Rush: Heaviest Prog Band of the 70s?

[MMCXII]

I never ever think of Rush as metal.....maybe when they first hit.......but now they wouldn't qualify at all in my book.

 

Mick

Clockwork Angels is metal my friend...it's metal to it's core. What is Headlong Flight? Easy listening? Soft Rock? Rock n Roll?

 

Metal!

 

..........i give up.....sigh........sure. CA......."Yawns".....rah-freakin'-rah

 

Mick

 

CA fans treat that album like it is the greatest thing since the invention of the pop tart.

 

Liking it and knowing that's it metal are two separate things!

[lifeson90]

rush aren't metal and never have been.

 

i fail to see how anyone could interpret rush as being metal in any way there must be something wrong with you.

 

:)

[Rutlefan]

"modern metal you can easily trace most of it back to the following bands - black sabbath, judas priest, motorhead, iron maiden, metallica. those groups, imo, set the standard for metal whether you're a fan of them or not. even though maiden aren't particularly heavy, you hear their influence very clearly in a shitload of new music still. rush's impact on metal is pretty small outside of prog metal, which is obviously inspired by rush since rush were one of the first groups to blend "prog" with a strong hard rock sound. "

 

I'm 50-ish and this is EXACTLY how I've always understood Heavy Metal vs hard rock. Back in the mid/late '70s I thought of my beloved Rush and Aerosmith as hard rock, broadly speaking, while Heavy Metal was Sabbath and Priest and the like; I would have never thought of hard rock acts as Metal. As Punk would come with its own culture, so did Metal. Wasn't just me either, at least where I lived. We definitely recognized "Metal Heads" as a school subculture, and while I was definitely a hard rock guy in Jr. High, I was never a Metal Head. When the movie Heavy Metal came out I thought that the soundtrack was just heavy-sounding rock, but not Heavy Metal at all (I thought Sammy Haggar was just Jimmy Buffet with power chords, and Cheap Trick -- who I loved -- had nothing to do with Metal, being good ol' hard rock/power pop with a bit of proto punk maybe), so I guess there was this broader way of understanding it, but for me Heavy Metal involved black leather and decapitated wildlife. Then came Maiden and Metallica, and then so many types of Metal I can't pretend to know much about it anymore. But Foghat as "Metal"? Might as well call anything louder than Captain and Tennille metal. (Not sure what you'd call Foghat actually; '70s Biker Bar Rock?)

Edited April 20, 2015 by Rutlefan

[Tony R]

During the 70s Heavy Metal, Heavy Rock and Hard Rock were pretty much interchangeable. You cannot rewrite history to suit your misconceptions and it is foolish to get hung up over semantics. When Thrash came along it was heavier because it was more brutal and aggressive but it was still "Thrash Metal" and since then "Metal" appears to apply to bands who have Metallica, Megadeth, and Slayer in their influence lineage.

 

[Tony R]

Here's something written about Rush in March 76:

 

 

Seeing the band's main thrust as rezoning the elusive progressive artisms of bands like Yes and Genesis for a three-piece formula, he doesn't think that heavy metal as a strict jungle doctrine will be staying around much longer. "It was great for a while, but no type of music can stay in that embryonic stage for long.

 

Earlier still, 1975:

 

 

As they say in the music business, this band is making a lot of noise (no pun intended). A lot of heavy metal noise, to be precise, but noise that's attracted a good deal of attention. Progressive stations are starting to get all over this LP, people are walking away from Rush concerts absolutely blitzed, the LP is beginning to rise faster than a refueled rocket.

 

Edited April 20, 2015 by Tony R

[Tony R]

rush aren't metal and never have been.

 

i fail to see how anyone could interpret rush as being metal in any way there must be something wrong with you.

 

:)

 

I think that 2112 was as "metal" as anything that came out in 1976. I get what you are saying because the term "metal" has evolved over time; Sabbath, Priest, Motörhead and Rush were pretty much considered different examples of the same genre back in the day and I guess your take on the different genre descriptions depends a lot on which music mags you read and what radio shows you tuned into.

