Rediscovery
My friend Craig wrote a note the other day about the importance of getting back to your musical roots, and the joy of rediscovering your favorite bands. For him, it was all about awesome old school punk like NOFX, and Lagwagon.
Funny he should write that. Cause just this weekend, in a roundabout way, I kind of had a musical rediscovery of my own.
Let me back up for a second.
Kat and I went to see “I Love You, Man” the other night. Pretty funny movie, you should see it if you get a chance.
Anyway, it’s about this dude Peter who’s about to get married, who never had any guy friends. He overhears his fiancé’s friends talking about how weird it is that he doesn’t have any guy friends, so he decides that he needs to become friends with guys. A lot of awkward weird moments while he’s meeting all these strange men - and then he finally meets this dude Sidney who becomes his bro.
OK, so far, I can’t really relate to any of these characters. I’ve always had guy friends, never had a problem with that.
But then these two bond when they go into Sidney’s man cave, and find they have a common interest. Rush.
And that part hit home. Home - to a part of me I haven’t seen in years.
You see, it occurs to me now, years later, that Rush is a “guy” band. Rush fans are a weird breed. A REALLY weird breed actually, but if there’s one thing that everyone can agree on, it’s that Rush fans are GUYS. Real guys.
And Rush is male initiation.
Guys bond over Rush. Somehow, and I can’t explain how, this is when you transform from adolescent into man. You discover Rush, and then beer. Possibly on the same night.
A friend turns you onto it. “Hey man, you’ve got to check this out. Fucking amazing.”
You never forget the moment. The crunch of the guitar. The explosiveness of the drums. What is this? This is awesome!
“Living on a lighted stage,
Approaches the unreal
For those who think and feel
In touch with some reality
Beyond the gilded cage.”
I grew up with them. I had all their albums on cassette. Knew every song, every lyric, every drumbeat. And I listened to them incessantly. The music became the soundtrack of my life.
Anytime they were in town, I was at their concert. I must have seen them at least 14 times. It’s amazing that for as little radio play as they get, they manage to sell out every venue, every time. That’s how rabid the fanbase is. And that’s exactly the way it should be.
The concert is epic. It’s something that anyone who appreciates good rock music should see, along with U2 and the Rolling Stones.
Now, there’s nothing glamorous about them or their music. You can’t dance to Rush. You certainly can’t fuck to it. You don’t see groups of chicks lining up to go to the show. Just doesn’t happen. Although it always surprised me how many hot women you’d see at the show. That’s because their boyfriend is in a band!
If anything, this is a band for musicians. Or people who can really appreciate musicianship.
And you can always tell the fan’s instrument of choice, as everyone would air guitar or air drum along. Everyone wanted to be Geddy Lee, Alex Lifeson or Neil Peart.
Sounds pretty nerdy, huh? Well it was! But it didn’t matter. Yes, we looked ridiculous, but this was ours, and we didn’t care if you didn’t get it.
When you met another Rush fan, you had an instant bond. Didn’t matter if you knew anything else, you knew enough. That Rush was the greatest band in the universe.
This cemented itself for me one day when I met this dude Rich who was part of a Rush cover band. He invited me to check out one of their jam sessions down in Anaheim. I’ll never forget as I was walking through a studio looking for their room, I heard a familiar tune down the hall. I open the door and walk in, singing along.
“You move me, you move me,
With your buildings and your eyes, autumn woods and winter skies.
You move me, you move me,
Open sea and city lights, busy streets and dizzy heights.
Call me, you call me…”
And that was all it took.
I didn’t know him at all, but Rich and I shared a common passion. It was one of those things that we somehow just understood, and everything else was just cool.
He went through the entire catalog. I knew every song. Every word was pure poetry.
“Invisible airwaves crackle with life,
Bright antenna bristle with the energy.
Emotional feedback on a timeless wavelength
Bearing a gift beyond price, almost free”
I’d run into him years later at (of all places) a Rush concert - I think the Test For Echo tour, to which we both brought stunning dates. He and I looked at each other and just smiled. Say no more.
To the non-Rush fan, none of this would make any sense. In fact, I got a lot of crap from my group of friends at the time. Being into Rush made me an easy target. Somebody decided that it made me a freak. My mistake was trying to share this with them, because I’m the type of person who likes to share every great thing I discover with everyone.
