How were you first introduced to Rush?

[steelcaressed]

I heard this awesome jam on the radio, like nothing I had ever heard before. I actually sat in the car for half an hour waiting for the DJ to give the set list. He said it was working man, by rush.

 

I went home, scoped my brothers albums, and found something that said 2112. I've loved their music ever since.

 

 

 

[Tull Fan Too]

I was first introduced to Rush by my Dad. I think I was about 13, my Dad was doing yardwork and listening to his boombox. I didn't recognize what he was listening to (for me this is unusual) so I asked him. He told me "Rush". A little while later he asked me what I thought of them. I wasn't really impressed and said so. I was somewhat surprised by how disappointed he seemed.

 

Fast forward 10 years. I'm recording a digital cable radio channel and the first thing I capture is the last 3 minutes of "By-tor". I don't recognize it, but it sounds pretty cool and I see that the band's name is Rush. Over the next few weeks I manage to catch "Spirit of Radio" too.

 

Meanwhile, the in-store Muszac where I work starts changing their format a bit, and I start hearing a series of really interesting songs. (I now know that those songs were "Today's Tom Sawyer", "New World Man", "Limelight", and- rarely- "Subdivisons".) Eventually *light bulb* I realize "Hey, those songs are by Rush!". (I'm still not sure how I managed to make the connection.)

 

I still remembered that my Dad liked Rush, so when I went to visit him this past summer I brought my MiniDisc recorder and recorded all the Rush albums he owned. It turned out he had about 14(!). He told me he didn't even realize he had that many!

 

The first album I listened to was All the World's a Stage. It was late at night, I was tired, and the high-pitched voice was piercing my eardrums. I turned it off in disgust after about three songs.

 

The next night I tried Caress of Steel. I had decided that I liked what I heard of the music, and if I had to put up with annoying vocals to get that music, than so be it. Somewhat to my surprise, I really liked COS- despite the singer. Side Two was really cool.

 

Also while I was there, my Dad showed me the RiR DVD. It was an AWESOME experience.

 

I took my copies of my Dad's CDs home and started listening to Rush almost non-stop. It took me a week of nearly constant listening to go through all of his albums. Somewhere in the course of that week I was converted- Lee's voice (I'd learned their names by then) didn't bother me any more, and the music was just indescribably fantastic. I've been a die-hard Rush fan since then (it's been about six months now).

 

A couple postscripts:

 

I started buying some of the Rush albums that my Dad didn't have and sending copies to him, thus returning the favor of him letting me copy his albums (and broadening his Rush horizons, as well).

 

I've been trying to convert my Mom, and recently had a "breakthrough". Previously when I'd played Rush for her all she would say was that it all sounded the same to her. (Yeah, me too- WTF?) When I bought AFTK and Hemispheres I copied them for her car CD changer. I told her AFTK was like a combination of Minstrel in the Gallery (by Jethro Tull) and Pink Floyd. That caught her interest! A few days later she told me she had listened to most of it, and she really liked the music but was having a hard time with the singer. I told her she was at the point I was about six months ago. I have a feeling she will come around eventually, just like I did.

 

It's really cool when you can turn your own parents onto "new" music.

 

Well, that's my story. This post ended up WAY longer than I had intended. I hope I didn't bore you all too much.

 

 

[patjnev]

My friend knew I was a musician and played in the school band. He played Tom Sawyer from his tape deck over the phone one night and I listened thinking it was cool. Then the next day at school he lent me the tape and I listened to it while walking home. I think it was about 1981 and I was a freshman. I mostly listened to people like Chuck Mangione and Maynard Ferguson at the time and my only experience in rock and roll was laughing at my other friends Kiss albums. Anyway long story short I got a chill up my spin from the fading synth when Alex played the moving chords right before the bridge in Tom Sawyer and I was hooked.

I went to a local used record shop and bought Exit Stage Left and the rest is history. I think what hooked me at the time was the keys. I even bought a Korg Poly-61 at the time and when Signals came out I was ready with a few years of piano lessions and then I switched to guitar too a few years later. even to this day I look at those years with fondness I think being a Rush fan helped save me from myself in some ways .

[thestand]

I swear I posted in this thread before... guess not...

 

My first experience is very strange. It was what some people haven't even experienced yet.

 

My uncle was in town from Oregon (this was only in 2004), and he was looking at the schedule for our local Performing Arts Center. He saw Rush. So, literally, my first Rush experience was 10 rows from the stage. Not a bad introduction. And, as it says in my profile, I got a shirt thrown to me by Geddy from a dryer. I think the people around me were pissed, because they knew I wasn't a fan, because I kept asking my uncle what song it was. Some of the songs that I distinctly remembered asking- YYZ, Big Money, La Villa, and Working Man. Oh, how fast things change.

[greenbay4901]

The first time I heard about Rush was when I was in grade 8. My english teacher was a bigtime Rush fan. Used to come in class with his electric guitar.We once had to make a test on Rush.