on the radio. And to your question, yes, I was like that coming out of the '70s, when I thought that the classic rock was the only rock worth considering. Pretty common phenomenon. I've been through this before too: http://www.theonion....tarting-to,199/ Teen Who Just Discovered Led Zeppelin Starting To Piss Off Friends " In addition to naming his '91 Prelude the "Honda Of The Holy" and renaming his cat of four years "Bonzo" as an homage to late Led Zeppelin drummer John "Bonzo" Bonham, Campa has irritated friends with his constant barrage of Led Zeppelin trivia."

True, which is why I limited my list to those I really really like. Power Windows/HYF -- no way. Day at the Races/Night at the Opera -- have always loved A Night at the Opera, never cared so much for A Day at the Races (except for Tie Your Mother Down and Drowse). And so on.

Yup. I had thought of several more than I listed -- Sgt Peppers/MMT, Power Windows/HYF, several REM and U2 pairings, etc. -- but this one was the most obvious. Great ones I missed but someone else mentioned: Aerosmith Toys in the Attic and Rocks , and XTC Apple Venus I and II (of course)

The Radiohead thread got me thinking about this. Sometimes albums seem to belong together, compliment one another, or work great side by side. Album buddies, if you will. Here's some that come immediately to my mind: The Bends and OK Computer (by Radiohead) A Farewell to Kings and Hemispheres (of course) Permanent Waves and Moving Pictures (of course) Led Zeppelin IV and Houses of the Holy (hard to explain, but every other Zeppelin album seems to stand on its own, but these two have always seemed a pair to me) Michigan and Illinois (by Sufjan Stevens) Rubber Soul and Revolver Something Else by the Kinks and The Kinks are the Village Green Society (like Permanent Waves and Moving Pictures, in that the earlier album was a break-out album in its own right, yet sets the table for the following album of even greater renown)

I thought the band was somewhat of a joke when a recently-released Pablo Honey was forced upon me. Because of that, I was definitely meh when the same person forced The Bends on me (though I wasn't meh about Planet Telex). It was after falling in love with OKC that I began to appreciate the earlier stuff. Now consider The Bends a minor classic, though for my personal tastes I would still rank it below the four albums that followed (I definitely prefer its fantastic b-sides to the lp material, outside of Planet Telex). Still think Pablo Honey really sucks though. Would have made a good four-song EP, featuring the first two and last two tracks. Add the PH era b-sides (not the My Iron Lung material, which makes an excellent/underrated EP), and then it might have made a decent low-fi lp. As it is, it leaves you wondering. Anyway, they are, or were, the perfect intersection of alternative and arena guitar rock. From The Bends through Hail to the Thief, they were the closest thing ever to a band I might have created in a laboratory (being part Beatles, part Wire, part Pixies, part Floyd, etc etc). And this gives me an idea for a new thread.

"I saw them open for REM (My then girlfriend dragged me to that show I can't stand REM) and I was blown away……I mean blown away." You watch those live performances from '96 and '97 and it's hard to imagine that there could have been a better live act on the planet. This is so good it hurts...

You are the first person I`ve stumbled upon who has this album That's funny as it received so much critical praise the year it came out. From the Wikipedia page: " Illinois was named the best-reviewed album of 2005 by review aggregator Metacritic, and was included on several reviewers' "best of the decade" lists—including those of Paste, NPR, and Rolling Stone." It was also the Amazon editors album of the year recommendation. Not that I think any of this is important, but it shows someone was paying attention. In 2007 he played a free concert at the Kennedy Center, featured to celebrate the 10th anniversary of their Millenium Stage. The tickets were to be given on a first-come basis (two to a person) starting at like 9 am. A friend and I got there at 5:30 am and were about the 9 millionth people in line. Needless to say that after a 3+ hour wait in the cold (it was a Feb 5 show) we were turned away, along with over half the line. Sucked, but it shows that a few years ago people were pretty into him. Maybe they were all college kids from American university, I don't know. Anyway, glad to see a fellow fan, I assume. I wish he'd start putting out more stuff like it again.

