#11: "Signals" by Rush

#11—Be cool or be cast out.

Best song: Subdivisions
Notable tracks: The Analog Kid, Chemistry, Digital Man, New World Man
Released: 1982
Chart Peak: #10 (U.S. Billboard 200)
Popularity: Platinum
Chosen over: Exit Stage Left, Moving Pictures, Permanent Waves, Power Windows

I'm proof that you didn't have to smoke a lot of pot in the eighties to be a fan of Rush, but I'd be lying if I told you that it was anyone other than numerous avowed and dedicated stoners who turned me on to who I think is still Canada's greatest music export. I didn't really "get" a lot of their earlier stuff, but the one thing I noticed is how amazing their drummer was.

Musicians talk often about their influences. My early influences as an aspiring drummer were the drummer for Elton John on his album Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy (Nigel Olsson—thank you, Wikipedia) and Peter Criss of Kiss. Neither of them is even in the same universe with Rush's Neil Peart. I've listened to a lot of really great drummers in many different bands, and while some of my favorites are familiar names like Alex Van Halen, Stewart Copeland, and Rick Allen, Neil Peart is simply the man sitting alone at the top of Mount Everest. Here's some proof for the skeptical:

Skip ahead to 3:20 to go straight to the solo.

I've been playing drums live for more than 10 years now, and from my first time behind a set to the music I'll be playing tomorrow morning, Peart has been my primary inspiration. I set up my drums and cymbals similar to his own arrangements, and most, if not all, of my own signature rhythms that I use are derived from my dumbed-down attempts to play like the master. 

Signals has been my favorite Rush album since first hearing, and likewise, "Subdivisions" remains my favorite Rush song of all time. I started high school in 1982, the same year the album came out, and so many of the songs on the album talk about feeling isolated and alienated in a world where technological complexity only exacerbates this condition. High school certainly took care of the alienation. The past 30 years of technology makes 2013 look like science fiction in so many ways when compared to 1982.

I don't want to overlook the other members of the band in the depth of my praise for Peart, however. Geddy Lee, one of the most unlikely voices to front a band, somehow manages to sing while playing keyboards and bass at the same time (more or less!), while guitarist Alex Lifeson, who really never gets enough credit for amazing guitar work, rounds out the trio.

Rush was finally inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2013, a long overdue and well deserved accolade, but they did not need that induction to confirm their greatness; legions of fans, sold-out tours even today, and a body of work that stretches over five decades now had already cemented their rightful place in rock's pantheon of transcendent bands.

I'm posting the same video clip from their 2007 live DVD recorded in Holland that I posted earlier this year when discussing the five bands I've never seen live that I still want to. I have the honor of playing music with an extremely talented young man who is a great drummer in his own right. I'm lucky he's also a great bass player so I still have a place in the band! We've talked often about seeing Rush live together—I hope there's a road trip in our near future.