You hit the nail on the head...as someone who has been doing this YT thing for close to a decade, people watch what is comfortable and familiar to them. If we only did all those obscure topics that deep down we really want to create, our channels would die a swift death. Folks who complain that we all talk about Yes, Genesis, Rush, Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden, and Zeppelin too much, they don't understand that for 90% of the audience, that's all they want to hear about.
I'm a music nerd that hates lists, I effing hate them. All of those Rush records from the 80's that everyone "hates" are fucking awesome! Are they "prog"? Hell if I know, but I love them and they inspire and motivate me. Because they always went full on and always believed in what they were doing.
An idea just popped into my head. How about a top ten compilation of Andy's Proggiest Rants? This one left me feeling like I've just listened to an epic prog album. I think it's a contender for the list.
Loving this and subscribed... I will argue that Rush and Genesis are top tier precisely because they cross genres. It's the ability to cross over into other genres that makes a musical artist + many other types of artists as well reach the top tier of various genres. A lot of fans are overly concerned with what genre is something sits in (faction fetish) when in fact it's the ability to sample between disciplines that makes an artist interesting. Checking this chanel closely and mixing my first album in 24 years. It is likely very very prog, because I don't stay in my lane... Lol
OH! You had me in tears talking about Rush and adolescent boys. All so true! 🤣 Chomsky really schooled Morgan. So satisfying. And that, folks, is why Chomsky has been marginalized by mainstream media for literally years. I'd happily watch a video starring Andy Edwards on the influence of post-modern thought on music. Hup to, lad!
Andy when you started singing the bass part to Cygnus X1 all these memories flooded back, including me in my teenage bedroom hearing it for the first time, and I got chills. Thanks for that!
This is entertaining. Showing emotion to this subject is exciting. This guy has introduced me to artists and music I would have never have heretofore considered.
There are few of us here in Canada, everyone seems to know everyone, like living in a vast stretched out small town. So I called Geddy in Toronto last night, cuz I’m Canadian and I know everyone here. First thing he said was, “who is this Andy guy, he’s not Canadian obviously…” and went on to say, “no, we were never a prog band per se. We were more of a power rock trio with neo-prog-fusion tendencies and a flair for pre-post-synth pop.” I guess that settles it. You’re welcome.
@@nectarinedreams7208 it basically is, or was in 60s 70s. Cream, hendrix, james gang, mountain, grand funk, blue cheer, trower, etc. Hard blues rock basically were the main power trio groups, and that is where rush came from originally, then added prog into the mix but were never pure prog themselves
What threw me was realizing that people classed Jethro Tull as a prog band. That is totally reasonable, but, for some reason, I never thought of them that way, I suppose I saw them as just their own genre
Lots of fans have said " I kind of lost interest in Rush when they moved into the keyboard synth era". That's interesting because if you rewind back to the early 70s Prog was heavily influenced and defined by keyboard and synth sounds. Rush progressed musically just not in the way the average fan expected. Great video sir!
@@AndyEdwardsDrummer Andy did you ever see/read the book in the 80s called The A to Z of H M. Its interesting to see on it how many bands up to that time you could class as heavy metal. Good band bio book
Loving the rant. More of this please you don’t have to have a list you have been a very talented musician and that is not required in music today. This happened in 1977 but only in Uk. In 2023 the talent is the producer and they also write the songs. This is just the charts. Great musicianship is alive and strong but not in the charts. New Rock is dead sadly the world is slowly discovering the past so in 19 years we will see it all return as kids like 2112 will discover how to play it once again
Great watch. Laughed out loud at your 'Rush and girls' comment. As a fan of the band since 1980 - but thankfully not 'incel' - the girlfriends/long-term partners I've had since then have universally hated Rush 😅
My mother liked Rush. Not to the point of actually listening to an album but if I played a Rush album on the stereo she might occasionally ask "is that Rush?" in an approving tone. She had no preconceptions about that band, I don't think she even knew what they looked like.
Thanks for sorting out that difficult proglem Andy. Totally with you in that rant too; my blood boiled when you told that account of your students saying that Rush were "cheesy". Atrocious. Loved the Brecht reference too.
Rush inoculated me against my rocker friends. My first concert was Rush on their Farewell tour with Max Webster (a pretty obscure but virtuoso Canadian group). Thanks for this Rush rant.
Thanks Andy, keeping Rush alive is so critical. I live in Montreal an hour from Le Studio in Morin Heights. I can still here Alex’s guitar… You need to have a Rush beer. Check that out their beers on RUclips. What’s nice about Rush is that’s there’s so much choice and you may put on Vapour Trails and go Christ I haven’t heard that for a while and go that’s a great album. Andy, what’s great about you is that you educate. Brilliant.
I would disagree with Clockwork Angels, it’s definitely a prog album. If anything it’s Rush’ only ‘proper’ prog album. There’s a constant theme and story running through it. I started as a hard core prog Rush fan, but I love all of it. Even the weaker albums have got great things about them . Time Stand Still from Hold your Fire is one of my all time favourites, the sentiment in the song has really changed my view on life, especially since having children. Anyways, just stumbled across your channel, I’ll be back. Keep it up man 🤘🏻
Hello from Montreal, I agree with you. With Rush you'll always find something people will like. We have to keep them relevant and in our conversations. All the best.
I was listening to Starless and Bible Black one day and my friend said that it sounds like Rush. I had to tell him that it's more or less the other way around. Rush was a rock band with prog influences as Kansas and Styx were.
I am convinced that the accurate description of Rush is a hard rock band that dabbled in prog. They were never pure prog. I personally define prog as rock that drew quite heavily from the European "classical" traditions as well as free/modern jazz, with much lesser influence from American based blues rock. Rush meanwhile had their strongest roots in the 60s blues rock phenomenon, and even throughout their most epic "prog period" they still maintained that blues / hard rock ethos... Pretty much all those songs were still glued together by the almighty crunchy, catchy guitar riffs. Guitar solos still stayed in a pretty much blues based arena, and the drumming even as complex and "proggy" that it became, there was always something about Neil having an eye towards bombastic and catchy fills that indiciated he always had a bit of a showman in him. For that reason when one grew up in the late 70s and early 80s, the kids who had the hard rock record collections with the likes of AC/DC, Zep, etc would inevitably also include Rush. None of the true "prog" bands would be in that kind of collection.
