Snyder80

Is this a real question? Rush vs. Pearl Jam? Who in the f**k comes up with these contests? Eddie Vedder is one of the most pretentious douche bags that has ever walked the earth. f**k him and his band.

Most of it is very emotional and intelligently written. Of course, like any artist, he's had his brighest moments and his dullest. I won't try to narrow my selection down to an album or two. I'm just going to list some of my personal favorites lines. "Well weathered leather, hot metal and oil, the scented country air. Sunlight on chrome, the blur of the landscape, every nerve aware." "Reflected light to another's sight and the moon tells a lover's story. My borrowed face and my third hand grace, only reflect your glory." "When the dust has cleared and victory denied. A summit too lofty, river a little too wide. If we keep our pride, though paradise is lost, we will pay the price but we will not count the cost." "Growing up it all seems so one sided, opinions all provided, the future pre-decided, detached and subdivided in the mass production zone. Nowhere is the dreamer or the misfit so alone." "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." "Leave out the fiction, the fact is this friction will only be won by persistence. Leave out conditions, courageous convictions will drag the dream into existence." (I also love how Geddy will sing "emancipate from the norm" during live performances). Obviously, there are many many more and I could keep going but you get the idea.

Different strokes I guess. I was always pretty blown away by VT. Just listen to Secret Touch or Ghost Rider. If you knew nothing at all about the band or Neil prior to that record, you knew that they had all come back from some huge trial of life by the end of that album. It's so emotional and raw.

Totally agree regarding Vapor Trails. I look back at that album now and realize that they wouldn't be as great of a band if they had never written it. The foundation of their legacy contains that album. Think of it like this. If they had never written it and never came back, how would they be remembered?

Hold Your Fire by a lot. I constantly hear this album used in connection with phrases like "went too far", "80s junk pop", "keyboard pop", etc. It's a masterpiece of song writing. I don't give a damn how many keyboards they used.

I think it is unfortunate that you use Ozzy as an example. Rhoads was a talented guitarist but playing in a camp Vaudeville act that was "Top 40 stuff" to its core. To associate Ozzy Osbourne's, frankly moronic, output with taste really points to the heart of the problem, great music is in the ear of the beholder. Wow, you're a real snob hah? ;) In all seriousness, do you like Black Sabbath at least? Of course. However anyone who can watch those Blizzard Of Ozz videos without pissing themselves laughing needs a frontal lobotomy. Funny you mention that because I find it mind blowing that Randy isn't the focus of more camera attention. The first thirty seconds of the solo to Crazy Train they have the camera on f***ing Rudy Sarzo.

I think it is unfortunate that you use Ozzy as an example. Rhoads was a talented guitarist but playing in a camp Vaudeville act that was "Top 40 stuff" to its core. To associate Ozzy Osbourne's, frankly moronic, output with taste really points to the heart of the problem, great music is in the ear of the beholder. Wow, you're a real snob hah? ;) In all seriousness, do you like Black Sabbath at least? Absolutely. A good bit of it, actually.

I think it is unfortunate that you use Ozzy as an example. Rhoads was a talented guitarist but playing in a camp Vaudeville act that was "Top 40 stuff" to its core. To associate Ozzy Osbourne's, frankly moronic, output with taste really points to the heart of the problem, great music is in the ear of the beholder. Hence the reason I didn't mention Osbourne. I mentioned Rhoads. I listen to less than 1% of Ozzy's material outside of those two albums. My point was that there are people out there who refuse to recognize talent, even if they don't like it. And comparing Ted Nugent to Randy Rhoads is akin to comparing a firecracker to a stick of dynamite.

My wife knows all too well how snobby I can be about music. Most music I listen to has to challenge my mind in some way, mostly through lyrics so I find very little use for music that has mindless lyrics and music that just hangs all over sex, drugs, heartbreak and all that other bullshit. Now there are some straight forward rock acts that I've always been into, mostly for the guitar playing. Where I become defensive is when some 45 year old has been starts jabbing fun at me when Between the Wheels or Natural Science comes on and he thinks it sounds "funny" and then goes on to tell me how awesome it was to see Poison and the Bullet Boys on City Island in the late 80s. Or when my one friend looks at me like I'm the embodiment of Satan because I like the intensity of Tool's music or RATM; then proceeds to blast Justin Beiber through his iPhone at almost thirty years old. People like that are just begging to be ripped in to. I'm sorry but there is a certain separation between most people when it comes to musical taste and what I've come to realize is this: there are typically two kinds of music fans, Top 40 types and the rest of us. To add to my many reasons for musical snobbery, I remember when I first discovered Randy Rhoads at around age 19 and I was listening to Blizzard of Ozz and Diary of a Madman all the time. And I do mean all the time. One day at work a guy I worked with and got along with heard what I was listening to and proceeded to tell me how Ted Nugent would "blow that guy into the clouds". You see how ridiculously easy some people make it to be pissed off?