 

 

[Tony R]

"modern metal you can easily trace most of it back to the following bands - black sabbath, judas priest, motorhead, iron maiden, metallica. those groups, imo, set the standard for metal whether you're a fan of them or not. even though maiden aren't particularly heavy, you hear their influence very clearly in a shitload of new music still. rush's impact on metal is pretty small outside of prog metal, which is obviously inspired by rush since rush were one of the first groups to blend "prog" with a strong hard rock sound. "

 

I'm 50-ish and this is EXACTLY how I've always understood Heavy Metal vs hard rock. Back in the mid/late '70s I thought of my beloved Rush and Aerosmith as hard rock, broadly speaking, while Heavy Metal was Sabbath and Priest and the like; I would have never thought of hard rock acts as Metal. As Punk would come with its own culture, so did Metal. Wasn't just me either, at least where I lived. We definitely recognized "Metal Heads" as a school subculture, and while I was definitely a hard rock guy in Jr. High, I was never a Metal Head. When the movie Heavy Metal came out I thought that the soundtrack was just heavy-sounding rock, but not Heavy Metal at all (I thought Sammy Haggar was just Jimmy Buffet with power chords, and Cheap Trick -- who I loved -- had nothing to do with Metal, being good ol' hard rock/power pop with a bit of proto punk maybe), so I guess there was this broader way of understanding it, but for me Heavy Metal involved black leather and decapitated wildlife. Then came Maiden and Metallica, and then so many types of Metal I can't pretend to know much about it anymore. But Foghat as "Metal"? Might as well call anything louder than Captain and Tennille metal. (Not sure what you'd call Foghat actually; '70s Biker Bar Rock?)

You cannot underestimate the influence that Rush had on Maiden and the other NWOBHM bands, especially 2112 and AFTK which were massive amongst the heavy metallers in the UK.

 

[Tony R]

A CANADIAN RUSH

 

THE METAL MARVELS THAT TOOK THE ROCK WORLD BY SURPRISE

 

CIRCUS, FEBRUARY 14, 1977

 

 

 

[EagleMoon]

"modern metal you can easily trace most of it back to the following bands - black sabbath, judas priest, motorhead, iron maiden, metallica. those groups, imo, set the standard for metal whether you're a fan of them or not. even though maiden aren't particularly heavy, you hear their influence very clearly in a shitload of new music still. rush's impact on metal is pretty small outside of prog metal, which is obviously inspired by rush since rush were one of the first groups to blend "prog" with a strong hard rock sound. "

 

I'm 50-ish and this is EXACTLY how I've always understood Heavy Metal vs hard rock. Back in the mid/late '70s I thought of my beloved Rush and Aerosmith as hard rock, broadly speaking, while Heavy Metal was Sabbath and Priest and the like; I would have never thought of hard rock acts as Metal. As Punk would come with its own culture, so did Metal. Wasn't just me either, at least where I lived. We definitely recognized "Metal Heads" as a school subculture, and while I was definitely a hard rock guy in Jr. High, I was never a Metal Head. When the movie Heavy Metal came out I thought that the soundtrack was just heavy-sounding rock, but not Heavy Metal at all (I thought Sammy Haggar was just Jimmy Buffet with power chords, and Cheap Trick -- who I loved -- had nothing to do with Metal, being good ol' hard rock/power pop with a bit of proto punk maybe), so I guess there was this broader way of understanding it, but for me Heavy Metal involved black leather and decapitated wildlife. Then came Maiden and Metallica, and then so many types of Metal I can't pretend to know much about it anymore. But Foghat as "Metal"? Might as well call anything louder than Captain and Tennille metal. (Not sure what you'd call Foghat actually; '70s Biker Bar Rock?)

 

This is exactly the way it was where I lived. Rush was considered hard rock music not metal. Bands with more of a dark edge and heavy power chords, like Black Sabbath, were considered metal.