You mean british based blues rock. Early Rush was basically Led Zep, and Alex worshipped clapton in Cream, Page in Zep, etc. The blues rock boom took off because of Cream/Clapton mainly. Most all guitarists back then including from the US were heavily into claptons cream era, and to a lesser extent the bluesbreaker album. The UK rock take on blues fed it back to the US where it was mostly taken for granted, but from the UK perspective an exotic novelty
@@RocknJazzer Yep a big goof on my part. To be more precise, the proximate influence of British based blues rock, which ultimately drew mainly from and innovated on a contemporary/prior American tradition instead of European. Mainly.
It took a while (40+ years) but I got interested in 2112 again and decided to check out the inspiration behind it - Ayn Rand. How prophetic was that - the struggle between the individual and the collective.
When I was sharing an office at a University in Thaialnd around 2012, I was playing XANADU from Exit Stage Left on RUclips, and my Dutch mate mae in jut a Alex Liefson wa plaing at the begining and he aked me 'Who is this?'. He was blown away.
The Grand Finale of 2112, as rendered in the ending medley on Exit Stage Left, remains a revelation, giving me a chill just typing about it. Alex is absolutely murderous, bearing his teeth, slashing the fretboard as Neil and Geddy swiftly stomp out the death knell of the priests. It is printed on my brain until the grave. To anyone considering giving Rush a try, I highly recommend the Exit Stage Left album (which does NOT have the Grand Finale). You will be moved and changed. As for everything after Exit Stage Left, I love all of it. It’s not prog in the 1970s hash-plumes-coming-out-your-ears-with-pride sense, of course. That’s a very good thing. Why repeat past glories? Far riskier and far more rewarding to explore beyond their proven palettes. Otherwise, I loved watching this video! Thank you very much for posting it!
I really enjoy your posts especially as you talk in depth about music and culture that I grew up with and still love. I must admit that I've never seen Rush as progressive rock, my collection consists of Chronicles, Different stages and the DVD Rush in Rio. My favourite is Roll the Bones. Just great rock! Brilliant show Andy but I think everyone goes a bit mad on YT at least for a while!
Grace Under Pressure is so of it's era but lyrically it is off the charts. Some of the songs were written for a sci fi film so there is a little continuity. I still love it though as I was at college, living away from home and played it to death.
Oh, and watching The Expanse at the moment. Some say they named the ship after Don Quixote but I understand the writers were Rush fans. A space ship called the Rocinante, sailing through the galaxies? 😂
Took me years to fully appreciate Rush, it all seemed very dense musically, not much light or shade,being a 3 piece it was big chords & fiddly bits, but lacking in a real variety of melody/moods.Until that is, they introduced more keyboards (and Geddy adjusted his vocal tone somewhat),this brought welcome depth of sound and atmosphere, and by Moving Pictures i was hooked.I dont see the immediate Prog label,but they are a very decent heavy rock/pop band with proggy overtones.
Man I can’t ever listen to the same music forever. At some time during repeat listens, there is a saturation point where listening to the same stuff just feels stale. It might take years, but it will get there eventually. Doesn’t matter who it is or how good they are. Once new albums have stopped being produced, the old albums get wore out.
Most proggy and my personal favorite album they ever made. Great video, I do wonder of Power Windows isn't a little more Prog than Grace Under Pressure?
Xanadu was the track that got me into Rush! Not by Rush but by the great Hartlepool band White Spirit! Great mates and I still occasionaly bump into Janick Gers! Great guy!
Entertaining and educational. Cool. Rush and Mahogany Rush both hit the Cleveland market about the same time in the mid 70's. I preferred Frank Marino and his band.
You might be playing the game, but i really don't mind. There's more than enough passion, vision and authenticity there to keep me engaged. Longform video's are your forte. For a while i followed channels that did reaction video's. Most of the time these are people that react to music that they don't know anything about. Granted, sometimes you get to see emotional reactions to music that you like as well, but it's all so superficial. You wouldn't wanna talk to them about music at all. We need substance in this vapid environment. Your video's are a breath of fresh air.
Rush are awesome, I was exactly the right age when Hemisperes came out. You are so right, the impact of Rush on a teenage male mind, impossible to underestimate the impact that had on me!
Your access and contacts and history nouce is something I think would be valuable to develop with things like visiting Rock music monuments and venues. That would be worth Patreon cash
People need to understand that 1983 prog CANNOT sound like 1973 prog. Prog is a reaction to whatever is happening in music at any given time, so of course prog must change considerably over time.
I'm ya mate from Fareham Andy.. roughly your age , been in the US for 45 years. Rush's sound raised the bar so high, other music has been at a hault , Depeche Mode deserve their induction..
forgot to say ... Rush does not fit into ProgRock, but they were progessive in music. Despite the way they turned to 4-5 min songs with intro, theme, chorus, theme2, chorus, solo or bridge and outro short or extra ending. I got lost in the last years, but whenever I listen to their music, even today, I can see there was still progression in their songs, either in themes or in band arrangement. I think it had to do with us, the listeners, who prefer to use music as a consumable, thats why the form had changed. Finally it is the creativity I do admire. btw Same goes for Peter Gabriel: I still thankhim for producing people like Mari Boine and many others in his Real World label. He has walked on a tremendous path, and still hasnt retired. because the times bring up alot new topics .. it requires individual creative artists to use uncommon ways to talk with us. Our attention is now more an assets and abilities, excellence sticks out, more then it was in times of LPs and VIVA or MTV, and we cant talk of new sounds today, but we can talk of new creative ways in text, melodies and form still.
Rush defies categorization, a hard rock band that dipped into progressive ideas and influences, but only a couple of songs could really be called progressive. Neil said it best I think, " all along we just wanted to make music that pleased us, and we hoped it pleased other people too".