I agree that he still sounds good live but I also agree that they tailor the set lists to accommodate his limitations. That's fine with me though because I love the 80s material and the newer stuff. I still love hearing Freewill and TSoR but he definitely struggles with some of those higher notes. I also have yet to hear a really good quality recording of their live material. Some of the stuff that sounds bad I'm sometimes thinking, there is no way in hell he actually sounded like that.

Vital Signs irritates you?! You dirty blasphemer! That's one of Rush's finest moments.

Referring to the Geddy being a prog-snob: good for him. The truth may hurt but it doesn't make it less true. There are a lot of other musicians in the world I like listening to. However, I'd love to see AC/DC or Aerosmith or .38 Special pull off Natural Science.

Show Don't Tell, The Pass, and Presto are all Rush staples. Scars, War Paint are all servicable songs that I like to hear from time to time. To address some other posts, I will never in my life understand the hatred for Hold Your Fire. I don't care how pop sounding some of the songs were, some of Geddy's most amazing bass lines ever are on that album. Along with some of my favorite Rush tunes ever recorded. Time Stand Still, Prime Mover, Force Ten, Mission and Lock and Key are all amazing songs. Mission is gorgeous and Lock and Key is widely overlooked as a Rush masterpiece.

I'm fortunate enough to enjoy every one of their albums. Some immensely more so than others. However, let's be honest, listen to the solo section of "Freewill" or the post-solo section of "Red Barchetta" and ask yourself how many of those moments can one band really be capable of? Rush has given us dozens. Let's be thankful. Not everything can be on par with PeW or Hemispheres. Some of it is better than the rest. Isn't that just inevitable?

Awesome! She is incredible! If you want to see a young female guitarist of equivalent talent, check out the Alek Yoo channel on YouTube.

Can someone please point me in the direction of some Yes songs that have mean Squire bass licks? I've always heard how great this man is and what little bit of Yes I've listened to, I just don't hear it. However, I'm always looking to expand my musical horizons and would like to hear some suggestions for his better work. I've already heard Roundabout a million times, in case that helps.

Exactly. There is no way they're gonna take the obvious route and invite the kind of pandemonium that would accompany actually announcing a "final show". Peart would never show up. :D

Power Windows...great effin' album. Another of my absolute favorites. Marathon is one Rush's best songs ever. Along with 90% of the rest of this album.

And I still disagree. Even though pre-Peart Rush was far less original in its style, they were still a very solid group of musicians. Most bands would kill to have a debut album that good. While this statement is true; it was a strong debut, without Neil Peart's arrival, the Rush we know and love today never enters existence.

10. Anthem 9. Fly By Night 8. The Trees 7. Circumstances 6. Xanadu 5. By-Tor and the Snowdog 4. A Passage to Bangkok 3. La Villa Strangiato 2. 2112 1. Cygnus X1: Book Two: Hemispheres

Xanadu The Pass

I will never understand how anyone cannot adore Signals. I've always felt it includes some of their most intricate material (Analog Kid, Digital Man, Subdivisions, The Weapon) and also some of their absolute deepest lyrics.

I understand that his playing isn't impossible to recreate. However, the state that there exist a level of percussion that Neil Peart isn't worthy of being mentioned with just seems proposterous. The man has inspiried generations of people to play drums. He revolutionized the dynamic of rock drumming and took it to heights that never existed before. Is that the mark of someone who should be held in the "he's not as good as jazz drummers" conversation? I've watched plenty of jazz drummers and a lot of them do amazing things but no of it seems to be out of his league. Do you guys reall think he would be baffled by some of that playing? I grew up around a lot of guys who played in bands and very few of them could pull off even the most rudimentary Peart songs and none of them could touch some of his more complex material. I never thought I'd see the day when people actually argued over whether or not Neil Peart was just a run of the mill drummer. It's ridiculous. I'm geared more towards guitar myself and I can tell you now that what you guys are arguing would be the same thing as saying Eddie Van Halen or Randy Rhoads were average guitarist because they didn't play like Al Di Meola. How many kids do you think are in their room right now slaving over Al Di Meola and how many do you think are slaving over Crazy Train or Eruption? Neil Peart is a master of his craft and worthy of consideration in even the stuffiest of jazz rooms. "I've watched plenty of jazz drummers and a lot of them do amazing things but no of it seems to be out of his league. Do you guys reall think he would be baffled by some of that playing?" Jazz guys explore techniques not typically utilized in Rock drumming..advanced techniques. A lot of rock drummers incorporate single stroke rolls and 16th note patterns in their playing..thats rookie stuff for guys like say, Steve Smith... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_T4YXhnveA I appreciate your fanboy love of Neil, but its well documented that his playing isnt of the upper echelon of world class drummers...I will say that his playing now is overall better than it was 30 years ago, but just look what happened at the first Buddy Rich memorial concert back in , i believe, 89...he got his ass handed to him in a drum duet with Will Calhoun, a guy who is a Berkleee graduate...Neil showed he wasnt up to the task of playing with the big boys at the time..he is great at his style within the confines of Rush, but take him out of that element, and he isnt all that adaptable. Guys like Neil Peart and Eddie Van Halen are, typically, early influences, guys who inspire young players to pick up the instrument, and they spend their youth practicing their parts...but then, as they mature, and soak up other players styles, they move on... Got his ass handed to him? What is this a boxing match? And the guy in that video is masterful but the stuff he's playing is unlistenable. It just sounds mechanical. There is no emotion or soul in that form of music. You can disagree all day long but that's why that guy is playing to one dude that looks like a mafia hitman instead of 15k screaming fans. many would say the same thing about rush And there is a word for those people: DEAF. :finbar:

