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5 "Signature" Rush Songs?


WorkingAllTheTime
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Wikipedia: "A signature song is the one song (or, in some cases, one of a few songs) that a popular and well-established singer or band is most closely identified with or best known for, even if they have had success with a variety of songs. Signature songs can be the result of spontaneous public identification and/or a marketing tool developed by the music industry to promote artists, sell their recordings, and develop a fan base."

 

Or in other words their most mainstream or popular songs. Therefore it would be:

 

Working Man

2112 Overture/Temples

The Spirit of Radio

Tom Sawyer

Limelight

 

 

Freewill, Subdivisons, or Closer to the Heart could be in there too. Even Fly By Night.

Edited by savagegrace26
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2112

Xanadu

Bytor & the Snowdog

Cygnus X1

Hemispheres

 

Alternate in La Vila Strangato every second night ;)

 

I don't care what anyone says, Rush will always be defined by their epic pieces. When Rush ruled the world, that was their signature formula. 15 min tunes, heavy guitar, taurus pedals, ripping solos, and a spattering of synths. Spirit of Radio is a great song but it certain is far from defining the sound of the band.

 

Again, if you want to talk about their "best" songs, that's fine. If you want to talk about the songs that represent Rush's sound, I don't see how you can choose songs all from 4 albums made in a 4 year period when the sounds on the other 15 are so dramatically different.

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Quick question. Has Working Man in some form or another ever not been part of their setlist?...

 

Signals, Grace Under Pressure, Power Windows, Hold Your Fire, Presto, Roll The Bones, Counterparts andTest For Echo tours.

 

First played again on the Vapor Trails tour after a 20 year hiatus.

Thanks. Glad this wasn't Final Jeopardy. I would have lost... :LOL:

 

Wasn't played on the CA tour either.

 

It was played on the first five nights of the Clockwork Angels tour.

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Xanadu

Closer To The Heart

Spirit Of Radio

Tom Sawyer

YYZ

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Xanadu

Closer To The Heart

Spirit Of Radio

Tom Sawyer

YYZ

 

Damn Segue. That... that's a good list. :clap:

 

Thanks! These are the songs I would recommend, if I had to stick to an EP length! They are also five of my favourite Rush songs!

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2112

Xanadu

Bytor & the Snowdog

Cygnus X1

Hemispheres

 

Alternate in La Vila Strangato every second night ;)

 

I don't care what anyone says, Rush will always be defined by their epic pieces. When Rush ruled the world, that was their signature formula. 15 min tunes, heavy guitar, taurus pedals, ripping solos, and a spattering of synths. Spirit of Radio is a great song but it certain is far from defining the sound of the band.

 

Again, if you want to talk about their "best" songs, that's fine. If you want to talk about the songs that represent Rush's sound, I don't see how you can choose songs all from 4 albums made in a 4 year period when the sounds on the other 15 are so dramatically different.

 

Maybe so if you are trying to reflect a representation of their entire career. But the thread was labeled "Signature Rush songs". If you were to ask music fans to briefly describe Rush's music, they would say things like "long winded", "high pitched", "spacey" and "deep". I think those songs appropriately represent the sound that Rush is famous for. It would be the same thing if you were to do Zeppelin, Genesis or Yes. A 2-1/2 minute song just doesn't represent the music of any of those bands no matter how good it was.

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2112

Xanadu

Bytor & the Snowdog

Cygnus X1

Hemispheres

 

Alternate in La Vila Strangato every second night ;)

 

I don't care what anyone says, Rush will always be defined by their epic pieces. When Rush ruled the world, that was their signature formula. 15 min tunes, heavy guitar, taurus pedals, ripping solos, and a spattering of synths. Spirit of Radio is a great song but it certain is far from defining the sound of the band.

 

Again, if you want to talk about their "best" songs, that's fine. If you want to talk about the songs that represent Rush's sound, I don't see how you can choose songs all from 4 albums made in a 4 year period when the sounds on the other 15 are so dramatically different.

 

If you were to ask music fans to briefly describe Rush's music

 

they would say "Tom Sawyer"

 

and maybe nerdy, annoying, overly technical, and passionless

Edited by savagegrace26
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Quick question. Has Working Man in some form or another ever not been part of their setlist?...

 

Signals, Grace Under Pressure, Power Windows, Hold Your Fire, Presto, Roll The Bones, Counterparts andTest For Echo tours.

 

First played again on the Vapor Trails tour after a 20 year hiatus.

Thanks. Glad this wasn't Final Jeopardy. I would have lost... :LOL:

 

Wasn't played on the CA tour either.

Yes, it was. Early on in the tour they played it with the reggae intro.

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I'd have to say…

 

The Spirit of Radio

Subdivisions

Headlong Flight

2112: Overture / The Temples of Syrinx

Tom Sawyer

 

So tough to leave out Limelight, CTTH, and La Villa!

