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Top 10 Rock Hall of Fame Snubs (Time Magazine).

 

Number 3 of 10:

 

Pat Benatar

By JOSH TYRANGIEL

 

Greatness may be too strong a word, but anyone who can inspire a generation of teenage girls to rock headbands must have had something going for her. In Benatar's case, that something was a bantam squint that infused her songs with a unique female attitude. Or at least it infused her videos; no singer dominated early MTV like Benatar. And while Madonna erased her presence from the fossil record, Benatar's influence is still felt in the careers of Kelly Clarkson, Gwen Stefani and others.

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It's amazing to me that Rush are behind only the Beatles, Stones and Aerosmith in terms the number of consecutive gold or platinum records. Actually, I can't figure out how Aerosmith is on that list since they don't have all that many records.

Maybe that counts live/comps/greatest hits?

And I just checked to see - 14 studio albums, since their first in 1973. You're right, that's crazy low.

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Maybe that counts live/comps/greatest hits?

And I just checked to see - 14 studio albums, since their first in 1973. You're right, that's crazy low.

 

According to that article, Rush has 24 consecutive gold/platinum albums, so Aerosmith must have 11+ comps/live albums.

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Rush has 18 total studio albums and scads of live ones as well as a few comps.

 

True, but that's a better track record than Aerosmith. I guess Aerosmith fans, and Rush fans to a slightly lesser extent, have no problem buying the same songs over and over. In defense of Aerosmith and their fans, at least their live albums dont sound exatly like the studio albums.

 

It's still surprising to me that Rush ranks higher than, say, The Who, Beach Boys, AC/DC, etc. I guess a lot of the big selling bands don't have all that many albums, and the artists who do have a lot of albums, like Dylan, Clapton, Pink Floyd and Neil Young put out a lot of relatively weak sellers.

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Hardwood, I'll respectfully disagree. I guess I never really considered Rush to be "prog" in the way that Yes or ELP is, but in reading interveiws with Alex and Geddy they worshipped Yes and Zeppelin in particular - and I think that's what I hear in their music...sort of a hybrid of those two bands.

 

Is Geddy Chris Squire or John Paul Jones? Not quite. Is Alex Steve Howe or Jimmy Page? HELL no. But imo the period from '76-'81 (2112, A Farewell To Kings, Hemispheres, Permanent Waves and Moving Pictures) is one of the better 5 LP runs around. From sprawling epics like Xanadu or Cygnus X-1 to concise 'radio-friendly' things like Closer To The Heart and Freewill, they had the songs.

 

If you've never caught them live give em a chance. I've seen them a dozen times from '78-'08 and they ALWAYS kick my ass.

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Hardwood, I'll respectfully disagree. I guess I never really considered Rush to be "prog" in the way that Yes or ELP is, but in reading interveiws with Alex and Geddy they worshipped Yes and Zeppelin in particular - and I think that's what I hear in their music...sort of a hybrid of those two bands.

 

Is Geddy Chris Squire or John Paul Jones? Not quite. Is Alex Steve Howe or Jimmy Page? HELL no. But imo the period from '76-'81 (2112, A Farewell To Kings, Hemispheres, Permanent Waves and Moving Pictures) is one of the better 5 LP runs around. From sprawling epics like Xanadu or Cygnus X-1 to concise 'radio-friendly' things like Closer To The Heart and Freewill, they had the songs.

 

If you've never caught them live give em a chance. I've seen them a dozen times from '78-'08 and they ALWAYS kick my ass.

 

 

There's a difference between Art Rock and Prog Rock (in my mind). Pink Floyd and Rush are Prog rock. Yes ia Art Rock. Maybe the distinction is mine alone.

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I've been listening to them since about 1977 or so, and I think they have some great songs.

 

I agree. Somewhere along the line it became "uncool" to like Rush and I'm not sure why. I'm not saying that's why people don't like them (like Hardwood). I can see why they probably rub some people the wrong way, those vocals for example. And they do have some really bad albums. My thought is they are monster musicians and they do have some great stuff. Red Barchetta has some amazing lyrics and music. I still love 2112. Not my favorite band but I think they are worthy of more respect than they get.

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I agree. Somewhere along the line it became "uncool" to like Rush and I'm not sure why. I'm not saying that's why people don't like them (like Hardwood). I can see why they probably rub some people the wrong way, those vocals for example. And they do have some really bad albums. My thought is they are monster musicians and they do have some great stuff. Red Barchetta has some amazing lyrics and music. I still love 2112. Not my favorite band but I think they are worthy of more respect than they get.