[Tony R]

"modern metal you can easily trace most of it back to the following bands - black sabbath, judas priest, motorhead, iron maiden, metallica. those groups, imo, set the standard for metal whether you're a fan of them or not. even though maiden aren't particularly heavy, you hear their influence very clearly in a shitload of new music still. rush's impact on metal is pretty small outside of prog metal, which is obviously inspired by rush since rush were one of the first groups to blend "prog" with a strong hard rock sound. "

 

I'm 50-ish and this is EXACTLY how I've always understood Heavy Metal vs hard rock. Back in the mid/late '70s I thought of my beloved Rush and Aerosmith as hard rock, broadly speaking, while Heavy Metal was Sabbath and Priest and the like; I would have never thought of hard rock acts as Metal. As Punk would come with its own culture, so did Metal. Wasn't just me either, at least where I lived. We definitely recognized "Metal Heads" as a school subculture, and while I was definitely a hard rock guy in Jr. High, I was never a Metal Head. When the movie Heavy Metal came out I thought that the soundtrack was just heavy-sounding rock, but not Heavy Metal at all (I thought Sammy Haggar was just Jimmy Buffet with power chords, and Cheap Trick -- who I loved -- had nothing to do with Metal, being good ol' hard rock/power pop with a bit of proto punk maybe), so I guess there was this broader way of understanding it, but for me Heavy Metal involved black leather and decapitated wildlife. Then came Maiden and Metallica, and then so many types of Metal I can't pretend to know much about it anymore. But Foghat as "Metal"? Might as well call anything louder than Captain and Tennille metal. (Not sure what you'd call Foghat actually; '70s Biker Bar Rock?)

 

This is exactly the way it was where I lived. Rush was considered hard rock music not metal. Bands with more of a dark edge and heavy power chords, like Black Sabbath, were considered metal.

Pittsburgh was a heavy rock town, wasn't it? There was probably a more sophisticated scene there in the mid 70s than many other cities. Many commentators would describe 2112 as having a dark edge and heavy power cords, in fact I remember some critics thinking the Red Star was satanic and the Priests were Satan's acolytes.

 

 

[EagleMoon]

"modern metal you can easily trace most of it back to the following bands - black sabbath, judas priest, motorhead, iron maiden, metallica. those groups, imo, set the standard for metal whether you're a fan of them or not. even though maiden aren't particularly heavy, you hear their influence very clearly in a shitload of new music still. rush's impact on metal is pretty small outside of prog metal, which is obviously inspired by rush since rush were one of the first groups to blend "prog" with a strong hard rock sound. "

 

I'm 50-ish and this is EXACTLY how I've always understood Heavy Metal vs hard rock. Back in the mid/late '70s I thought of my beloved Rush and Aerosmith as hard rock, broadly speaking, while Heavy Metal was Sabbath and Priest and the like; I would have never thought of hard rock acts as Metal. As Punk would come with its own culture, so did Metal. Wasn't just me either, at least where I lived. We definitely recognized "Metal Heads" as a school subculture, and while I was definitely a hard rock guy in Jr. High, I was never a Metal Head. When the movie Heavy Metal came out I thought that the soundtrack was just heavy-sounding rock, but not Heavy Metal at all (I thought Sammy Haggar was just Jimmy Buffet with power chords, and Cheap Trick -- who I loved -- had nothing to do with Metal, being good ol' hard rock/power pop with a bit of proto punk maybe), so I guess there was this broader way of understanding it, but for me Heavy Metal involved black leather and decapitated wildlife. Then came Maiden and Metallica, and then so many types of Metal I can't pretend to know much about it anymore. But Foghat as "Metal"? Might as well call anything louder than Captain and Tennille metal. (Not sure what you'd call Foghat actually; '70s Biker Bar Rock?)

 

This is exactly the way it was where I lived. Rush was considered hard rock music not metal. Bands with more of a dark edge and heavy power chords, like Black Sabbath, were considered metal.

Pittsburgh was a heavy rock town, wasn't it? There was probably a more sophisticated scene there in the mid 70s than many other cities. Many commentators would describe 2112 as having a dark edge and heavy power cords, in fact I remember some critics thinking the Red Star was satanic and the Priests were Satan's acolytes.

 

I didn't grow up in Pittsburgh, but closer to Cincinnati Ohio. I'm sure there might have been talk about the red star being satanic. I've even had someone ask me that quite recently and they live out in Oregon. However that's just the album cover, nothing to do with the music.