But it’s not that easy. That’s like trying to teach the collected works of Shakespeare to somebody in kindergarten.
No, I’m being too nice. Let’s just call them fuckheads.
But for those in the know, Rush was cooler than cool. It was like the ultimate in-joke. The people who got it were never quiet about it. The last show I went to was in Irvine back in 2004 - I brought Kat with me, and during 2112, she spotted some guy run out on stage, strip down to his underwear, throw his clothing into the dryer, then run up to Geddy Lee and air jam along side him. I wondered why security didn’t tackle this guy, but then the cameras zoomed in to reveal that the dude was Jack Black.
Jack Black
These days, I’ve kinda put my Rush-fandom on the back burner. I recognize that there’s a difference between what I like, and what other people like, and it’s been important to me to be in touch with that. Which is why I’ve never suggested to our band that we play Rush. I want to play what YOU want to hear.
Besides, I don’t think it’s a good idea to be one dimensional. I’ve expanded my musical tastes, even finding myself enjoying playing stuff I HATED years ago.
So my love for Rush has been dormant for a while.
But now I realize that this is wrong. I wouldn’t go as far as to say that I’m being untrue to myself, but to suppress something just because other people don’t dig it is like suppressing your own identity. It’s almost like pretending to be somebody else.
And I can’t forget the greatest lesson I ever learned.
See, it’s not whether something’s cool or not. In fact, the only way to truly be cool is to be completely OK with doing something that is UNcool.
And if you can’t do that, then you’re just another fuckhead.
See, that’s just it. I realize that it’s OK to be into Rush. This is a guy thing. And it’s not nerdy. It’s normal. Warcraft is nerdy. LAN parties are nerdy. Not getting laid because you’re into Warcraft and LAN parties - that’s really nerdy.
It’s time to once again unashamedly embrace that which I love. Otherwise, the fuckheads win.
Rush's Symbol: The individual against an oppresive society, or me against the fuckheads...
Come to think of it, I think I might tell the guys that we need to play “Limelight” at our next gig. And something tells me it might go over pretty well. There’s more than a few Rush fans in our ranks. Somebody out there will dig it, and we just might make their day.
I guess it’s true when you say that I march to the beat of a different drummer. And what a drummer to march to!
Funny he should write that. Cause just this weekend, in a roundabout way, I kind of had a musical rediscovery of my own.
Let me back up for a second.
Kat and I went to see “I Love You, Man” the other night. Pretty funny movie, you should see it if you get a chance.
Anyway, it’s about this dude Peter who’s about to get married, who never had any guy friends. He overhears his fiancé’s friends talking about how weird it is that he doesn’t have any guy friends, so he decides that he needs to become friends with guys. A lot of awkward weird moments while he’s meeting all these strange men - and then he finally meets this dude Sidney who becomes his bro.
OK, so far, I can’t really relate to any of these characters. I’ve always had guy friends, never had a problem with that.
But then these two bond when they go into Sidney’s man cave, and find they have a common interest. Rush.
And that part hit home. Home - to a part of me I haven’t seen in years.
You see, it occurs to me now, years later, that Rush is a “guy” band. Rush fans are a weird breed. A REALLY weird breed actually, but if there’s one thing that everyone can agree on, it’s that Rush fans are GUYS. Real guys.
And Rush is male initiation.
Guys bond over Rush. Somehow, and I can’t explain how, this is when you transform from adolescent into man. You discover Rush, and then beer. Possibly on the same night.
A friend turns you onto it. “Hey man, you’ve got to check this out. Fucking amazing.”
You never forget the moment. The crunch of the guitar. The explosiveness of the drums. What is this? This is awesome!
“Living on a lighted stage,
Approaches the unreal
For those who think and feel
In touch with some reality
Beyond the gilded cage.”
I grew up with them. I had all their albums on cassette. Knew every song, every lyric, every drumbeat. And I listened to them incessantly. The music became the soundtrack of my life.
Anytime they were in town, I was at their concert. I must have seen them at least 14 times. It’s amazing that for as little radio play as they get, they manage to sell out every venue, every time. That’s how rabid the fanbase is. And that’s exactly the way it should be.
The concert is epic. It’s something that anyone who appreciates good rock music should see, along with U2 and the Rolling Stones.
