The Spirit of My Memories

I’m unequivocally, un-ironically, and unapologetically a fan of Rush. I came into most of my musical discovery through my Dad, who had a basement full of Beatles, Zepplin, Hendrix, and every other classic rock or ‘oldies” LPs and 45s. I do not believe my Dad had any Rush, but sometime around 13, 14, or 15 I had various construction type jobs in the summer, which would always require all the workers to listen to classic rock of course. Growing up in the greater Northwest Ohio region that meant either 104.7 WIOT or 94.5 XKR. I don’t remember the exact moment, or where I was, but I know the first Rush song I ever heard was The Spirit of Radio. The song definitely rocked out, but somewhere in the middle they actually had some crazy reggae break down bridge thing, and I was sold! I went on to discover other classic songs such as Tom Sawyer, Limelight, and Freewill. When I delved deeper into their catalog, I loved them even more, enjoying most of their non-radio cuts as much as the “big” hits. If I ever did a desert island song list, Spirit of Radio would definitely be on it, along with Don’t Worry Baby by the Beach Boys, and others I will reveal someday in an appropriate blog post. Side note, I seem to enjoy longer songs sometimes when they have a completely different song show up in the middle, such as My Sharona by the Knack or Life’s Been Good by Joe Walsh.

What brought on the gushing, sudden praise of the number 78 top selling artist in American recording history (24.5 million)? Recently Rolling Stone magazine listed their top 25 Guilty Pleasure bands. Rush was on top of that list. I was personally offended by Rush be characterized as a guilty pleasure. Guilty pleasure bands I feel are more like one hit wonders, or really good and popular during a certain time, Like Abba or Poison. I realize Rush does not put out hit singles anymore, but their albums still go Gold, at least, and they still tour, and still continue to influence bands today. The same cannot be said for most of the bands on RS’s list. Anyway, I’m not really that upset, I think RS is pretty irrelevant magazine anyway, although they did love the new Kings of Leon. Anyway, mostly an excuse to blog again, which I have had trouble doing lately because of work, and to blog about Rush. I’m going to see Rush twice this summer, first in Vegas, then two days later in San Diego. Have a Freewill day.