[Rutlefan]

During the 70s Heavy Metal, Heavy Rock and Hard Rock were pretty much interchangeable. You cannot rewrite history to suit your misconceptions and it is foolish to get hung up over semantics. When Thrash came along it was heavier because it was more brutal and aggressive but it was still "Thrash Metal" and since then "Metal" appears to apply to bands who have Metallica, Megadeth, and Slayer in their influence lineage.

 

Maybe where you lived but not where I lived (U.S. Midwest and then East Coast). Of course you can find headlines that call Rush metal; to my dad all that "rock and/or roll" is metal, doesn't mean it was so. Rush themselves, who lived through the '70s and even made music then, from what I recall, deny they were ever "Metal" claiming instead they were hard rock with a prog influence/twist, exactly as I thought of them at the time as well.

 

Again, obviously they were/are people who considered "Metal" a broader term then what I and others around me knew, but saying they weren't metal as I understood the term even then isn't "rewriting history." If so, who's history would that be? Circus magazines'? UK? Fine if it's the UK; I wouldn't know. I'll go with mine and that of Rush themselves and maintain that Rush was never "Metal." Foot in the door at times? Of course as they were multi-faceted, but as the focus of their identity? I don't buy it.

 

p.s. "Bands with more of a dark edge and heavy power chords, like Black Sabbath, were considered metal." 2nd that. This claim that some make that universally, there was no distinction in the '70s between "hard rock" and "heavy metal," is ridiculous. Long before "Metal" categories became a nuanced labyrinth of sub-genres, I and people I knew understood that the loud guitars of Aerosmith or Van Halen were a different thing from that of Sabbath and Priest. We called the first thing Hard Rock and the latter Heavy Metal. This wasn't some kind of imposing the present onto the past thing. Again, some people used (and still use, apparently) "Metal" more broadly, calling Zeppelin metal, for instance (because of one song, Whole Lotta Love?), which I would have never done. Definitely in the early '70s it was a vaguer/broader term but by the mid/late '70s, when Rush was making their great records, there was a clear distinction between hard rock and heavy metal. No redaction of the historical record necessary.

Edited April 20, 2015 by Rutlefan

[bluefox4000]

Some times i think people go a little to trigger happy with the metal label, lol

 

Mick

[Tony R]

During the 70s Heavy Metal, Heavy Rock and Hard Rock were pretty much interchangeable. You cannot rewrite history to suit your misconceptions and it is foolish to get hung up over semantics. When Thrash came along it was heavier because it was more brutal and aggressive but it was still "Thrash Metal" and since then "Metal" appears to apply to bands who have Metallica, Megadeth, and Slayer in their influence lineage.

 

Maybe where you lived but not where I lived (U.S. Midwest and then East Coast). Of course you can find headlines that call Rush metal; to my dad all that "rock and/or roll" is metal, doesn't mean it was so. Rush themselves, who lived through the '70s and even made music then, from what I recall, deny they were ever "Metal" claiming instead they were hard rock with a prog influence/twist, exactly as I thought of them at the time as well.

 

Again, obviously they were/are people who considered "Metal" a broader term then what I and others around me knew, but saying they weren't metal as I understood the term even then isn't "rewriting history." If so, who's history would that be? Circus magazines'? UK? Fine if it's the UK; I wouldn't know. I'll go with mine and that of Rush themselves and maintain that Rush was never "Metal." Foot in the door at times? Of course as they were multi-faceted, but as the focus of their identity? I don't buy it.

 

p.s. "Bands with more of a dark edge and heavy power chords, like Black Sabbath, were considered metal." 2nd that. This claim that some make that universally, there was no distinction in the '70s between "hard rock" and "heavy metal," is ridiculous. Long before "Metal" categories became a nuanced labyrinth of sub-genres, I and people I knew understood that the loud guitars of Aerosmith or Van Halen were a different thing from that of Sabbath and Priest. We called the first thing Hard Rock and the latter Heavy Metal. This wasn't some kind of imposing the present onto the past thing. Again, some people used (and still use, apparently) "Metal" more broadly, calling Zeppelin metal, for instance (because of one song, Whole Lotta Love?), which I would have never done. Definitely in the early '70s it was a vaguer/broader term but by the mid/late '70s, when Rush was making their great records, there was a clear distinction between hard rock and heavy metal. No redaction of the historical record necessary.

