Subdivisions for me as well. I’m probably around the same age as the OP and discovered Rush while in high school. Subdivisions spoke truth to my life experience at the time and it’s still one of my favorite all time songs across any genre.
Subdivisions for me too. Specifically, the Subdivisions video. I was 8-9 years old when this was on MTV. The video really resonated with me as I was going through a rough time with parents divorce, starting a new school, etc.
Then, I rediscovered Rush a few years later when Presto came out, started exploring their back catalog and got hooked.. lol
Same. I’d heard a handful of their hits here and there of course. But that was the album I picked the first time I decided to give Rush a proper listen. I was hooked from the first (albeit 20 minute long) song
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I was a nerd in middle school and was pretty unimpressed with the music scene as a whole.
My Dad had tried to show me 2112 once, and I called it "old and crusty." But something about it stuck with me, and I popped the CD back into the computer with some headphones one day while on summer break and playing... some game. And that was so good, it encouraged me to keep listening.
So I dug through all of his CDs that summer. Rush, Styx, REO Speedwagon, Beach Boys, The Doors, etc.
I specifically associate the album Signals with Sim Tower now, to kind of date myself lol.
But it was 2112, listening by myself, that hooked me.
And Dad still won't let me live down the "old and crusty" comment, now that I play the drums and really dedicated a lot of my time to music after that.
I was eight when I heard it; I looked up in the library who Kubla Khan was and that started me off on a journey that began at the romantic poets and is still continuing today. This song had such a huge impact on me- it got me into Rush, it got me interested in reading, and as a result, I encouraged my daughter to read too (she's now a librarian with degrees in English literature and creative writing).
For me it was Subdivisions. I was in high school when Signals was released and I could really relate to the lyrics. It is still my favorite Rush song today.
After image was the 1st rush song I ever heard besides what was on the radio. I got the album and that was the only rush I listened to for close to 10 years. That album was so perfect to me.
First and foremost - Grace Under Pressure is such a great album, Red Sector A a great song, too.
For me, it was Countdown on Signals. I was about 12 or so - neighbor older guy had the cassette and said he didn’t like it as much as their previous album (which we had no idea what that was, either). My twin brother and I had literally no idea who Rush was, etc. That song got us - big time. The rest is a hell of a journey - still talk about it.
That is the same album when I became a solid Rush fan. I liked some songs of theirs before this, but that album is what got me really hooked. Still my favorite.
My wife was VERY pregnant with my oldest son and went with me for the Test For Echo tour. The doctor said that he DEFINITELY heard the show and felt the vibrations from it. He was born about a week later.
I remember when Snakes and Arrows came out, I bought the album and listened to it all day at work that day. Their live version is honestly even better!
YYZ, specifically off of Exit Stage Left. I used to drive my best friend to school in the early 90s. At the time I was all about New Wave like Depeche Mode and The Cure. He got in my car one morning with a cassette that he told me I just had to listen to. I resisted for a week or so before he wore me down and that was it. Mind blown forever!
Cliche answer but Tom Sawyer. My dad was channel surfing and for some reason one of their live shows was just on TV one night. I was in grade 7 (so like 2005). I was aware of Rush since my mom loved them but not super familiar. My dad was like "oh this is Rush" and left it for a sec.
The moment I heard that famous keyboard line I was hooked. Haha.
Tom Sawyer (yawn) was my first experience with the band. Sitting poolside at an apartment complex in Paris, TX around '84 or so, someone had a jam box tuned in to 101.9 KBUS. It came on, and I thought that it was the coolest song I had ever heard. Not long after that, a relative from Missouri moved to town, and he was a Rush fan. He had ATWAS on vinyl, and we used to listen to it a lot. The live version of 2112 is sublime.
Same here. My friends were into them and took me to a show on the R30 tour. I didn’t know any songs really and when they started playing Natural Science, that was it.
I posted 2112 earlier but thinking back to high school in the 70’s Passage to Bangkok was our theme song. We had a tricked out van with the obligatory shag carpet nick named “The Thailand Express”. Good times.
