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What is the best song to play for someone new to Rush?


rftag
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2112 got me into them almost instantly on a random whim. But, then again, I'm awesome/ambitious :P.

Fixed you fellow 2112 lover you... :)

 

Aww, thanks Narps ;).

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But I dunno, my daughter didn't know any Rush at all and I was always playing All the World's a Stage in the car and now she loves them. It turned out she really liked Bastille Day and Fly by Night.

^^^ Oh yes....
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I think it's become that the screaming and ear-shattering of Rush's more hardcore material (i.e. the 70s) doesn't shock or turn people away as much as it used to now that we're in an age where Rush's heaviest material sounds like Presto compared to the heaviest metal you can find on Spotify. Perhaps this is a small part of the reason Rush have gained so much more popular acceptance, paired with the fact that all of the social outcasts who listened to hardcore Rush back when it wasn't cool are now in positions of power and influence, whether it be with their own kids whose taste in music is highly malleable, or whether it be through mass media like t.v., magazines, and the interwebs. I really think 2112 is still the best option because people aren't turned off by Ged's voice as quickly anymore and it showcases Rush at their absolute best (okay that last part will spark some debate...).
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I'd say it depends on the person... what kind of music do they dig? Classic rock, glam metal, new wave, grunge? That will decide your era... then, I'd say, probably pick the most accessible song from that era. While to most of us hardcore fans the epics are considered their finest work, the average listener is probably going to need to be convinced by one of the more concise tracks before they're willing to take a lengthier, proggier journey. Of course, if they're a cat who's already into epic tracks... why have they not already heard of Rush? But in that case, start 'em off with 2112 or Xanadu!
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I was at a small party which I regret coming to and everyone was putting that crappy dubstep music. I decided to put La Villa Strangiato because I don't give a damn what anyone thinks. To my surprise, these ADHD kids thought it was amazing.

 

Why is it "crappy"? Because you don't like it?

 

If the kids at the party weren't diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and you're using the term as shorthand for something else, you're a colossal ignoramus.

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It depends on what type of music they like. Hard stuff? Start with Headlong Flight, Bastille Day, or 2112 Overture/Temples. Prog stuff? Start with La Villa, Hemispheres or Xanadu. Classic rock? Start with Tom Sawyer, YYZ, or TSOR. Cheesy 80s pop? Start with The Big Money, Force Ten, or Subdivisions. Mature rock? Start with Dreamline, Driven or Animate. Tailor the sampling to the person's likes. When I was starting to like Rush, I was basically a classic rock guy, and disc one of Chronicles (plus the first 4 on disc two) was the perfect starting point for me.
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I was at a small party which I regret coming to and everyone was putting that crappy dubstep music. I decided to put La Villa Strangiato because I don't give a damn what anyone thinks. To my surprise, these ADHD kids thought it was amazing.

 

Why is it "crappy"? Because you don't like it?

 

If the kids at the party weren't diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and you're using the term as shorthand for something else, you're a colossal ignoramus.

 

lol maybe I know damn well what ADHD is and I wasn't being serious.

Edited by Tuesday's Gone
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I was at a small party which I regret coming to and everyone was putting that crappy dubstep music. I decided to put La Villa Strangiato because I don't give a damn what anyone thinks. To my surprise, these ADHD kids thought it was amazing.

 

Why is it "crappy"? Because you don't like it?

 

If the kids at the party weren't diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and you're using the term as shorthand for something else, you're a colossal ignoramus.

 

Hey Tuesday...

You've just been schooled by a

5a9ad92c174c27833aee2efa23878c96.jpg

Learn from it!

Edited by Tombstone Mountain
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Something radio friendly but not too old school like TSOR or Limelight followed by "modern day" Rush....i.e. Earthshine, Far Cry, Headlong Flight.

 

If they haven't given you the "I smell poop" look, or ran away screaming...break out the classic epics.

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First songs a new fan should hear (In order) -

 

 

Countdown (The song that got me hooked)

Limelight

Tom Sawyer

TSOR

La Villa

The Analog Kid

 

Countdown was my hook song too. I was a big space nut as a kid, and when they played it with the shuttle video at my first show in '83 it was all over for me.

 

I mean, what kind of band writes songs about space shuttles? An AWESOME one!!

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I was at a small party which I regret coming to and everyone was putting that crappy dubstep music. I decided to put La Villa Strangiato because I don't give a damn what anyone thinks. To my surprise, these ADHD kids thought it was amazing.

 

Why is it "crappy"? Because you don't like it?

 

If the kids at the party weren't diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and you're using the term as shorthand for something else, you're a colossal ignoramus.

 

lol maybe I know damn well what ADHD is and I wasn't being serious.

 

Then you were being an idiot if you know what it is. Nothing to be proud of. Not sure why you'd put "lol" in a post admitting your ignorance.

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I was at a small party which I regret coming to and everyone was putting that crappy dubstep music. I decided to put La Villa Strangiato because I don't give a damn what anyone thinks. To my surprise, these ADHD kids thought it was amazing.

 

Why is it "crappy"? Because you don't like it?

 

If the kids at the party weren't diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and you're using the term as shorthand for something else, you're a colossal ignoramus.

 

Hey Tuesday...

You've just been schooled by a

5a9ad92c174c27833aee2efa23878c96.jpg

Learn from it!

 

I'm gonna write a wall of text totally unrelated to the initial subject of this thread just because I can :LOL:

 

I am always willing to learn and admit it when I'm wrong. But there is nothing to learn from what he said as I am far from being uninformed about subjects such as the notion of mental illness and many things related to psychiatry. I just happen to disagree completely with the notion of mental illness.

 

I completely understand why what I said led you to believe that I was uninformed about this matter.