Ok, that's not my experience at all. The term "Heavy Metal" was virtually coined for Led Zep (yes I know about Born To Be Wild, and also the history of Sabbath) but that's OK. Music styles evolve and therefore genres change to allow us nerds to make distinctions.

It's all music at the end of the day.

 

[Tony R]

Some times i think people go a little to trigger happy with the metal label, lol

 

Mick

 

I think the term is used as a perjorative by sections of the media.

[Rutlefan]

^^ I remember reading long ago, somewhere, that the term "Heavy Metal" was coined for LZ, as you say. Specifically, the single Whole Lotta Love. I was four at the time of LZII so of course I could only read about it later (I do though remember hearing WLL on a juke box as a really young kid and thinking it was the meanest sounding thing I'd ever heard). So it does seem that it was a broad term at first. But by the time I became conscious of these things in the mid/late '70s there was definitely a distinction where I grew up. I just asked the audiophile and classic rock fanatic down the hall what his experience was as he has a few years on me and it was the same. Being older than me he even says he remembers when he first heard "Heavy Metal" used and, again, it was used to describe LZ at the beginning of their career. But he added, within a few years people were clearly using the term for bands like Sabbath and Priest, with Aerosmith and Zeppelin being hard rock. Again, where we lived at least (he's also from the DC area).

 

As an aside, this guy said he just picked up the new AFTK remaster. Hasn't listened to it yet though. He's been following Rush since he saw them play tracks from their first album on Don Kirshner's rock concert. Unlike me he never abandoned them so he's got firsthand stories that span their entire career.

[Digital Dad]

Metal

Sabbath

Priest

Maiden

Metallica

 

Hard Rock

Zeppelin

Purple

Thin Lizzy

BLue oyster Cult

 

Prog

Rush

Floyd

VDGG

Gentle Giant

 

 

[x1yyz]

Budgie was heavier. Rush was pretty heavy too, but neither of them are really metal. Then again, there's so many sub genres of metal that they might fit into one.

 

Budgie and Rush ARE heavy metal. There's bands now that are so heavy that they make earlier bands seem tame. people forgot what heavy metal is..

 

I've talked to an old guy who tried to tell me foghat were heavy metal.

 

it seems like the 70s definition of heavy metal is too loose - you talk to a 50 year old and he'll tell you that anything louder than the bee gees is metal! and then some of the youngsters of today won't call it metal if it's softer than slayer. it gets weird and confusing

 

Heavy metal is blues based hard rock with distorted guitar. Pretty sure that's the original definition so why are we changing it through the years?? as far as I know that's what metal is, and always was. Youngsters need to listen to 50 year olds more because they were there when metal began dammit!!!!! Ok except for maybe that foghat guy.. Lol

 

 

"modern metal you can easily trace most of it back to the following bands - black sabbath, judas priest, motorhead, iron maiden, metallica. those groups, imo, set the standard for metal whether you're a fan of them or not. even though maiden aren't particularly heavy, you hear their influence very clearly in a shitload of new music still. rush's impact on metal is pretty small outside of prog metal, which is obviously inspired by rush since rush were one of the first groups to blend "prog" with a strong hard rock sound. "

 

I'm 50-ish and this is EXACTLY how I've always understood Heavy Metal vs hard rock. Back in the mid/late '70s I thought of my beloved Rush and Aerosmith as hard rock, broadly speaking, while Heavy Metal was Sabbath and Priest and the like; I would have never thought of hard rock acts as Metal. As Punk would come with its own culture, so did Metal. Wasn't just me either, at least where I lived. We definitely recognized "Metal Heads" as a school subculture, and while I was definitely a hard rock guy in Jr. High, I was never a Metal Head. When the movie Heavy Metal came out I thought that the soundtrack was just heavy-sounding rock, but not Heavy Metal at all (I thought Sammy Haggar was just Jimmy Buffet with power chords, and Cheap Trick -- who I loved -- had nothing to do with Metal, being good ol' hard rock/power pop with a bit of proto punk maybe), so I guess there was this broader way of understanding it, but for me Heavy Metal involved black leather and decapitated wildlife. Then came Maiden and Metallica, and then so many types of Metal I can't pretend to know much about it anymore. But Foghat as "Metal"? Might as well call anything louder than Captain and Tennille metal. (Not sure what you'd call Foghat actually; '70s Biker Bar Rock?)