Thanks Andy. Great topic. I don't watch your channel because it's enjoyable. I watch it because it's super deep, insightful and hard hitting. I'm on the same page regarding the question on Rush proginess. I guess what you're saying is that Rush is either a great rock band or an ok prog band. According to this video they are not a great prog band with 2 great prog albums...LOL just kidding. My hands are shaking just typing this sentence. And a Rockfield video would be awesome. Please do it before the doomsday clock hits midnight and ai kills us all. Every time you go off on a tangent, I know the world is still a wonderful place...
good idea hi5 there isnt just ProgRock in Rush Albums. But excellence in musicianship and they are developing characters like every human moves on his path, bands have to as well, I love to hear contents that grow with Zeitgeist. To me this drawers like hard- prog- rock is just whst we listeners need to talk about music with others. I always hsted this simplifying for our own confidence. So I do not use this anymore, as I did in earlier. I let 1 song speak and describe the form of the music. Progressive Rock as such has been stuff stuff like PlayBach, The Nice, Yes, early Genesis. It had to do with the way compositions are made, Much of form and theme development. And even Kate Bush fits there, despite tthe hits like Running up the hill, I still admire the way she does tell her tales. Its very serious work she did in compositions. Instruments, text, melody lines and bridges.
@@AndyEdwardsDrummer By the way, bought C16H15C12N and I'm liking it very much! Have you ever heard a duo called The Brothers Johnson? Wondering what you think of them, if at all. Thanks!
"Rush inoculates you against girls, doesn't it!" That's awesome. It's not something we denizens of the Subdivisions would choose - it's just what happens. Rush is not something you choose - it chooses you.
I assume the bit of the rant about AI in which you effectively summarise the plot line to 2112 was deliberate? Great stuff. You don’t get this on Beatto! 🤣
@AndyEdwardsDrummer The thing i like the best about your content is that you are clearly a fan without ever becoming hagiographic. I wonder if thats because you're more of a peer to a lot of these folks than we mere mortals, but regardless, i like it. Keep it coming
You crack me up. I'm a little older than you (63). When I was in my early teens, to get inoculated from girls and the rest of society, there was one band above them all...King Crimson. It took over 40 years to get my wife to admit she likes them because I brain washed her. Being a prog snob, I always give the Rush fans a pass. However, when I see another guy (and it's always a guy), in a Crimson T-shirt, I give them a knowing nod of approval to signify our common knowledge of great music only knowledgeable men would know...
I totally agree with your Farewell to Kings assessment. I always thought of it as _the last time Rush sounded like Led Zeppelin_ haha. Btw I've just discovered your channel thanks to Sea of Tranquility and sir, you are the shit.
I need the postmodernism video. I find it fascinating that I see lots of problems with postmodernism and the loss of narrative and truth and yet I am totally in love with postmodern literature. I love David Foster Wallace and Don Dellili and Pynchon. I would absolutely love a discussion a postmodern influence on rock music and I'm sure a substantial part of your audience would as well
Just listened to The Raconteurs podcast with Pete Shelley and Glen Matlock. Matlock points out that being working class is not a barrier to being an intellectual. Both were very post modern in their time. Had the pleasure of meeting Glen and he was a gentleman and way cooler than I expected. He also played a hell of a gig.
Great one! Oh the grumbles! I swear for us born in the before the 1980's pack things are different than just the normal shift of the generations. Planned obsolescence, the religion of garbage dumps is part of the deal, maybe at the roots of the problem. We're trained by the minions of the programming department like the rock journalists who write like their opinions are sacrosanct to chuck the past in favor of the new candy flavors, a dumb down on a slippery slope to the crap that passes for 'music' these days. Garbage is everything in consumer society. We trash everyone who vibes differently. We throw away things that break cause these days you can't even repair things. As to your point about Prog saving music from an even earlier death, Punk like a zombie horde if left alone without elders to put up some barriers to their immature wanking and screaming and Captain Caveman drumming: Robert Fripp gave Blondie a jolt of discipline that elevated their craft. Then he did the same with Bowie, Talking Heads. 70's Prog cats get together and do Asia, Yes in suits and 80's dos, yet none of the pop kids did quite the high skill scene changes that Rabin Yes have done. The great thing about all the recordings is we have sonic memories in vivid detail that are already enabling some kids to take it in and learn the Craft in a new way. More people are waking up to how trashy our modern society has become. Via recordings I took in Rush in the late 80's. Kiss was my first concert, then I took up electric bass. I learned one bass line from Gene; War Machine. Then I took up following Steve Harris by playing along with him on my turntable and bass guitar. When I felt I could do everything in his skill set bass wise I took up following Geddy Lee. It wasn't long before I totally lost interest in Kiss what with so many great prog bands to explore. Primus! From my side of the world. Xanadu certainly got to Steve Harris. Rime of the Ancient Mariner is a Rock lyric synopsis of a poem by the same author, Samuel Taylor Coleridge. As long as those of us who remember playing music before 1996 when Bill Clinton signed the consolidation of media that upped the energy on the garbage dump feeders we have the codes intact in way where they can still be taught to the young of our time.
I was once on a coach, on my way to Manchester from Blackpool, to see Rush, it was 2013 maybe, so it was the Clockwork Angels tour and I was sat next to this guy who gave me the full verbal about his passion for Prog. When we got to Manchester, I was sat next to a Scouse lass, whose last gig was J-lo, but she was only there with her Boyfriend and didn't have a clue about Rush really. Anyway, I'm not in to Prog and I'm not in to J-lo either. From the Prog oeuvre, Rush are the only band who make sense to me, but they aren't Prog, they are sub-Prog.
This is THE video that explains the universe. In 2112 they'll will dig this out of some digital archive and it will be like the Rosetta Stone. You will be the Ozymandias of prog and fusion! Look upon my works, ye mighty, and despair!
Question: do they WANT to be considered prog, and do their fans WANT to consider them as such? After their first album they definitely had a prog phase/era. but subsequently they retained some degree or elements of prog, but whether or not they were always prog, that seems to be an opinion.
