I think the idea behind Nobody's Hero is to remind us that a real hero is someone who acts courageously in the face of adversity possibly to the extent of risking or even sacrificing their own lives for a noble reason or someone who achieves something great that humanity can benefit from and it's not the people from the entertainment world who we, as a society sometimes idolize, with the final message of the song being that many ordinary people are far more courageous and heroic in their everyday lives then the entertainment idols we often call our "heroes" are. With the exception of Neil Peart of course...He's actually Superman.
Neil is saying that our hero worship is misplaced. Everyday folk live the lives of a hero quietly everyday. My trans child, The old guys up the street in the Vets home, The woman you see walking with a double armful of grocery bags....
The day Neil died i challenged all the fans i know to listen to nobody's hero without tears. None of them could! Counterparts is one of all time favorite albums and NOBODY'S HERO is one of the greatest and most important songs ever written!
"Hero" always leaves me weeping. What a masterful blend of semantic and musical intent, the impact of both elements driving each other to levels neither could achieve alone.
A RUSH fan since childhood, I remember when I first heard the song Nobody's Hero on the radio while driving to work, back in 93'. I had to pull over. A very moving song that I connected with in my life. Forever relevant.
Nobody's here I was in my top five All Time Rush songs because it is so relevant even especially now with the pandemic and everything that's going on in society. It's so powerful and conveys such an important message that I think everyone needs to hear. It gets me every time!
This is basically about unsung heros, as opposed to athletes, actors, actesses etc- and people who do amazing things without wanting rewards, or going to your job because it's the right thing to do- a very powerful song-and maybe a reminder about what's really important in life..a least that's what I get from it. And I love your reactions!
Before the 90's, rock artists never really took on controversial topics... This was 1993 during the grunge era - Nirvana and Pearl Jam had opened a can of lyrical worms, talking about teen suicide ('Jeremy')... sexual assault ('Polly')... and mental anguish ("I hate myself and I want to die")... The 1991 death of Queen singer Freddie Mercury also brought new focus on the AIDS epidemic that had demonized the gay community worldwide (Iron Maiden wrote 'Fear is the key' in 1992 about that). It also affected the entire society when it was revealed that AIDS was not just a 'gay disease'... and straight people died by the millions as well, including tennis star Arthur Ashe... rapper Eazy-E... rock singer Ray Gillen... Tom Fogerty of CCR... For Neil Peart to address two issues that had never been a part of their lyrics was huge, but he took on those topics (likely encouraged by the 90's influences) - the role of gays in our society... the brutality that women often face at the hands of men... The significance of lives that are not valued equally by the general public, and that is made obvious by the response by law enforcement (for example) when cases of murder victims are not prioritized when they are not considered "undesirables". One recent story that made my stomach turn was from India - 11 men convicted of raping a woman were released, despite receiving life sentences for the crime... Because the victim was a Muslim woman, and the rapists were Hindu, these deplorable men were given more respect than the woman, who did nothing wrong... Because the Hindu government of India values the lives of Hindu men over Muslim lives, these rapists were released from prison and given a hero's welcome by their supporters. Another example was Medgar Evers, a black man who was murdered in Mississippi in 1963 for his civil rights activism, by a white man named Byron De La Beckwith, who was a KKK member and a white supremacist. Beckwith was tried twice and not convicted by all-white juries on trial in 1964... This murderer was given a hero's welcome by his community when he was free. 30 years later, Byron De La Beckwith was finally convicted of the murder of Medgar Evers in 1994 and died in prison in 2001... decades after a black American's life was finally given equal rights and importance to warrant bringing his killer to justice by the courts and counties. I think that was the aim Neil had for "Nobody's hero" (which has a music video, as does 'Stick it out')... Nobody mourned these people who passed away under brutal circumstances, because their lives did not matter to most people... He pointed out the examples of characters that are celebrated in our daily lives, and how unfair the world is to those who are not considered as important. Neil did say his lyrics were usually written w/ his assumption that anyone reading is as smart as they were...