I'm always in several books at once, though some might lag behind others because they aren't as compelling. Usually just one or two (at most) fiction because they rely on plot and pacing, but several non-fiction.

In vino veritas (or cerveza). I'm also in the camp that thinks OK Computer is their high point (it's my favorite album by anyone). Like I'd have been happy if Rush kept making different versions of the 2nd side of Hemispheres over and over, I'd have been happy if Radiohead had kept making the 1st side of OKC over and over. I do though really like what they did from Kid A through Hail to the Thief, especially Amnesiac and the Kid A/Amnesiac b-sides. In Rainbows doesn't interest me (it sounds to me like an afterthought, as in, "we've got all these half-finished songs, let's polish them up, throw them together, and call it an album), and I think King of Limbs is a Thom Yorke album rather than Radiohead. TKOL has some very cool stuff I think, it's just not Radiohead to me. No anger though, I'm too grateful for what they did from The Bends through HTTT, including all those amazing b-sides. It's like Rush. I could never be angry for Power Windows and on because they of what they did prior to that. Most bands would kill for one great album; Radiohead and Rush each have many. Oh, and Johnny Marr is with you. He basically said once that Radiohead sort of squandered their talent (that being orchestrating several guitars at once to great effect) by turning too much to electronic music. He thought "Knives Out" showed what they could have been, potentially. I completely agree. For me, Knives Out and I Might be Wrong are the post-OKC peaks. National Anthem and How to Disappear are also classics, up their with their best stuff. And let's not forget There There and Mixomatosis. They might not have been as consistently great as on OKC, but they were still recording awesome sh*t. Even In Rainbows has Bodysnatchers for its credit.

Nothing to do with Rush. It's a play on Beatlefan magazine, featuring the Pre-Fab Four ("I want to tell you I'm in love with you, completely. I'd like to take you far away from here, discretely." ): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qf8y7v0WIE I used it on a whim years ago and then just kept using it, though I do really love Neil Innes (plays the John Lennon "Ron Nasty" character; most people would remember him as Robin's singing minstrel in Monty Python and the Holy Grail ... "He's not afraid ..."). Here's a favorite that Bob Dylan fans might like. I seem to remember him being on a live Monty Python album, and introduced this song saying, "I've suffered for my music, now it's your turn"): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vnkB9gM-_k

I was in seventh grade when these albums came out. I remember listening to two new records at a friend's house -- AFTK and News of the World. He was really into the Queen (I really liked Day at the Races but was not devoted) and I was really into the Rush. In retrospect, we didn't realize how amazing and classic those two records would become, I think because classic rock in the '70s was such an embarrassment of riches that we just didn't realize that it wouldn't always be this way. Until I read the posts in this thread, I had forgotten how MANY great albums and bands there really were then. I should have guessed as my '80s lp collection hardly gets played as most albums have maybe one or two good songs, whereas my '70s LPs get played all the time because in most cases the whole album is strong; that was the way of things then.

Re physiological reaction (I would have never thought of putting it that way, but it fits), the passage -- of all of the many awesome Rush passages -- that has always hit me in the gut the hardest and made me stop and ponder/marvel, is the delicate second part of the middle instrument section of The Trees (goes from 2:18 to 2:53 in this upload). Why Alex will always be my favorite guitarist. Only David Gilmour comes close to creating in me a similar feeling. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gk1eEuNxg7U