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As far as their five "signature" songs are in EP format:

 

The Spirit Of Radio

Tom Sawyer

2112 (shortened version)

Closer To The Heart

Limelight

 

The five that best represent their sound however:

 

The Spirit Of Radio

Tom Sawyer

Xanadu

Headlong Flight

Subdivisions

 

Hate to be unoriginal, but I believe you just can't argue too much over these choices. But you could certainly try ;)

 

 

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Wikipedia: "A signature song is the one song (or, in some cases, one of a few songs) that a popular and well-established singer or band is most closely identified with or best known for, even if they have had success with a variety of songs. Signature songs can be the result of spontaneous public identification and/or a marketing tool developed by the music industry to promote artists, sell their recordings, and develop a fan base."

 

Or in other words their most mainstream or popular songs. Therefore it would be:

 

Working Man

2112 Overture/Temples

The Spirit of Radio

Tom Sawyer

Limelight

 

 

Freewill, Subdivisons, or Closer to the Heart could be in there too. Even Fly By Night.

 

You actually make sense. Typical over-seriousness, but you make sense. :cheers:

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Quick question. Has Working Man in some form or another ever not been part of their setlist?...

 

Signals, Grace Under Pressure, Power Windows, Hold Your Fire, Presto, Roll The Bones, Counterparts andTest For Echo tours.

 

First played again on the Vapor Trails tour after a 20 year hiatus.

Thanks. Glad this wasn't Final Jeopardy. I would have lost... :LOL:

 

Wasn't played on the CA tour either.

Yes, it was. Early on in the tour they played it with the reggae intro.

 

They played it in Austin (the first show after the RRHOF induction, in fact) during the summer leg, as well. I remember laughing at the drunk college kid behind me going bonkers over the reggae intro (newbies!).

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Quick question. Has Working Man in some form or another ever not been part of their setlist?...

 

Signals, Grace Under Pressure, Power Windows, Hold Your Fire, Presto, Roll The Bones, Counterparts andTest For Echo tours.

 

First played again on the Vapor Trails tour after a 20 year hiatus.

Thanks. Glad this wasn't Final Jeopardy. I would have lost... :LOL:

 

Wasn't played on the CA tour either.

Yes, it was. Early on in the tour they played it with the reggae intro.

 

Right, but wasn't that still the TM tour? The tours kind of ran together.

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Quick question. Has Working Man in some form or another ever not been part of their setlist?...

 

Signals, Grace Under Pressure, Power Windows, Hold Your Fire, Presto, Roll The Bones, Counterparts andTest For Echo tours.

 

First played again on the Vapor Trails tour after a 20 year hiatus.

Thanks. Glad this wasn't Final Jeopardy. I would have lost... :LOL:

 

Wasn't played on the CA tour either.

Yes, it was. Early on in the tour they played it with the reggae intro.

 

Right, but wasn't that still the TM tour? The tours kind of ran together.

 

From the Power Windows site:

 

Time Machine Tour

June 29 - October 17, 2010; March 30 - July 2, 2011

Clockwork Angels Tour

September 7 - December 2 2012; April 23, 2013 - August 4, 2013

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2112

The Spirit Of Radio

Tom Sawyer

Subdivisions

Headlong Flight

 

The first four are obvious. Headlong Flight is a good summation of what direction their music went towards since the early 90's (HALF of their timespan as a unit, as much as people like to give the 90's and 2000's the cold shoulder), and is also wildly popular, probably the song that's gotten the most fans frothing at the mouth since Dreamline or even Subdivisions.

 

Not including Working Man because even though it's the pillar of their early foundation Neil wasn't involved and honestly...it's not very "Rush-like", but more of your run of the mill 70's hard rock song, even though it's a good one at that. In my opinion Rush didn't start sounding like the Rush I know until they wrote Anthem and By-Tor, and then with CoS and 2112.

 

how can you include a song that's "a good summation of what direction their music went", but not one that's "the pillar of their early foundation"? because Peart wasn't involved? so this is "Peart's Rush's signature songs"? besides, it's a lot more than a pillar of their early development, it's the song that broke them.

 

Peart has put decades into this song.. it's also the song that gave Rush the biggest percentage of fanbase growth.. it's the most important song of their career! signature songs are the ones people identify with and that's exactly why Working man became a hit, because people in Cleveland identified with the lyrics so much!

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Quick question. Has Working Man in some form or another ever not been part of their setlist?...

 

Signals, Grace Under Pressure, Power Windows, Hold Your Fire, Presto, Roll The Bones, Counterparts andTest For Echo tours.

 

First played again on the Vapor Trails tour after a 20 year hiatus.

Thanks. Glad this wasn't Final Jeopardy. I would have lost... :LOL:

 

Wasn't played on the CA tour either.

Don't I feel like a dumb @ss...

 

Nah. It does seem like it was played way more often.

My :rush: card seems in jeopardy... :)

I invented that term. You're welcome

It's not just a variation of "turn in your Man Card?". :eh:
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