Cut to the Chase is a jam for sure, one of my favorites (but with Rush almost every song is a favorite) Nobody’s Hero gets better every time you hear it. So powerful
John, watching these reactions is so gratifying. Seeing you being introduced to all this brings me back to all my first introductions to Rush. I love how you're going through their collection from the beginning and hearing how they have developed and changed over their time. Let's keep this going!!
Possibly the song was inspired by a specific person or persons. My take is we are all each others Hero, everyday Hero's. Everyone of us is a role model in someone's eyes, ordinary yet extraordinary. Plus if you notice the He, She, You in the song. That's what hit me the most. We all will lose someone and they will eventually lose us. One of my favorite Rush songs, powerful!
The 2nd verse of Nobody's Hero is about Kristen French, who, as anyone who lives in Southern Ontario will know, was one of Paul Bernardo's victims in St. Catharines. As the verse says, Neil didn't know her himself, but he knew a member of her family. This is one of my favourites off Counterparts. We as a society celebrate athletes, celebrities, etc while shamefully ignoring actual heroes.
The second verse in Nobodys Hero, was in honour of a school girl who was abducted and murdered from Neils hometown of St. Catharines Ontario, in 1992. It was a sad scary time for all of us that went to school with her.
People have criticized "Nobody's Hero" for being melodramatic and tone-deaf, so to speak. I think such criticisms are being excessively harsh and completely miss the point. Neil was simply juxtaposing what people's preconceived notions of what a hero is with how just quietly doing what humans are meant to do but in a sincere, courageous way, lacking in artifice, can be truly heroic. It's a beautiful sentiment executed impeccably by Neil's lyrics and the musical composition accompanying them. It's brilliant.
"Nobody's Hero" brings back a nice memory for me. My late partner and I were living in the house we finally bought, and this album had come out and I was blasting it on the stereo while I cooked dinner. He was walking through the room as this song started and stopped to listen. I wasn't paying attention to the lyrics, and he walked into the room and said, "Is this Rush's anthem to gay pride?" I stopped and restarted the song so I could hear what he was takling about. It was surprising because it wasn't a topic most large bands would have covered in the mid-90s. Hearing something that reminds me of him is always a nice thing for me. And yes, Neil had a gay friend he had found out had passed away, as another commentator pointed out.
Nobody's hero: 1st verse is about one of his friends from England, that he worked with just before coming back home and joining Rush, who later died from aids. I believe the 2nd verse is about some horrible events of rape and murder in his home town of St. Catherines Ontario, look up Paul Bernardo & Karla Homolka. This is a great sounding album, thick and lots of punch. Everyday glory is also very emotional, great melodic powerful song !
The first person in the song is someone Neil knew when he went to London to try to make it big in music when he was like 18 or 19. The person was, indeed, gay and he heard years later that the person had contracted HIV and died as a result. The second person is definitely Kristen French, (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Kristen_French). The family is from St. Catherine's and as the lyric says, he didn't know the girl, but he knew the family. This was a pretty sensational event in the early 1990's and there was a lot of coverage of this in Buffalo (Buffalo is just over the border from St. Catherine's). I remember the news coverage of the event, the arrest of the couple that killed her and Leslie Mahaffey, and the subsequent trial. It was gruesome.
It's one of my top 3 Rush albums (mainly due to Nobody's Hero) and I'm always surprised that MANY others feel the same way online as I've met a lot of Rush fans face to face that don't rate it that high compared to their other records.
Thanks for bringing this album back into my life. All those years ago I thought it was a good album; now I think it's fantastic! If this is a remaster, that explains why I can hear more detail than before - Geddy Lee's singing is very clear above the full on backing track.
Occasionally, when people have an axe to grind or a position they advocate strongly, they will latch onto symbolic heroes. The bygone days of the AIDS epidemic was one of those times. Victims of the disease became heroes when they actually did nothing heroic at all. They were just a victim of circumstances (most by choice), but Rush already did that song. Neil maybe caught someone’s comment like that and used it as a launch point for the lyrics to Nobody’s Hero. Then he just drew comparisons with other circumstances and events in his life to expand on the point. At this point of his career, he was writing more personally and far less abstractly. Maybe he wanted to make a point of how hyperbolic situations can warp perceptions when people manipulate language. That’s what I got from it at least…all those years ago now it’s been.