I have a cousin who had the idea of setting up as Patreon Jesus, but was too lazy to follow through with the idea, and went trucking instead. (Miracles for a small fee, that kind of thing. Maybe bottles of holy water from the sacred tap in the kitchen for merch - just like in the olden days - and maybe just like modern times in at least some places - almost certainly just the way it's always been in an enormous number of places.) I think maybe he missed out on a great opportunity, but then you might find that market is already saturated, too, so maybe it wasn't a bad call to opt out of it and drink another beer instead. So now he's an Autobahn Poet, and writes things like _Ode to the Ausfahrt to the A44 Richtung Gummersbach_ (in English, because his German is a bit rudimentary for stuff like poetry in celebration of inspiring roads.) Gave up drinking, actually, so poetry saved his life. The Patreon Jesus type of art is something he's always been into - until this poetry thing. And trucking. (He's actually a sculptor, but sales turned out too sporadic to live off - what with not that many people liking big deep sea fish from some other world as decorations for the coffee table in the middle of the lounge, even if they're happy to give it an ooh and and ah sometimes, just-looking.) He was the one who made The Great Bob - with the long, skinny fingers extended to receive the offerings. Cult didn't take off, so now Bob is in storage. He's in a box on top of my kitchen cupboards, actually. Would've cost a fortune to export him, probably, so he's up there quietly waiting for his time to come. (Is that lot up there postmodern? Maybe? It's just plain fact, but maybe that's a postmodern thing? I don't suppose it matters if it's not.) Actually the great Australian ensemble, TISM (AKA, This is Serious, Mum, although everyone's too lazy to say all that) once did a great song about trucking. It's called *I Drive a Truck* ruclips.net/video/rgBn5hPOhEk/видео.html
I've listened and loved Rush for about 20 years now, back when i considered myself a 70s prog -rock fan, and you know what, i think their 80s stuff is the more interesting to me than ever before, i think 80s Rush is a gateway to loving 80s music, its funny that you mentioned Joy Division because 80s Rush made me apreciate them along with Ultravox and others bands even more. Back then i didnt like the Power Windows album, now its become one of my favourites , its an 80s cheesy overproduced Trevor-Horn-like record, but it has opened its secrets to me after so many years, its an exquisite cheese. 80s Rush its as prog or even more than the 70s Rush, if they would have made the same 70s-prog type of record in the 80s that for sure wouldnt be progressive at all.
Andy, quite honestly, I can't wait to watch a video from you on the influence of Postmodernism on music and art. Actually, that is a topic I've had looming in my mind for several months now. Currently, all criticism of the Postmodern thought seems to focus in its undesirable influence on wokeism, identity politics, gender, and race issues, but nobody ever talks about its effect on art and music (some people have certainly addressed the current pernicious effect of political correctnes and wokeism on books, literature, film and TV, though, because it is a hot topic at the moment). So, go ahead.
Please don’t encourage him. The problem with Postmodernism is that there is no clear definition of it. Indeed, definitions conflict in philosophy, design, art, politics and economics. And the idea that weaponized right-wing cliches such as “wokeism”, “political correctness”, and “identity politics” somehow provide a framework for a meaningful discussion of Postmodernism is wishful thinking. I’m afraid the result would be even more meaningless verbiage already found in oversupply at Fox & Friends or in Jordan Peterson’s latest cultural warrior video. Just as I wish Peterson would stick to psychology, I wish Andy would go deeper into music.
@@richardthurston2171 Now, that was very woke of you! Quite honestly, I cannot see how discouraging self-expression and debate, which borders on censorship, would in any way contribute to a better understanding of anything. That's exactly how woke academia, and the supporters of all those kinds of politics, seem to react when they find themselves questioned and challenged. So, Andy, if you feel like discussing these issues, please go on, by all means, I insist.
You hit the nail on the head...as someone who has been doing this YT thing for close to a decade, people watch what is comfortable and familiar to them. If we only did all those obscure topics that deep down we really want to create, our channels would die a swift death. Folks who complain that we all talk about Yes, Genesis, Rush, Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden, and Zeppelin too much, they don't understand that for 90% of the audience, that's all they want to hear about.
Ha ha...yes, hit the nail on the head. And of course you are still a big inspiration for this channel!
Thanks Andy!
hi Pete ... and of course ... SOT was what lead me here 🙂
I'm a music nerd that hates lists, I effing hate them. All of those Rush records from the 80's that everyone "hates" are fucking awesome! Are they "prog"? Hell if I know, but I love them and they inspire and motivate me. Because they always went full on and always believed in what they were doing.
Yes .
An idea just popped into my head. How about a top ten compilation of Andy's Proggiest Rants? This one left me feeling like I've just listened to an epic prog album. I think it's a contender for the list.
Rush are in a category of their own utterly unique.
This was the shit Andy. I had a great time watching the rant. Screw the Rush rating part. You earned yourself a Patron.
Gene Simmons said it best. "What kind of band is Rush? It's RUSH!"
Sorry, but for me the track " Hemispheres" is monotonous and lacking the dynamics and intricacy of other prog- Rush tracks.
Andy in a “flow state” is what I watch for 😂
Loving this and subscribed... I will argue that Rush and Genesis are top tier precisely because they cross genres. It's the ability to cross over into other genres that makes a musical artist + many other types of artists as well reach the top tier of various genres. A lot of fans are overly concerned with what genre is something sits in (faction fetish) when in fact it's the ability to sample between disciplines that makes an artist interesting. Checking this chanel closely and mixing my first album in 24 years. It is likely very very prog, because I don't stay in my lane... Lol
OH! You had me in tears talking about Rush and adolescent boys. All so true! 🤣
Chomsky really schooled Morgan. So satisfying. And that, folks, is why Chomsky has been marginalized by mainstream media for literally years.
I'd happily watch a video starring Andy Edwards on the influence of post-modern thought on music. Hup to, lad!
I watched this on 1.5X. Made it even more frantic and hilarious, I laughed hard when you panned to the unkept shrub, it all makes sense now.
Great video mate! I love Rush! I love jazz! I love prog! I love Jon Poole! I love Cardiacs! I love Alex, Geddy, and Neil! Cheers.
Andy when you started singing the bass part to Cygnus X1 all these memories flooded back, including me in my teenage bedroom hearing it for the first time, and I got chills. Thanks for that!
This is entertaining. Showing emotion to this subject is exciting. This guy has introduced me to artists and music I would have never have heretofore considered.
There are few of us here in Canada, everyone seems to know everyone, like living in a vast stretched out small town. So I called Geddy in Toronto last night, cuz I’m Canadian and I know everyone here. First thing he said was, “who is this Andy guy, he’s not Canadian obviously…” and went on to say, “no, we were never a prog band per se. We were more of a power rock trio with neo-prog-fusion tendencies and a flair for pre-post-synth pop.”