You cannot underestimate the influence that Rush had on Maiden and the other NWOBHM bands, especially 2112 and AFTK which were massive amongst the heavy metallers in the UK.

 

 

I know I'm late to the thread, but as a 50 year old that still listens to metal stuff I can tell you that music and definitions have definitely changed over the years. What everyone is talking about here is described by the phenomenon known as shifting baselines--basically, whatever is current is thought of as the standard, even though the standard was different in the past.

 

Back in the very early 80s music magazines would alternately refer to Rush as "hard rock" and "heavy metal." It was about that same time that the U.S. started hearing about the New Wave of British Heavy Metal. Unlike more blatantly blues-based heavy metal acts such as Zeppelin and Sabbath, the NWoBHM bands had a different, less blues-y sound, and were heavier. NWoBHM bands set a new definition for "heavy metal" and this definition is basically the one we know today.

 

Since the early 80s metal has gotten much darker and heavier. Slayer and Metallica were just finding their stride, and when they did they skewed the definition of metal a bit more. Once Scandinavian death metal stuff became popular that super-intense stuff set the bar for the HEAVIEST of heavy metal.

 

I'm saying all this to reiterate that back in the 70s and maybe even the first couple years of the 80s Rush was known as a heavy metal band. But, compared to today's metal bands, even Rush's older stuff would only be considered heavy metal in a historical context.

[Tombstone Mountain]

Budgie was heavier. Rush was pretty heavy too, but neither of them are really metal. Then again, there's so many sub genres of metal that they might fit into one.

 

Budgie and Rush ARE heavy metal. There's bands now that are so heavy that they make earlier bands seem tame. people forgot what heavy metal is..

 

I've talked to an old guy who tried to tell me foghat were heavy metal.

 

it seems like the 70s definition of heavy metal is too loose - you talk to a 50 year old and he'll tell you that anything louder than the bee gees is metal! and then some of the youngsters of today won't call it metal if it's softer than slayer. it gets weird and confusing

 

Heavy metal is blues based hard rock with distorted guitar. Pretty sure that's the original definition so why are we changing it through the years?? as far as I know that's what metal is, and always was. Youngsters need to listen to 50 year olds more because they were there when metal began dammit!!!!! Ok except for maybe that foghat guy.. Lol

 

 

"modern metal you can easily trace most of it back to the following bands - black sabbath, judas priest, motorhead, iron maiden, metallica. those groups, imo, set the standard for metal whether you're a fan of them or not. even though maiden aren't particularly heavy, you hear their influence very clearly in a shitload of new music still. rush's impact on metal is pretty small outside of prog metal, which is obviously inspired by rush since rush were one of the first groups to blend "prog" with a strong hard rock sound. "

 

I'm 50-ish and this is EXACTLY how I've always understood Heavy Metal vs hard rock. Back in the mid/late '70s I thought of my beloved Rush and Aerosmith as hard rock, broadly speaking, while Heavy Metal was Sabbath and Priest and the like; I would have never thought of hard rock acts as Metal. As Punk would come with its own culture, so did Metal. Wasn't just me either, at least where I lived. We definitely recognized "Metal Heads" as a school subculture, and while I was definitely a hard rock guy in Jr. High, I was never a Metal Head. When the movie Heavy Metal came out I thought that the soundtrack was just heavy-sounding rock, but not Heavy Metal at all (I thought Sammy Haggar was just Jimmy Buffet with power chords, and Cheap Trick -- who I loved -- had nothing to do with Metal, being good ol' hard rock/power pop with a bit of proto punk maybe), so I guess there was this broader way of understanding it, but for me Heavy Metal involved black leather and decapitated wildlife. Then came Maiden and Metallica, and then so many types of Metal I can't pretend to know much about it anymore. But Foghat as "Metal"? Might as well call anything louder than Captain and Tennille metal. (Not sure what you'd call Foghat actually; '70s Biker Bar Rock?)