Neil is saying that our hero worship is misplaced. Everyday folk live the lives of a hero quietly everyday. My trans child, The old guys up the street in the Vets home, The woman you see walking with a double armful of grocery bags....
Nobody's Hero...people are misplacing who we place on high in who we hero worship. We don't worship or place on high the day to day heroes. Mom's and Dad's those whom are marginalized.
“Alien Shore” opens with the line “You and I are strangers by one chromosome” think about that one for a day or two. Also I tripped dog dare you to react to Edgar Winter Group “Frankenstein” live video this one will freak you out.
I think the idea behind Nobody's Hero is to remind us that a real hero is someone who acts courageously in the face of adversity possibly to the extent of risking or even sacrificing their own lives for a noble reason or someone who achieves something great that humanity can benefit from and it's not the people from the entertainment world who we, as a society sometimes idolize, with the final message of the song being that many ordinary people are far more courageous and heroic in their everyday lives then the entertainment idols we often call our "heroes" are. With the exception of Neil Peart of course...He's actually Superman.
Perfect interpretation of these lines! Congrats on your text 😊
Neil is saying that our hero worship is misplaced. Everyday folk live the lives of a hero quietly everyday. My trans child, The old guys up the street in the Vets home, The woman you see walking with a double armful of grocery bags....
Yeah. I always saw it as how our view of what a hero is has become distorted and the true heroes in society often are ignored or go unnoticed.
The day Neil died i challenged all the fans i know to listen to nobody's hero without tears. None of them could! Counterparts is one of all time favorite albums and NOBODY'S HERO is one of the greatest and most important songs ever written!
For me, it was Afterimage
Suddenly, you were gone
From all the lives you left your mark upon.
"Hero" always leaves me weeping. What a masterful blend of semantic and musical intent, the impact of both elements driving each other to levels neither could achieve alone.
Geddy's voice is full of vibrato, almost like crying. And the violin sound is often associated with sorrow
A RUSH fan since childhood, I remember when I first heard the song Nobody's Hero on the radio while driving to work, back in 93'. I had to pull over. A very moving song that I connected with in my life. Forever relevant.
Nobody’s heroe is one of the most amazing Rush song
Cut to the Chase is one of my all time favorite Rush songs. I feel it's a criminally overlooked gem from their catalogue.
Nobody's here I was in my top five All Time Rush songs because it is so relevant even especially now with the pandemic and everything that's going on in society. It's so powerful and conveys such an important message that I think everyone needs to hear. It gets me every time!
This is basically about unsung heros, as opposed to athletes, actors, actesses etc- and people who do amazing things without wanting rewards, or going to your job because it's the right thing to do- a very powerful song-and maybe a reminder about what's really important in life..a least that's what I get from it. And I love your reactions!
Love this album. "Nobody's Hero" and "Everyday Glory" are really powerful songs. I get it, though. For me, these touch deep.
This album is 🔥
Before the 90's, rock artists never really took on controversial topics... This was 1993 during the grunge era - Nirvana and Pearl Jam had opened a can of lyrical worms, talking about teen suicide ('Jeremy')... sexual assault ('Polly')... and mental anguish ("I hate myself and I want to die")... The 1991 death of Queen singer Freddie Mercury also brought new focus on the AIDS epidemic that had demonized the gay community worldwide (Iron Maiden wrote 'Fear is the key' in 1992 about that). It also affected the entire society when it was revealed that AIDS was not just a 'gay disease'... and straight people died by the millions as well, including tennis star Arthur Ashe... rapper Eazy-E... rock singer Ray Gillen... Tom Fogerty of CCR...
For Neil Peart to address two issues that had never been a part of their lyrics was huge, but he took on those topics (likely encouraged by the 90's influences) - the role of gays in our society... the brutality that women often face at the hands of men... The significance of lives that are not valued equally by the general public, and that is made obvious by the response by law enforcement (for example) when cases of murder victims are not prioritized when they are not considered "undesirables".