I guess that settles it. You’re welcome.
What does he know?
@@AndyEdwardsDrummerlol
Except Power Rock Trio isn't a genre
@@nectarinedreams7208 it basically is, or was in 60s 70s. Cream, hendrix, james gang, mountain, grand funk, blue cheer, trower, etc. Hard blues rock basically were the main power trio groups, and that is where rush came from originally, then added prog into the mix but were never pure prog themselves
@AndyEdwardsDrummer ask for an interview opportunity or introduction.
What threw me was realizing that people classed Jethro Tull as a prog band. That is totally reasonable, but, for some reason, I never thought of them that way, I suppose I saw them as just their own genre
I love it when you go off on a tangent and rant.
as a youth,farewell to kings onward,i still thought of rush as a hard rock band with proggy influences
Lots of fans have said " I kind of lost interest in Rush when they moved into the keyboard synth era". That's interesting because if you rewind back to the early 70s Prog was heavily influenced and defined by keyboard and synth sounds. Rush progressed musically just not in the way the average fan expected. Great video sir!
And '60s too.
This is getting good Andy: we all felt that fearant.. Awesome.. viva Rush !!
Epic rant!!! Can’t wait!
I didn't mean to, I just went off on one
@@AndyEdwardsDrummer Andy did you ever see/read the book in the 80s called The A to Z of H M. Its interesting to see on it how many bands up to that time you could class as heavy metal. Good band bio book
Loving the rant. More of this please you don’t have to have a list you have been a very talented musician and that is not required in music today. This happened in 1977 but only in Uk. In 2023 the talent is the producer and they also write the songs. This is just the charts. Great musicianship is alive and strong but not in the charts. New Rock is dead sadly the world is slowly discovering the past so in 19 years we will see it all return as kids like 2112 will discover how to play it once again
Great watch. Laughed out loud at your 'Rush and girls' comment. As a fan of the band since 1980 - but thankfully not 'incel' - the girlfriends/long-term partners I've had since then have universally hated Rush 😅
My mother liked Rush. Not to the point of actually listening to an album but if I played a Rush album on the stereo she might occasionally ask "is that Rush?" in an approving tone. She had no preconceptions about that band, I don't think she even knew what they looked like.
One of the best videos yet!
Thanks for sorting out that difficult proglem Andy. Totally with you in that rant too; my blood boiled when you told that account of your students saying that Rush were "cheesy". Atrocious.
Loved the Brecht reference too.
This video in itself is a Rush album. You have the poppy viewer friendly ranking side, then the full-on non-linear progressive rant epic side.
Very funny and yet intelligent video. One of the best rants ive heard in a long time.
Keep doing what you do don't sell yourself short . You content is quite enjoyable just don't get a big head where you can't get out the door
Can I use the phrase 'quite enjoyable' in my marketing?
@@AndyEdwardsDrummer YES there's no copyright on it
@AndyEdwardsDrummer how about using "I don't hate his videos"?
Oh no! Not another ranking video. Well, at least you sparked some interest in Rush.
Truly, your best best video yet! Bravo 👏🏼👏🏼
Wow, thank you!
It's still great, one year on.
Thanks Andy. Very entertaining as usual. Rush are my second favourite Progressive Rock band after King Crimson.
I've never thought of Rush as a prog band, there were always at the core a rock trio who experimented with their sound down the years.
Rock trio isn't a genre
Rush inoculated me against my rocker friends. My first concert was Rush on their Farewell tour with Max Webster (a pretty obscure but virtuoso Canadian group). Thanks for this Rush rant.
Thanks Andy, keeping Rush alive is so critical. I live in Montreal an hour from Le Studio in Morin Heights. I can still here Alex’s guitar… You need to have a Rush beer. Check that out their beers on RUclips. What’s nice about Rush is that’s there’s so much choice and you may put on Vapour Trails and go Christ I haven’t heard that for a while and go that’s a great album. Andy, what’s great about you is that you educate. Brilliant.
I would disagree with Clockwork Angels, it’s definitely a prog album. If anything it’s Rush’ only ‘proper’ prog album. There’s a constant theme and story running through it.
I started as a hard core prog Rush fan, but I love all of it. Even the weaker albums have got great things about them . Time Stand Still from Hold your Fire is one of my all time favourites, the sentiment in the song has really changed my view on life, especially since having children.
Anyways, just stumbled across your channel, I’ll be back. Keep it up man 🤘🏻
Hello from Montreal, I agree with you. With Rush you'll always find something people will like. We have to keep them relevant and in our conversations. All the best.
Another great video Andy keep up good work buddy
Great vid man!!! Love it!!
Love an Andy rant✌️👍
there is a BBC documentary about Rockfield and the 2 brothers who founded it out there somewhere
I was listening to Starless and Bible Black one day and my friend said that it sounds like Rush. I had to tell him that it's more or less the other way around. Rush was a rock band with prog influences as Kansas and Styx were.
I am convinced that the accurate description of Rush is a hard rock band that dabbled in prog. They were never pure prog. I personally define prog as rock that drew quite heavily from the European "classical" traditions as well as free/modern jazz, with much lesser influence from American based blues rock.
Rush meanwhile had their strongest roots in the 60s blues rock phenomenon, and even throughout their most epic "prog period" they still maintained that blues / hard rock ethos... Pretty much all those songs were still glued together by the almighty crunchy, catchy guitar riffs. Guitar solos still stayed in a pretty much blues based arena, and the drumming even as complex and "proggy" that it became, there was always something about Neil having an eye towards bombastic and catchy fills that indiciated he always had a bit of a showman in him.
For that reason when one grew up in the late 70s and early 80s, the kids who had the hard rock record collections with the likes of AC/DC, Zep, etc would inevitably also include Rush. None of the true "prog" bands would be in that kind of collection.
You mean british based blues rock. Early Rush was basically Led Zep, and Alex worshipped clapton in Cream, Page in Zep, etc. The blues rock boom took off because of Cream/Clapton mainly. Most all guitarists back then including from the US were heavily into claptons cream era, and to a lesser extent the bluesbreaker album. The UK rock take on blues fed it back to the US where it was mostly taken for granted, but from the UK perspective an exotic novelty
@@RocknJazzer Yep a big goof on my part. To be more precise, the proximate influence of British based blues rock, which ultimately drew mainly from and innovated on a contemporary/prior American tradition instead of European. Mainly.