I can relate to what GR'79 was saying. I have a truck that only has radio and once in a while I catch Spirit or Freewill or Fly By Night and it seems like Rush just stick out like a sore thumb from the rest of the pack of songs you hear on the radio. I heard Freewill a few months ago on the radio and I was rockin' out during the solo so hard that I should've been pulled over for disturbing the peace. edit: I noticed after my post that I'm not sure if this was a thread about hearing Rush on the radio or how much Old Rush is better than New Rush. The cool thing about hearing something on the radio as opposed to dialing it up on your iPad (Pod/Screen/gizmo?) is that it is a communal experience; you know that there are other people like you out there getting into the song as well. My 70-some year old dad has probably seen the '50s-produced documentary series Victory at Sea a hundred times. He owned it on VHS and now he owns it on DVD. Yet, whenever it comes on TV (usually shown by PBS over several nights), he and an old friend get together and watch it together. They could watch it any time, but that fact that they are watching it with an extended audience changes their appreciation. I think it's the same thing when you happen across a cool old movie on tv, or hear a classic tune on the radio. You might have had no inclination to watch or listen to that a moment before, but all of a sudden your into it, knowing that you're sharing in the experience. :ebert:

Excellent question. I have them in my older motor cars, or "Auto-Vagens" if you will. It is essentially a wireless radio telegraphic device which ingeniously allows the motor car to receive audio telegraphic -- or "audiographic" if you will -- signals without having to drag around an extremely long electrical signal-conducting wire. Mine have usually been located in the center of the dashboard, though some are moved lower, above and to the right of the velocilator and deceleratrix, in order to make room for the holding device for the consuming of beverages, such as Mint Julips, your favorite cocktail, or Sarsaparillas or Shirley Temples if you're alcohol intolerant.

"Sometimes I have to pause this track before Circumstances starts just to let it all soak in." This is why God, in His wisdom, created the LP. Man, in his folly, digitized music and put it on a continuous play format. The greatest abomination of all is digitally compressed music. That said, I listened to AFTK and Hemispheres on CD today, and I listen to compressed files in the car, so I am not saying I'm sinless. But, if I am really serious about listening to the music, I'll put on the LP. No artificial pauses needed. I recommend it.

I don't think it"s sad, I totally get it. Geddy Lee commented that they have become better songwriters as the years have gone by....THAT I don't get.

Am on a WWII Europe kick. Having recently finished In the Garden of Beasts and How Hitler Could Have Won War II: The Fatal Errors That Led to Nazi Defeat, I am reading Hitler's Empire: How the Nazis Ruled an Empire, Why the Germans Lose at War: The Myth of German Military Superiority, and the thoroughly depressing but powerful The Kindly Ones by Jonathan Littell. On the "lighter" side I am reading Primal Shadows by Alan Dean Foster, Giant's Star by James P. Hogan, and my Lent project is Etienne Gilson's classic The Spirit of Medieval Philosophy.

Yeah, citing faulkner did not support my argument (but then again, I read As I Lay Dying last year and never had to go to the dictionary, unlike the original poster reading Dawkins). If I'd stopped to think about it I would have thought of a better example... but then again, this IS a Rush forum, so I don't want to expend too much brain power .

Here's my approach to the question, done like Letterman's Top Ten List. The Top Ten Things You Can't Say to a Hardcore Rush Fan (because they wouldn't understand it,it doesn't apply, or it's just not true): 10. Concert T's are not work appropriate attire. 9. The Canadian band that really rocks is Loverboy! Working for the weekend in red leather pants! Yeah!! 8. This song has too many notes. 7. Let's have lunch at Potbellies so we can check out the daily indie-folk acoustic singer-guitarist. 6. Is that a Christian Dior polo you're wearing? 5. Musicianship is overrated. 4. Rush wishes they could write songs like Triumph. 3. Oh, they wrote "Xanadu"? I love that song, especially the Olivia Newton John cover! 2. No one understands music better than the editors of Rolling Stone, or professional rock critics in general. And the number one thing you can't say to a hardcore Rush fan... 1. Dude, your girlfriend is HOT! ;)

While hate is way too strong for how I feel about the Grateful Dead, I've never been into them at all, yet "Ripple" is one of my favorite songs. Re Jimmy Buffet, he's the worst. To quote Cartman, "Nobody likes Jimmy Buffet except frat boys and alcoholic chicks from the South!."

Riddick from Redbox. Good movie for a buck. Last theater movie was The Lego Movie with my 3 year-old. I thought it justified the over 90% Rotten Tomato rating.