"Because it's a dead end, man. There is no fastest gun. There's always going to be another Wyatt Earp. You challenge yourself because you want to feel freer and integrated with the instrument and with music." -Vinnie Colaiuta Taken from an interview in Modern Drummer magazine 2007 when asked about being tired of the razzle dazzle technique obsessed drum fans.

I understand that his playing isn't impossible to recreate. However, the state that there exist a level of percussion that Neil Peart isn't worthy of being mentioned with just seems proposterous. The man has inspiried generations of people to play drums. He revolutionized the dynamic of rock drumming and took it to heights that never existed before. Is that the mark of someone who should be held in the "he's not as good as jazz drummers" conversation? I've watched plenty of jazz drummers and a lot of them do amazing things but no of it seems to be out of his league. Do you guys reall think he would be baffled by some of that playing? I grew up around a lot of guys who played in bands and very few of them could pull off even the most rudimentary Peart songs and none of them could touch some of his more complex material. I never thought I'd see the day when people actually argued over whether or not Neil Peart was just a run of the mill drummer. It's ridiculous. I'm geared more towards guitar myself and I can tell you now that what you guys are arguing would be the same thing as saying Eddie Van Halen or Randy Rhoads were average guitarist because they didn't play like Al Di Meola. How many kids do you think are in their room right now slaving over Al Di Meola and how many do you think are slaving over Crazy Train or Eruption? Neil Peart is a master of his craft and worthy of consideration in even the stuffiest of jazz rooms. "I've watched plenty of jazz drummers and a lot of them do amazing things but no of it seems to be out of his league. Do you guys reall think he would be baffled by some of that playing?" Jazz guys explore techniques not typically utilized in Rock drumming..advanced techniques. A lot of rock drummers incorporate single stroke rolls and 16th note patterns in their playing..thats rookie stuff for guys like say, Steve Smith... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_T4YXhnveA I appreciate your fanboy love of Neil, but its well documented that his playing isnt of the upper echelon of world class drummers...I will say that his playing now is overall better than it was 30 years ago, but just look what happened at the first Buddy Rich memorial concert back in , i believe, 89...he got his ass handed to him in a drum duet with Will Calhoun, a guy who is a Berkleee graduate...Neil showed he wasnt up to the task of playing with the big boys at the time..he is great at his style within the confines of Rush, but take him out of that element, and he isnt all that adaptable. Guys like Neil Peart and Eddie Van Halen are, typically, early influences, guys who inspire young players to pick up the instrument, and they spend their youth practicing their parts...but then, as they mature, and soak up other players styles, they move on... Got his ass handed to him? What is this a boxing match? And the guy in that video is masterful but the stuff he's playing is unlistenable. It just sounds mechanical. There is no emotion or soul in that form of music. You can disagree all day long but that's why that guy is playing to one dude that looks like a mafia hitman instead of 15k screaming fans. Steve Smith was the drummer for Journey during there peak commercial years.. He knows a little something about playing in front of an arena crowd ..Do you seriously not know who he is? He's highly respected in the drumming world .. Like I said, I'm more geared towards guitar players. But yeah, I know who he is and I know who several of the other name you listed are. And you can break it down any way you want but I still can't agree with the notion that Neil Peart plays easy material. That's just a ridiculous statement. These guys may play stuff that's harder, fine. But that doesn't make Neil Peart of all people some half-assed 4/4 measure rock drummer. Thunder Bay...no disrespect but being able to play his material is one thing. Writing that material is something completely different. How many kids picked up a pair of drum sticks because of Tom Sawyer? No hard feelings guys, I just think he's incredible.