Rush, "Spirit of Radio"

Rush is one of the most unique bands in the classic rock pantheon, and one I avoided for years. Geddy Lee's voice bugged me and I had read too many rock critics, and so I despised anything proggy. In my 30s, after taking a deep dive into jazz, I started to listen to much more complex music, and in that mood Rush started to make a lot of sense to me.

Since hearing of drummer Neil Peart's passing last Friday, I have been doing a deep dive on Rush, with a particular focus on their early 80s work. Unlike other artists of their generation, they progressed and adapted, getting better in a decade when classic rock died for the most part. It wasn't just synthesizers; Rush started using new rhythms, lyrical themes, and even vocal styles (Ged's voice finally dropped.)

Peart has to be one of the most singular figures in rock history. His drumming wasn't just stunning in its virtuosity, it was flat-out creative, too. Virtuosic drumming can come across like wanking, but Peart still always served the song (like his idol Keith Moon.) This might be because he wrote the songs, a rare thing for a drummer. If you listen to Rush's early music without Peart the lyrics are almost a parody of early 70s boogie rock. It basically boiled down to "Oh baby love me let's have a good time tonight" *guitar solo*.

Peart's drumming and lyrics turned Rush from a really good Zeppelin clone to something wild and new and impossible to immitate. While I am no fan of Peart's 70s Ayn Rand lyrical obsession, he eventually got over it. In any case the lyrics were not the usual cock-rock bullshit, even if they were overblown. I think the new direction of the band was announced in "Spirit of Radio," their first single of the 80s.

This song has one of Alex Lifeson's best bulldozer riffs, but it has to make way for several time changes and a reggae-inspired breakdown. Its subject is radio and its degeneration from an inspiration to a corporatized tool for "SALESMEN!" That was appropriate for Peart, a kind of anti-rockstar not into sexndrugs excess who'd rather be reading a book. Despite the myriad changes in this song, the professor never misses a beat. If I had to play just one song to introduce someone to Rush, this is the one I would choose. RIP