You cannot underestimate the influence that Rush had on Maiden and the other NWOBHM bands, especially 2112 and AFTK which were massive amongst the heavy metallers in the UK.

 

 

I know I'm late to the thread, but as a 50 year old that still listens to metal stuff I can tell you that music and definitions have definitely changed over the years. What everyone is talking about here is described by the phenomenon known as shifting baselines--basically, whatever is current is thought of as the standard, even though the standard was different in the past.

 

Back in the very early 80s music magazines would alternately refer to Rush as "hard rock" and "heavy metal." It was about that same time that the U.S. started hearing about the New Wave of British Heavy Metal. Unlike more blatantly blues-based heavy metal acts such as Zeppelin and Sabbath, the NWoBHM bands had a different, less blues-y sound, and were heavier. NWoBHM bands set a new definition for "heavy metal" and this definition is basically the one we know today.

 

Since the early 80s metal has gotten much darker and heavier. Slayer and Metallica were just finding their stride, and when they did they skewed the definition of metal a bit more. Once Scandinavian death metal stuff became popular that super-intense stuff set the bar for the HEAVIEST of heavy metal.

 

I'm saying all this to reiterate that back in the 70s and maybe even the first couple years of the 80s Rush was known as a heavy metal band. But, compared to today's metal bands, even Rush's older stuff would only be considered heavy metal in a historical context.

^^^^that's what she said...well done!

[Rutlefan]

"I'm saying all this to reiterate that back in the 70s and maybe even the first couple years of the 80s Rush was known as a heavy metal band..."

 

Rush known as a heavy metal band in the first couple years of the '80s?!? Wah? Not criticizing, just saying it's clear that there are real regional differences going on here. I can't imagine anyone thinking that PeW and MP were metal. Just doesn't compute.

 

When the movie Heavy Metal came out in '81 I was in high school. Me and my friends thought it funny that there didn't seem to be any actual metal in the soundtrack, just hard rock acts (for the most part). Granted the title is taken from the magazine, which in turn was taken from Metal Hurlant, but it was supposed to be a play on words as well, but there was no play that we could see. I never read rock magazines so maybe Rush was called metal among those and I was unaware, but I was neck deep in hard rock from a young age (Kiss by 4th grade and LZ/Aerosmith/Rush by 5th) and as I grew up among other kids into hard rock, none of us ever thought of LZ, Aerosmith, Rush, Van Halen, UFO, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Molly Hatchet, etc. as Metal. Metal was a different set of groups with a different sound and culture. I don't recall ever knowing an exception. I knew people that argued about a lot of different things in music, but never that one. Obviously my experience isn't universal.

 

Edit: I checked the soundtrack for Heavy Metal out of curiosity and there is one Sabbath track. And a BOC track if you count them as metal.

Edited April 20, 2015 by Rutlefan

[lifeson90]

back in my youth our band was venerated in the punk movement so you could make an argument to say rush are punk, but generally speaking you wouldn't technically be correct i think. Yeah you can make an argument that connections exist between rush and metal and you'd almost certainly be right, but do these connections constitute a right to say the band is metal, i'm personally convinced absolutely not, in fact i think its an aberration of thought to believe so, is just wrong in every sense.

 

Rush just aren't metal. They don't sound metal at all. They don't have the slightest metal feel about them. Whatsoever.

 

They slot into their own esoteric groove that people have to argue about occasionally.

 

Heck, i personally believe they've more in common with Mozart than metal, a highly refined group of artists that happen to use the instruments of rock music to express themselves. there's nothing like rush, plenty of imitators who fail to get even close as they lack the imagination of demi-gods. rush are simply in a world apart.

[Tony R]

back in my youth our band was venerated in the punk movement so you could make an argument to say rush are punk, but generally speaking you wouldn't technically be correct i think. Yeah you can make an argument that connections exist between rush and metal and you'd almost certainly be right, but do these connections constitute a right to say the band is metal, i'm personally convinced absolutely not, in fact i think its an aberration of thought to believe so, is just wrong in every sense.