Now, there’s nothing glamorous about them or their music. You can’t dance to Rush. You certainly can’t fuck to it. You don’t see groups of chicks lining up to go to the show. Just doesn’t happen. Although it always surprised me how many hot women you’d see at the show. That’s because their boyfriend is in a band!
If anything, this is a band for musicians. Or people who can really appreciate musicianship.
And you can always tell the fan’s instrument of choice, as everyone would air guitar or air drum along. Everyone wanted to be Geddy Lee, Alex Lifeson or Neil Peart.
Sounds pretty nerdy, huh? Well it was! But it didn’t matter. Yes, we looked ridiculous, but this was ours, and we didn’t care if you didn’t get it.
When you met another Rush fan, you had an instant bond. Didn’t matter if you knew anything else, you knew enough. That Rush was the greatest band in the universe.
This cemented itself for me one day when I met this dude Rich who was part of a Rush cover band. He invited me to check out one of their jam sessions down in Anaheim. I’ll never forget as I was walking through a studio looking for their room, I heard a familiar tune down the hall. I open the door and walk in, singing along.
“You move me, you move me,
With your buildings and your eyes, autumn woods and winter skies.
You move me, you move me,
Open sea and city lights, busy streets and dizzy heights.
Call me, you call me…”
And that was all it took.
I didn’t know him at all, but Rich and I shared a common passion. It was one of those things that we somehow just understood, and everything else was just cool.
He went through the entire catalog. I knew every song. Every word was pure poetry.
“Invisible airwaves crackle with life,
Bright antenna bristle with the energy.
Emotional feedback on a timeless wavelength
Bearing a gift beyond price, almost free”
I’d run into him years later at (of all places) a Rush concert - I think the Test For Echo tour, to which we both brought stunning dates. He and I looked at each other and just smiled. Say no more.
To the non-Rush fan, none of this would make any sense. In fact, I got a lot of crap from my group of friends at the time. Being into Rush made me an easy target. Somebody decided that it made me a freak. My mistake was trying to share this with them, because I’m the type of person who likes to share every great thing I discover with everyone.
But it’s not that easy. That’s like trying to teach the collected works of Shakespeare to somebody in kindergarten.
No, I’m being too nice. Let’s just call them fuckheads.
But for those in the know, Rush was cooler than cool. It was like the ultimate in-joke. The people who got it were never quiet about it. The last show I went to was in Irvine back in 2004 - I brought Kat with me, and during 2112, she spotted some guy run out on stage, strip down to his underwear, throw his clothing into the dryer, then run up to Geddy Lee and air jam along side him. I wondered why security didn’t tackle this guy, but then the cameras zoomed in to reveal that the dude was Jack Black.
Jack Black
These days, I’ve kinda put my Rush-fandom on the back burner. I recognize that there’s a difference between what I like, and what other people like, and it’s been important to me to be in touch with that. Which is why I’ve never suggested to our band that we play Rush. I want to play what YOU want to hear.
Besides, I don’t think it’s a good idea to be one dimensional. I’ve expanded my musical tastes, even finding myself enjoying playing stuff I HATED years ago.
So my love for Rush has been dormant for a while.
But now I realize that this is wrong. I wouldn’t go as far as to say that I’m being untrue to myself, but to suppress something just because other people don’t dig it is like suppressing your own identity. It’s almost like pretending to be somebody else.
And I can’t forget the greatest lesson I ever learned.
See, it’s not whether something’s cool or not. In fact, the only way to truly be cool is to be completely OK with doing something that is UNcool.
And if you can’t do that, then you’re just another fuckhead.
See, that’s just it. I realize that it’s OK to be into Rush. This is a guy thing. And it’s not nerdy. It’s normal. Warcraft is nerdy. LAN parties are nerdy. Not getting laid because you’re into Warcraft and LAN parties - that’s really nerdy.
It’s time to once again unashamedly embrace that which I love. Otherwise, the fuckheads win.
Rush's Symbol: The individual against an oppresive society, or me against the fuckheads...
Come to think of it, I think I might tell the guys that we need to play “Limelight” at our next gig. And something tells me it might go over pretty well. There’s more than a few Rush fans in our ranks. Somebody out there will dig it, and we just might make their day.
I guess it’s true when you say that I march to the beat of a different drummer. And what a drummer to march to!