It took a while (40+ years) but I got interested in 2112 again and decided to check out the inspiration behind it - Ayn Rand. How prophetic was that - the struggle between the individual and the collective.
Ayn Rand was terrible. But Libertarians love her, of course.
Peart has demounced the Rand stuff later, was a phase he was in at the time
@@jc3drums916 She was a tremendous anti communist
@@RocknJazzer coincidentally, his worldview got worse and worse over time
@@jc3drums916 She was not keen on totalitarianism. Her writing is highly relevant today as we hurtle towards a digitial technocratic dystopia..
When I was sharing an office at a University in Thaialnd around 2012, I was playing XANADU from Exit Stage Left on RUclips, and my Dutch mate mae in jut a Alex Liefson wa plaing at the begining and he aked me 'Who is this?'. He was blown away.
The Grand Finale of 2112,
as rendered in the ending medley on Exit Stage Left,
remains a revelation,
giving me a chill just typing about it.
Alex is absolutely murderous,
bearing his teeth,
slashing the fretboard as Neil and Geddy swiftly stomp out
the death knell of the priests.
It is printed on my brain until the grave.
To anyone considering giving Rush a try,
I highly recommend the Exit Stage Left album
(which does NOT have
the Grand Finale).
You will be moved and changed.
As for everything after Exit Stage Left,
I love all of it.
It’s not prog in the 1970s
hash-plumes-coming-out-your-ears-with-pride sense,
of course.
That’s a very good thing.
Why repeat past glories?
Far riskier and far more rewarding to explore beyond their proven palettes.
Otherwise,
I loved watching this video!
Thank you very much for posting it!
I really enjoy your posts especially as you talk in depth about music and culture that I grew up with and still love.
I must admit that I've never seen Rush as progressive rock, my collection consists of Chronicles, Different stages and the DVD Rush in Rio. My favourite is Roll the Bones.
Just great rock!
Brilliant show Andy but I think everyone goes a bit mad on YT at least for a while!
Grace Under Pressure is so of it's era but lyrically it is off the charts. Some of the songs were written for a sci fi film so there is a little continuity. I still love it though as I was at college, living away from home and played it to death.
Oh, and watching The Expanse at the moment. Some say they named the ship after Don Quixote but I understand the writers were Rush fans. A space ship called the Rocinante, sailing through the galaxies? 😂
Took me years to fully appreciate Rush, it all seemed very dense musically, not much light or shade,being a 3 piece it was big chords & fiddly bits, but lacking in a real variety of melody/moods.Until that is, they introduced more keyboards (and Geddy adjusted his vocal tone somewhat),this brought welcome depth of sound and atmosphere, and by Moving Pictures i was hooked.I dont see the immediate Prog label,but they are a very decent heavy rock/pop band with proggy overtones.
Yes, there is a big change with Farewell to Kings
This was insane. Bravo! That Foucault and Derrida video sounds rad 😂
Being a Rush fan, I feel their music has always ‘progressed’ and I will enjoy all of it forever.
Man I can’t ever listen to the same music forever. At some time during repeat listens, there is a saturation point where listening to the same stuff just feels stale. It might take years, but it will get there eventually. Doesn’t matter who it is or how good they are. Once new albums have stopped being produced, the old albums get wore out.
Love it...just when it couldn't get any better you break the fourth wall at the end...very Diderot.
Oh and the stuff about Rush was cool too...
Most proggy and my personal favorite album they ever made. Great video, I do wonder of Power Windows isn't a little more Prog than Grace Under Pressure?
Xanadu was the track that got me into Rush! Not by Rush but by the great Hartlepool band White Spirit! Great mates and I still occasionaly bump into Janick Gers! Great guy!
Entertaining and educational. Cool. Rush and Mahogany Rush both hit the Cleveland market about the same time in the mid 70's. I preferred Frank Marino and his band.
You might be playing the game, but i really don't mind. There's more than enough passion, vision and authenticity there to keep me engaged. Longform video's are your forte.
For a while i followed channels that did reaction video's. Most of the time these are people that react to music that they don't know anything about. Granted, sometimes you get to see emotional reactions to music that you like as well, but it's all so superficial. You wouldn't wanna talk to them about music at all.
We need substance in this vapid environment. Your video's are a breath of fresh air.
Andy , it was the Welsh countryside Alex recorded the acoustic guitar in .
You're a great host. Love these vids and I loved the Robert Plant reel ! Shared it 👍🏻🤘🏻
I think you have been in the pub where that happened...shhhhhhhhh
I day dream about cooking my food in their kitchen. Love that place !
Only ever heard one Rush song, so I'm here for the "epic rant." It's very good. 👍
Rush are awesome, I was exactly the right age when Hemisperes came out. You are so right, the impact of Rush on a teenage male mind, impossible to underestimate the impact that had on me!
Most enjoyable!
Your access and contacts and history nouce is something I think would be valuable to develop with things like visiting Rock music monuments and venues. That would be worth Patreon cash
People need to understand that 1983 prog CANNOT sound like 1973 prog. Prog is a reaction to whatever is happening in music at any given time, so of course prog must change considerably over time.
I'm ya mate from Fareham Andy.. roughly your age , been in the US for 45 years. Rush's sound raised the bar so high, other music has been at a hault , Depeche Mode deserve their induction..
I agree with your list, except I would put Hemispheres at #1 and AFTK at #2.
"The power of Rush on adolescent boys..." Amen, brother.
Maybe that's why I find them just ok, first time I listened to them I was about 20-25.
I heard truck loads of prog from 1967 on in good old Oxford UK but never heard Rush at all. Says a lot to me.
forgot to say ...
Rush does not fit into ProgRock, but they were progessive in music. Despite the way they turned to 4-5 min songs with intro, theme, chorus, theme2, chorus, solo or bridge and outro short or extra ending.
I got lost in the last years, but whenever I listen to their music, even today, I can see there was still progression in their songs, either in themes or in band arrangement.