 

Rush just aren't metal. They don't sound metal at all. They don't have the slightest metal feel about them. Whatsoever.

 

They slot into their own esoteric groove that people have to argue about occasionally.

 

Heck, i personally believe they've more in common with Mozart than metal, a highly refined group of artists that happen to use the instruments of rock music to express themselves. there's nothing like rush, plenty of imitators who fail to get even close as they lack the imagination of demi-gods. rush are simply in a world apart.

 

Err, ok...

 

[x1yyz]

"I'm saying all this to reiterate that back in the 70s and maybe even the first couple years of the 80s Rush was known as a heavy metal band..."

 

Rush known as a heavy metal band in the first couple years of the '80s?!? Wah? Not criticizing, just saying it's clear that there are real regional differences going on here. I can't imagine anyone thinking that PeW and MP were metal. Just doesn't compute.

 

It's not a regional difference. This was what I was reading in magazines like Circus and Kerrang at the time. But remember, when journalists were writing about Rush in 1980 and 1981 they would say stuff like "The new album from heavy metal band Rush," and the descriptor was based on all of Rush's previous albums, which, at the time, were thought of as metal.

 

To put an end to the argument, here are just a few of the various articles from the 80s that describe Rush as heavy metal:

 

 

RUSH - HEAVY METAL STANDARD BEARER

RUSH'S HEAVY-METAL SLUDGE

RUSH'S HEAVY-METAL MESSAGE HITS THE RADIO

RUSH PLAYS HEAVY METAL EPIC

[Rutlefan]

Oh I don't doubt that there were people claiming Rush was Heavy Metal in magazines and on cable access, just that among people I knew that seemed to know something of music with loud guitars, none of them considered Rush Heavy Metal, and this went back to the mid-'70s. As well, I'm sure you can find plenty of magazine articles noting Queen's "Heavy Metal roots" and other such nonsense, for example. Just examples of lazy or stupid journalism, to the extent that it can be thought of as journalism I suppose. There's no shortage of that (but hey, who am I to argue with Mary Campbell of the Frederick Maryland News??? PeW as a "Heavy Metal Epic." ). Even so I'm sure it would be easy to find plenty of articles declaring Rush as something other than Metal. Doesn't prove anything except that people have always used the term differently, or loosely.

 

BTW, what in the world on AFTK is metal? Could ask the same for the rest of their '70s material but that's the most obvious example. Genuinely curious what makes Rush "Metal."

[Tony R]

Oh I don't doubt that there were people claiming Rush was Heavy Metal in magazines and on cable access, just that among people I knew that seemed to know something of music with loud guitars, none of them considered Rush Heavy Metal, and this went back to the mid-'70s. As well, I'm sure you can find plenty of magazine articles noting Queen's "Heavy Metal roots" and other such nonsense, for example. Just examples of lazy or stupid journalism, to the extent that it can be thought of as journalism I suppose. There's no shortage of that (but hey, who am I to argue with Mary Campbell of the Frederick Maryland News??? PeW as a "Heavy Metal Epic." ). Even so I'm sure it would be easy to find plenty of articles declaring Rush as something other than Metal. Doesn't prove anything except that people have always used the term differently, or loosely.

 

BTW, what in the world on AFTK is metal? Could ask the same for the rest of their '70s material but that's the most obvious example. Genuinely curious what makes Rush "Metal."

Alex Lifeson: You mean, let me understand this cause, ya know maybe it's me, I'm a little f***ed up maybe, but I'm Metal how, I mean Metal like I'm Metallica, I shred for you? I make you headbang, I'm here to f***in' rock you? What do you mean Metal, Metal how? How am I Metal?

x1yyz: Just... you know, how you play your guitars, what?

Alex Lifeson: No, no, I don't know, you said it. How do I know? You said I'm Metal. How the f**k am I Metal, what the f**k is so Metal about me? Tell me, tell me what's Metal!

x1yyz: [long pause] Get the f**k out of here, Alex!

Alex Lifeson: [everyone laughs] Ya m***********! I almost had her, I almost had her. Ya stuttering girl ya. Geddy, was she shaking? I wonder about you sometimes, x1yyz. You may fold under questioning.