One recent story that made my stomach turn was from India - 11 men convicted of raping a woman were released, despite receiving life sentences for the crime... Because the victim was a Muslim woman, and the rapists were Hindu, these deplorable men were given more respect than the woman, who did nothing wrong... Because the Hindu government of India values the lives of Hindu men over Muslim lives, these rapists were released from prison and given a hero's welcome by their supporters.
Another example was Medgar Evers, a black man who was murdered in Mississippi in 1963 for his civil rights activism, by a white man named Byron De La Beckwith, who was a KKK member and a white supremacist. Beckwith was tried twice and not convicted by all-white juries on trial in 1964... This murderer was given a hero's welcome by his community when he was free.
30 years later, Byron De La Beckwith was finally convicted of the murder of Medgar Evers in 1994 and died in prison in 2001... decades after a black American's life was finally given equal rights and importance to warrant bringing his killer to justice by the courts and counties.
I think that was the aim Neil had for "Nobody's hero" (which has a music video, as does 'Stick it out')... Nobody mourned these people who passed away under brutal circumstances, because their lives did not matter to most people... He pointed out the examples of characters that are celebrated in our daily lives, and how unfair the world is to those who are not considered as important. Neil did say his lyrics were usually written w/ his assumption that anyone reading is as smart as they were...
Cut to the Chase is a jam for sure, one of my favorites (but with Rush almost every song is a favorite)
Nobody’s Hero gets better every time you hear it. So powerful
John, watching these reactions is so gratifying. Seeing you being introduced to all this brings me back to all my first introductions to Rush. I love how you're going through their collection from the beginning and hearing how they have developed and changed over their time. Let's keep this going!!
I follow every day. The excitement you have is the same reaction I had every time a new rush album came out. Enjoy the rest of the journey!
Possibly the song was inspired by a specific person or persons. My take is we are all each others Hero, everyday Hero's. Everyone of us is a role model in someone's eyes, ordinary yet extraordinary. Plus if you notice the He, She, You in the song. That's what hit me the most. We all will lose someone and they will eventually lose us. One of my favorite Rush songs, powerful!
The 2nd verse of Nobody's Hero is about Kristen French, who, as anyone who lives in Southern Ontario will know, was one of Paul Bernardo's victims in St. Catharines. As the verse says, Neil didn't know her himself, but he knew a member of her family. This is one of my favourites off Counterparts. We as a society celebrate athletes, celebrities, etc while shamefully ignoring actual heroes.
The second verse in Nobodys Hero, was in honour of a school girl who was abducted and murdered from Neils hometown of St. Catharines Ontario, in 1992. It was a sad scary time for all of us that went to school with her.
People have criticized "Nobody's Hero" for being melodramatic and tone-deaf, so to speak. I think such criticisms are being excessively harsh and completely miss the point. Neil was simply juxtaposing what people's preconceived notions of what a hero is with how just quietly doing what humans are meant to do but in a sincere, courageous way, lacking in artifice, can be truly heroic. It's a beautiful sentiment executed impeccably by Neil's lyrics and the musical composition accompanying them. It's brilliant.
"Nobody's Hero" brings back a nice memory for me. My late partner and I were living in the house we finally bought, and this album had come out and I was blasting it on the stereo while I cooked dinner. He was walking through the room as this song started and stopped to listen. I wasn't paying attention to the lyrics, and he walked into the room and said, "Is this Rush's anthem to gay pride?" I stopped and restarted the song so I could hear what he was takling about. It was surprising because it wasn't a topic most large bands would have covered in the mid-90s. Hearing something that reminds me of him is always a nice thing for me. And yes, Neil had a gay friend he had found out had passed away, as another commentator pointed out.
THE SOLO!!! - OH MY, MR. LIFESON, YOU REALLY ARE A CRAZY BUNNY.