I think it had to do with us, the listeners, who prefer to use music as a consumable, thats why the form had changed. Finally it is the creativity I do admire.
btw Same goes for Peter Gabriel: I still thankhim for producing people like Mari Boine and many others in his Real World label. He has walked on a tremendous path, and still hasnt retired. because the times bring up alot new topics .. it requires individual creative artists to use uncommon ways to talk with us. Our attention is now more an assets and abilities, excellence sticks out, more then it was in times of LPs and VIVA or MTV, and we cant talk of new sounds today, but we can talk of new creative ways in text, melodies and form still.
Are you channeling Stewart Lee? That was brilliant!
Best. Rant. EVER!
Rush defies categorization, a hard rock band that dipped into progressive ideas and influences, but only a couple of songs could really be called progressive. Neil said it best I think, " all along we just wanted to make music that pleased us, and we hoped it pleased other people too".
Rush don't defy categorisation. They're prog.
Thanks Andy. Great topic. I don't watch your channel because it's enjoyable. I watch it because it's super deep, insightful and hard hitting. I'm on the same page regarding the question on Rush proginess. I guess what you're saying is that Rush is either a great rock band or an ok prog band. According to this video they are not a great prog band with 2 great prog albums...LOL just kidding. My hands are shaking just typing this sentence. And a Rockfield video would be awesome. Please do it before the doomsday clock hits midnight and ai kills us all. Every time you go off on a tangent, I know the world is still a wonderful place...
Thanks Doron
good idea hi5
there isnt just ProgRock in Rush Albums.
But excellence in musicianship and they are developing characters like every human moves on his path, bands have to as well, I love to hear contents that grow with Zeitgeist.
To me this drawers like hard- prog- rock is just whst we listeners need to talk about music with others. I always hsted this simplifying for our own confidence.
So I do not use this anymore, as I did in earlier. I let 1 song speak and describe the form of the music.
Progressive Rock as such has been stuff stuff like PlayBach, The Nice, Yes, early Genesis. It had to do with the way compositions are made, Much of form and theme development. And even Kate Bush fits there, despite tthe hits like Running up the hill, I still admire the way she does tell her tales. Its very serious work she did in compositions. Instruments, text, melody lines and bridges.
Good rant Andy. 🤪
Rush are unique and have influenced all who came after
Absolutely
Hey Andy!! Awesome video! Awesome crazy rant! And the spittle in the corner of your mouth was a great touch!!! 🤣🤣🤣 Keep them coming! Thanks!
It's not there at the start...must be rant spittle
@@AndyEdwardsDrummer By the way, bought C16H15C12N and I'm liking it very much! Have you ever heard a duo called The Brothers Johnson? Wondering what you think of them, if at all. Thanks!
Andy, how about your take on the new Yes album?
"Rush inoculates you against girls, doesn't it!" That's awesome. It's not something we denizens of the Subdivisions would choose - it's just what happens. Rush is not something you choose - it chooses you.
I assume the bit of the rant about AI in which you effectively summarise the plot line to 2112 was deliberate? Great stuff. You don’t get this on Beatto! 🤣
One thing that can't be disputed: Rush had some kickass album covers.
Lots of bare bottoms
That part about Rick Beato got a good guffaw out of me.
Never thought of Rush as Prog. Always thought of them as "something else".
That's how most prog bands would describe themselves... The idea being to do something "out of the box"
Bahahaha, that was glorious. But Rush rule though. Their 80's albums that started to veer away from prog(tm) are their best era IMHO.
@AndyEdwardsDrummer The thing i like the best about your content is that you are clearly a fan without ever becoming hagiographic. I wonder if thats because you're more of a peer to a lot of these folks than we mere mortals, but regardless, i like it. Keep it coming
I know who the true greats are; Louis Amstrong, Duke Ellington Bird Miles, Coltrane, Bille, Ella etc
When you turn the camera what I was thinking -David byrn -you may find yourself living in a shotgun shack 🤔🤣
"I'm turning into Rick Beato!" As the saying goes, Andy, you win today's internet!
You crack me up. I'm a little older than you (63). When I was in my early teens, to get inoculated from girls and the rest of society, there was one band above them all...King Crimson. It took over 40 years to get my wife to admit she likes them because I brain washed her. Being a prog snob, I always give the Rush fans a pass. However, when I see another guy (and it's always a guy), in a Crimson T-shirt, I give them a knowing nod of approval to signify our common knowledge of great music only knowledgeable men would know...
I totally agree with your Farewell to Kings assessment. I always thought of it as _the last time Rush sounded like Led Zeppelin_ haha.
Btw I've just discovered your channel thanks to Sea of Tranquility and sir, you are the shit.
Is water wet?
Speaking about jazz guitarists in the beginning, you've probably heard of Matteo Mancuso already?
Yes...............
I need the postmodernism video. I find it fascinating that I see lots of problems with postmodernism and the loss of narrative and truth and yet I am totally in love with postmodern literature. I love David Foster Wallace and Don Dellili and Pynchon. I would absolutely love a discussion a postmodern influence on rock music and I'm sure a substantial part of your audience would as well
Just listened to The Raconteurs podcast with Pete Shelley and Glen Matlock. Matlock points out that being working class is not a barrier to being an intellectual. Both were very post modern in their time.
Had the pleasure of meeting Glen and he was a gentleman and way cooler than I expected. He also played a hell of a gig.
@@grahamnunn8998 I will check it out!
Great one! Oh the grumbles! I swear for us born in the before the 1980's pack things are different than just the normal shift of the generations. Planned obsolescence, the religion of garbage dumps is part of the deal, maybe at the roots of the problem. We're trained by the minions of the programming department like the rock journalists who write like their opinions are sacrosanct to chuck the past in favor of the new candy flavors, a dumb down on a slippery slope to the crap that passes for 'music' these days. Garbage is everything in consumer society. We trash everyone who vibes differently. We throw away things that break cause these days you can't even repair things.
As to your point about Prog saving music from an even earlier death, Punk like a zombie horde if left alone without elders to put up some barriers to their immature wanking and screaming and Captain Caveman drumming: Robert Fripp gave Blondie a jolt of discipline that elevated their craft. Then he did the same with Bowie, Talking Heads. 70's Prog cats get together and do Asia, Yes in suits and 80's dos, yet none of the pop kids did quite the high skill scene changes that Rabin Yes have done.
