The album featured the epic “By-Tor & the Snow Dog,” yes, but “Anthem” and “Making Memories” remind us that this was a band that could hold its own with Ted Nugent and Kiss as well as Hawkwind.ĭays of barefoot freedom racing with the waves Fly By Night’s titular track is hook-laden but sophisticated and listening to it today leaves little question as to why it has become a staple of classic rock radio. Between Peart’s arrival in 19’s Hemispheres, Rush largely shed its Led Zeppelin-dependent boogie rock identity and embraced loftier themes and weightier time signatures.īut Rush never existed without the knowledge that people still came to shows to shake their asses and sing along to the chorus. That said, 1980’s Permanent Waves, issued within the first two weeks of that year offers us a glimpse of the group that Rush would become as well as a snapshot of the one it had been.

But Rush never lived entirely outside the margins.

Rush wasn’t ahead of its time Rush merely outpaced the masses. This happened in the same space in which “geek” and “nerd,” terms once used to denigrate the cerebral and sincere were transformed into badges of pride. The death of Rush drummer and lyricist Neil Peart on January 7 serve to remind us all of one simple but still surprising fact: Somewhere between 1979 and now the Canadian trio’s affability and unpretentiousness had transformed Geddy Lee, Alex Lifeson and Peart from the high priests of terminal un-hipness to ambassadors of cool. Rush Permanent Waves, Mercury Records 1980

By tor and the snow dog time signature