 

When you go to a psychiatrist, he wants to hear how you behave and that's about it. They just look in their book, the DSM, to see if the problem you describe fits a diagnosis. Mental illnesses are literally voted into existence so this is not science. Supposedly, when someone is mentally ill, he has brain lesions but that's just a theory which has never been proven. So in order to make a diagnosis, they have to use a book in which they have decided to view problems of living as symptoms of supposed illnesses. Go to another psychiatrist and you're likely to get a different diagnosis.

 

Homosexuality only stopped being considered a mental illness in 1973. Why ? It's not due to advances in psychiatry but because homosexuality became more accepted socially as an acceptable behaviour.

 

A real doctor whose approach is scientific is interested in demonstrable anatomical or physiological lesions to find out if you have a disease, he doesn't want to hear how you behave.

 

Also, in case you think that my opinion is only shared by people who are completely ignorant about the science behind psychiatry, I suggest that you do some research about Thomas Szasz who also thinks that there is no such thing as mental illness. Thomas Szasz was a psychiatrist and professor emeritus of psychiatry. He's not the only person who's worked in this field to think that.

 

Now, what I am not saying is that things like depression or schizophrenia are imaginary problems. These problems are very real and many people suffer from one or the other (or rather from the problems that these words describe). Including me, I've been depressed for the last 6 years and suffering from frightening feelings of unreality for just as long. I'm not here to complain but just to tell you that I am really suffering and not talking about things I haven't experienced myself, I'd describe my life as hell since I started experiencing these things.

 

If I went to a psychiatrist and explained my issues to him, he would probably diagnose me with chronic depression and DPD (Depersonalization disorder).

 

All I'm saying is that while the causes of these problems are often difficult to understand, an illness (called mental illness or mental disorder in psychiatry) doesn't seem to me the most likely explanation for these issues. Very often, people who suffer from these issues (depression for example) can remember when they started to change and have some kind of idea of what might have triggered/caused it. Maybe I'm wrong. But I've never been proven to be wrong so far. Of all the so-called mental illnesses listed in the DSM, not a single one has been proven to be an illness despite the fact that psychatry has existed for a long time now. You've likely heard that depression is caused by a chemical imbalance but this isn't true. Like everything I say, don't believe it, do your own research and find out for yourself.

 

Now, when I said "these ADHD kids", this was a joke that doesn't represent what I think at all. On the contrary, I don't like the idea of labelling people. I don't like using that word, just like I don't like using the words depression or depersonalization (issues I'm familiar with) because each person is unique and the experience is slightly different for everyone. We don't all fall into clear-cut categories. I think that the human mind is extremely complex and trying to put everything in little boxes is the wrong thing to do.

 

Also, here's an extract about ADHD from Wikipedia which is laughable :

 

These symptoms must begin by age six to twelve and persist for more than six months for a diagnosis to be made.[8][9] In school-aged individuals inattention symptoms often result in poor school performance. Although it causes impairment, particularly in modern society, many children with ADHD have a good attention span for tasks they find interesting.

 

With school being what it is, it's pretty damn hard to be interested in it until you reach the age when you can study something related to the job you want to do. I've always had trouble to focus at school because most of the time, what I was studying didn't interest me in the least. Also, there are so many things that you are forced to study when you're young and I knew that I would never use a lot of that later in my life. I rarely did my homework because I had things more interesting and more important to do. I never thought that I had a problem. I'm sure many people can relate to that.

 

But for something to be considered a mental illness, it doesn't necessarily have to be a problem according to the person experiencing it, it can also be a behaviour that is not acceptable in the society in which we live like homosexuality was decades ago for example.

 

I read stories about people who've been diagnosed with ADHD and realized later how stupid this is and that they're not ill.

 

Krishnamurti put it really well when he said : "It is no measure of health to be well-adjusted to a profoundly sick society".

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I'm glad you can use Google. You used ADHD as a way to insult kids you perceive to be less cool than you see yourself. I do work for kids with the condition having problems with school districts with administrators as ignorant as you are. You used the term as "a joke." You're a clown.
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The first Rush song I heard was The Enemy Within, but I wouldn't necessarily start with that. It was back in 1984 and I was 11, it fitted the times. Nowadays it would take something else probably. Either Limelight or Xanadu, depending on the victim's ability to concentrate.
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I don't really try to get others into my music that much. I'm used to going solo on that venture for the most part. My bestie already knows a lot of Rush's material and likes them. I'm beginning to make her detest them with my minor obsession, lol.
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I don't really try to get others into my music that much.

 

Well, same here actually. I'm 41 and most of my friends are about the same age and most of them know Rush already. Some like it, fine. Some don't, and there's nothing I can do about it.

 

What I CAN do is civilize my kids. My 10-year old son has already shown some interest in Rush after seeing me watching the live dvd's. I think he will be fine and become a fan sooner or later, although his main interest nowadays is football (European football; the sports you call soccer. Never understood that. Our football is played with feet, your "football" is more like armpitball.)

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I don't really try to get others into my music that much.

 

Well, same here actually. I'm 41 and most of my friends are about the same age and most of them know Rush already. Some like it, fine. Some don't, and there's nothing I can do about it.

 

What I CAN do is civilize my kids. My 10-year old son has already shown some interest in Rush after seeing me watching the live dvd's. I think he will be fine and become a fan sooner or later, although his main interest nowadays is football (European football; the sports you call soccer. Never understood that. Our football is played with feet, your "football" is more like armpitball.)

There is nothing better than your kids digging them trust me... :cheers:
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If they like solid hard rock, 2112.

 

If they like proggy things, Xanadu and Natural Science.

 

If they like arena rock, the usuals from PeW and MP, and perhaps some stuff from Grace Under Pressure.

 

If they like Tears For Fears, stuff from HYF.

 

If they like shit, something from Presto.

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