The great thing about all the recordings is we have sonic memories in vivid detail that are already enabling some kids to take it in and learn the Craft in a new way. More people are waking up to how trashy our modern society has become. Via recordings I took in Rush in the late 80's. Kiss was my first concert, then I took up electric bass. I learned one bass line from Gene; War Machine. Then I took up following Steve Harris by playing along with him on my turntable and bass guitar. When I felt I could do everything in his skill set bass wise I took up following Geddy Lee. It wasn't long before I totally lost interest in Kiss what with so many great prog bands to explore. Primus! From my side of the world.
Xanadu certainly got to Steve Harris. Rime of the Ancient Mariner is a Rock lyric synopsis of a poem by the same author, Samuel Taylor Coleridge. As long as those of us who remember playing music before 1996 when Bill Clinton signed the consolidation of media that upped the energy on the garbage dump feeders we have the codes intact in way where they can still be taught to the young of our time.
I was once on a coach, on my way to Manchester from Blackpool, to see Rush, it was 2013 maybe, so it was the Clockwork Angels tour and I was sat next to this guy who gave me the full verbal about his passion for Prog. When we got to Manchester, I was sat next to a Scouse lass, whose last gig was J-lo, but she was only there with her Boyfriend and didn't have a clue about Rush really. Anyway, I'm not in to Prog and I'm not in to J-lo either. From the Prog oeuvre, Rush are the only band who make sense to me, but they aren't Prog, they are sub-Prog.
Gene Simmons called Rush 'Led Zepellin Junior"
This is THE video that explains the universe. In 2112 they'll will dig this out of some digital archive and it will be like the Rosetta Stone. You will be the Ozymandias of prog and fusion! Look upon my works, ye mighty, and despair!
Geddy Lee described them as a hard rock band that occasionally dabbles with prog
Question: do they WANT to be considered prog, and do their fans WANT to consider them as such? After their first album they definitely had a prog phase/era. but subsequently they retained some degree or elements of prog, but whether or not they were always prog, that seems to be an opinion.
I have a cousin who had the idea of setting up as Patreon Jesus, but was too lazy to follow through with the idea, and went trucking instead.
(Miracles for a small fee, that kind of thing. Maybe bottles of holy water from the sacred tap in the kitchen for merch - just like in the olden days - and maybe just like modern times in at least some places - almost certainly just the way it's always been in an enormous number of places.)
I think maybe he missed out on a great opportunity, but then you might find that market is already saturated, too, so maybe it wasn't a bad call to opt out of it and drink another beer instead. So now he's an Autobahn Poet, and writes things like _Ode to the Ausfahrt to the A44 Richtung Gummersbach_ (in English, because his German is a bit rudimentary for stuff like poetry in celebration of inspiring roads.) Gave up drinking, actually, so poetry saved his life.
The Patreon Jesus type of art is something he's always been into - until this poetry thing. And trucking. (He's actually a sculptor, but sales turned out too sporadic to live off - what with not that many people liking big deep sea fish from some other world as decorations for the coffee table in the middle of the lounge, even if they're happy to give it an ooh and and ah sometimes, just-looking.) He was the one who made The Great Bob - with the long, skinny fingers extended to receive the offerings. Cult didn't take off, so now Bob is in storage. He's in a box on top of my kitchen cupboards, actually. Would've cost a fortune to export him, probably, so he's up there quietly waiting for his time to come.
(Is that lot up there postmodern? Maybe? It's just plain fact, but maybe that's a postmodern thing? I don't suppose it matters if it's not.)
Actually the great Australian ensemble, TISM (AKA, This is Serious, Mum, although everyone's too lazy to say all that) once did a great song about trucking. It's called *I Drive a Truck* ruclips.net/video/rgBn5hPOhEk/видео.html
Rush Xana(did)do prog
Nailed it with the English estetique
Maybe a bit left-field for this channel, but have you ever covered Nick Drake?
I've listened and loved Rush for about 20 years now, back when i considered myself a 70s prog -rock fan, and you know what, i think their 80s stuff is the more interesting to me than ever before, i think 80s Rush is a gateway to loving 80s music, its funny that you mentioned Joy Division because 80s Rush made me apreciate them along with Ultravox and others bands even more. Back then i didnt like the Power Windows album, now its become one of my favourites , its an 80s cheesy overproduced Trevor-Horn-like record, but it has opened its secrets to me after so many years, its an exquisite cheese. 80s Rush its as prog or even more than the 70s Rush, if they would have made the same 70s-prog type of record in the 80s that for sure wouldnt be progressive at all.
There should be some sort of helpline for people who think like this. It must be awful and i do sympathise
@@AndyEdwardsDrummeri forgot to add, post-punk was the true prog of the 80s, Rush and King Crimson knew that.
A hard rock band.
I don't know if it's the first prog metal album but King Crimnson- Red came out the year before Fly By Night.
It's Black Sabbath in 1970...
Andy, quite honestly, I can't wait to watch a video from you on the influence of Postmodernism on music and art. Actually, that is a topic I've had looming in my mind for several months now. Currently, all criticism of the Postmodern thought seems to focus in its undesirable influence on wokeism, identity politics, gender, and race issues, but nobody ever talks about its effect on art and music (some people have certainly addressed the current pernicious effect of political correctnes and wokeism on books, literature, film and TV, though, because it is a hot topic at the moment). So, go ahead.
Please don’t encourage him. The problem with Postmodernism is that there is no clear definition of it. Indeed, definitions conflict in philosophy, design, art, politics and economics. And the idea that weaponized right-wing cliches such as “wokeism”, “political correctness”, and “identity politics” somehow provide a framework for a meaningful discussion of Postmodernism is wishful thinking. I’m afraid the result would be even more meaningless verbiage already found in oversupply at Fox & Friends or in Jordan Peterson’s latest cultural warrior video. Just as I wish Peterson would stick to psychology, I wish Andy would go deeper into music.
@@richardthurston2171 Now, that was very woke of you! Quite honestly, I cannot see how discouraging self-expression and debate, which borders on censorship, would in any way contribute to a better understanding of anything. That's exactly how woke academia, and the supporters of all those kinds of politics, seem to react when they find themselves questioned and challenged. So, Andy, if you feel like discussing these issues, please go on, by all means, I insist.