 

yeah, i never did dig 'em, even during the height of my arena rock worship

 

i didn't mind geddy lee's vox, really ... it was the cheesy lyrics and cheesy keyboards that turned me off

 

i mean, seriously ... even greg lake and pete sinfield never wrote anything this bad

 

A modern day warrior

Mean mean stride,

Today's Tom Sawyer

Mean mean pride.

 

Though his mind is not for rent

Don't put him down as arrogant

His reserve, a quiet defense

Riding out the day's events

The river

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yeah, i never did dig 'em, even during the height of my arena rock worship

 

i didn't mind geddy lee's vox, really ... it was the cheesy lyrics and cheesy keyboards that turned me off

 

i mean, seriously ... even greg lake and pete sinfield never wrote anything this bad

 

A modern day warrior

Mean mean stride,

Today's Tom Sawyer

Mean mean pride.

 

Though his mind is not for rent

Don't put him down as arrogant

His reserve, a quiet defense

Riding out the day's events

The river

 

:lol

 

Touche' Does he really say "The River". I never knew.

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I agree. Somewhere along the line it became "uncool" to like Rush and I'm not sure why. I'm not saying that's why people don't like them (like Hardwood). I can see why they probably rub some people the wrong way, those vocals for example. And they do have some really bad albums. My thought is they are monster musicians and they do have some great stuff. Red Barchetta has some amazing lyrics and music. I still love 2112. Not my favorite band but I think they are worthy of more respect than they get.

 

I generally prefer the pre-synthesizer stuff, but I have been listening a lot to Hemispheres over the past few months.

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yeah, i never did dig 'em, even during the height of my arena rock worship

 

i didn't mind geddy lee's vox, really ... it was the cheesy lyrics and cheesy keyboards that turned me off

 

i mean, seriously ... even greg lake and pete sinfield never wrote anything this bad

 

A modern day warrior

Mean mean stride,

Today's Tom Sawyer

Mean mean pride.

 

Though his mind is not for rent

Don't put him down as arrogant

His reserve, a quiet defense

Riding out the day's events

The river

 

Oh, you'd love their Caress of Steel album. CHOCK FULL of hilarious lyrics.

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The song "Farewell To Kings" and "Closer To The Heart" have pretty damn good words, yes?

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The song "Farewell To Kings" and "Closer To The Heart" have pretty damn good words, yes?

 

I think this is Rush's most overlooked song. Just amazing. I read somewhere that they relearned it (and a bunch of other tunes) for their most recent tour, but it didn't make the cut.

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I generally prefer the pre-synthesizer stuff, but I have been listening a lot to Hemispheres over the past few months.

 

La Villa Strangiato is just amazing musicianship on all levels. RUSH has always been odd for me. I always hated their albums when they were released, then a few years later I really started enjoying them. Their output from the 90's on has not been stellar though.

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Their output from the 90's on has not been stellar though.

 

I agree with this. I like all their albums up through Power Windows and to a lesser extent, Hold Your Fire, but the last one I think is solid all the way through is Grace Under Pressure. That one has a couple throwaways, but even those have fun grooves (maybe due to the influence of Police and Talking Heads, who Rush has said they were fans of), which is something that is lacking on the more recent stuff (maybe due to them currently being fans of a bunch of lame bullshit).

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I had a fairly arrogant roommate in college (a drummer himself) who would listen to Rush incessantly. That was my introduction to the music - something I didn't care for musically (or stylistically with all the fantasy-themed stuff) - and a person who would berate me for not liking them because they were such great musicians who HAD to be loved.

 

And to be honest, the little snippets I hear of their music from time to time don't make me want to give them another try... just not my thing.

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The song "Farewell To Kings" and "Closer To The Heart" have pretty damn good words, yes?

 

i don't want to turn this into a Bash Rush thread, because i have no problem with how much people dig them

 

but ...

 

Closer to the Heart i always thought contained some truly pathetic lyrics

 

the "you can be the captain" couplet especially .. i mean, christ, this is embarrassing stuff ... reminds me of ELP's final record, Love Beach

 

And the men who hold high places

Must be the ones to start

To mold a new reality

Closer to the heart

 

The blacksmith and the artist

Reflect it in their art

Forge their creativity

Closer to the heart

 

Philosophers and ploughmen

Each must know his part

To sow a new mentality

Closer to the heart

 

You can be the captain

I will draw the chart

Sailing into destiny

Closer to the heart

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