Nobody's hero: 1st verse is about one of his friends from England, that he worked with just before coming back home and joining Rush, who later died from aids. I believe the 2nd verse is about some horrible events of rape and murder in his home town of St. Catherines Ontario, look up Paul Bernardo & Karla Homolka.
This is a great sounding album, thick and lots of punch. Everyday glory is also very emotional, great melodic powerful song !
How can you possibly listen to the genius of Cut to the Chase and forget it a month later???!!
This album got airplay on a lot on rock stations. Tour was very successful as well!
Bad memory?!?
Cut to the chase is so fun!!!
Memorable is an understatement.
Cut To The Chase, without any doubt, my favorite of this album. This grooves man !
The first person in the song is someone Neil knew when he went to London to try to make it big in music when he was like 18 or 19. The person was, indeed, gay and he heard years later that the person had contracted HIV and died as a result. The second person is definitely Kristen French, (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Kristen_French). The family is from St. Catherine's and as the lyric says, he didn't know the girl, but he knew the family. This was a pretty sensational event in the early 1990's and there was a lot of coverage of this in Buffalo (Buffalo is just over the border from St. Catherine's). I remember the news coverage of the event, the arrest of the couple that killed her and Leslie Mahaffey, and the subsequent trial. It was gruesome.
It's one of my top 3 Rush albums (mainly due to Nobody's Hero) and I'm always surprised that MANY others feel the same way online as I've met a lot of Rush fans face to face that don't rate it that high compared to their other records.
Thanks for bringing this album back into my life. All those years ago I thought it was a good album; now I think it's fantastic! If this is a remaster, that explains why I can hear more detail than before - Geddy Lee's singing is very clear above the full on backing track.
They're not who people think of when they hear the word "hero", but still, every loss is deeply personal to someone.
I know about memory problems. My issue was the late 80's and all of the 90's. I was told l had a wonderful time.
Brilliant. The girl was a victim of a mass killer in Niels hometown.
Counterparts is a great album John.
Occasionally, when people have an axe to grind or a position they advocate strongly, they will latch onto symbolic heroes. The bygone days of the AIDS epidemic was one of those times. Victims of the disease became heroes when they actually did nothing heroic at all. They were just a victim of circumstances (most by choice), but Rush already did that song. Neil maybe caught someone’s comment like that and used it as a launch point for the lyrics to Nobody’s Hero. Then he just drew comparisons with other circumstances and events in his life to expand on the point. At this point of his career, he was writing more personally and far less abstractly. Maybe he wanted to make a point of how hyperbolic situations can warp perceptions when people manipulate language. That’s what I got from it at least…all those years ago now it’s been.
I love Nobody's Hero. I'm surprised you won't return to this awesome track.
It's not a bad song! Just compared to the first two tracks I didn't like it as much. I'll probably give it another listen at some point :)
Cut is so great...solo and bridge brilliant. And the panning part 👏
Neil is saying that our hero worship is misplaced. Everyday folk live the lives of a hero quietly everyday. My trans child, The old guys up the street in the Vets home, The woman you see walking with a double armful of grocery bags....
DOUBLE AGENT IS THE BOMB! CAN'T WAIT! YOU'LL BE HAPPY!
One of the best and most unique songs ever
@@jasonwilliams6005 You got that straight!
Nobody's Hero...people are misplacing who we place on high in who we hero worship. We don't worship or place on high the day to day heroes. Mom's and Dad's those whom are marginalized.
“Alien Shore” opens with the line “You and I are strangers by one chromosome” think about that one for a day or two. Also I tripped dog dare you to react to Edgar Winter Group “Frankenstein” live video this one will freak you out.
🎼🐐🐐🐐🎶 🎙
🎸🥁🎸
Try to holds some faith in the goodness of humanity 🙂
🎼👦👨🏻🧑🏻🎶 🎙
🦸♂️🦸🏻♂️🦸🏻♂️
That moment when you realize ok rush isn't so great anymore
Musically nobodys hero is good...the lyrics are not one of Neil's best...this song is nowhere near the pass
For a really good explanation of the tune: www.songfacts.com/facts/rush/nobodys-hero
Thanks for the link, it is a great history of the song.