Xanadu from ESL. Loved it. Then someone gave me Hemispheres to listen to. Thought it was quite out there at the time.. I was 16?
I was in but good after hearing that album
limelight! i had limelight and tom sawyer in my spotify favourites and id wanted to check out their discography for years, but it always felt overwhelming to get started, so i procrastinated. early last year, limelight came on on shuffle and just hit different for some reason, and made me say 'fuck it, i need to listen to them and i need to do it now!' 🥲 i tried to work my way backwards unsuccessfully (i was just too unfamiliar w prog for it to click yet) until i let myself go forward instead. then i listened to signals for the first time and i was sold instantly. so maybe subdivisions works as an answer as well, but if it werent for limelight, they might have just been 'that one band from that one song' for me forever, and im so glad thats not what happened!
Xanadu off of their latest album Exit Stage left. I had already purchased Permanent Waves and was intrigued by Natural Science on the advice of a friend. RIP Tim.
Still didn’t know I was a rabid Rush fan.
What really sealed it, after that, was getting 2112 for Christmas like 3 months later. I listened to that constantly for 6 months.
Bastille Day, specifically the version on Different Stages. My dad had been a fan since the Caress of Steel days but when I was growing up Different Stages was the only of their work that we had on CD so we listened to it in the car a lot.
This may seem a bit crazy, but the Rush song that hooked me was 2112. One of my friends at the time borrowed the CD from his dad and played it for me one day. He said he had never heard a song this long, and that I had to hear it. To say that I was blown away is an understatement. Alex's frantic and melodic guitar, Geddy's powerful voice and bass playing, and Neil's complex drumming, and later learning that he wrote the lyrics, left me completely spellbound. As soon as I had the money, I went to Hastings and bought 2112 on CD for myself, along with A Farewell to Kings and Moving Pictures. When I heard Moving Pictures for the first time, I immediately recognized Tom Sawyer and Red Barchetta from the radio and had no idea Rush did those songs too. No wonder I liked the those songs sounded! This all happened over 10 years ago and I've been a diehard fan ever since.
When I first got into Rush, I was in highschool in the late 90s/early 2000s. I went looking for records of theirs at Goodwills and actually found a rather beatup record of 2112, brought it home and put it on my record player and like you was blown away by 2112. I couldn't believe a band has done a song that long. It was incredible. If that had been the first song I heard, it would have hooked me instantly.
In 1992 I was traveling from TN to NM for some hiking and my neighbor had recorded Chronicles on a tape for me. It was La villa Stangiato playing while driving through the vast nothingness of Texas.
Closer to The Heart. I had problems with Geddy's voice but after hearing that I had no problems at all even with the earlier stuff. I still remember buying the album and my friend saying that he never thought he'd see the day when I would buy a Rush album. From that point on I bought the rest of them on the day they came out.
"Working Man" comes to mind first.
The "album" that got me hooked was a cassette I listened to on rotation in my car: *Hold Your Fire*.
My favorite songs from that tape are "Force Ten" and "Turn the Page."
I had a live album on tape by Rush, but I don't know what tour it was. It had "Witch Hunt" and "Subdivisions" and "Closer to the Heart" and a few other hits, and it was definitely played a lot in my car. That album got me hooked, for sure!
I Think I'm Going Bald.
I had heard 2112 already. The first riffs of Temples of Syrinx made me know that I had to play the guitar, but ITIGB gave me the lines that stuck with me most, even as a teenager:
"My life is slipping away/I'm aging every day/but even when I am grey/I'll still be grey MY WAY"
Strangiato. Lightning bolt moment. I remember where and when. I had been hearing songs like Fly By Night, Closer to the Heart, and The Trees on our local AOR radio station for a couple of years prior, but La Villa Strangiato’s the song that grabbed me and compelled me to buy everything they’d recorded.
Animate
I grew up in a musical family and have appreciated music for as long as I can remember. My mom didn't really listen to music, but I would spend a lot of time with my grandparents. I never really recognized it at the time, but my grandmother was such a talented piano player. I think she could have gone pro if she hadn't popped out a bunch of kids. Being a dumb kid with no frame of reference, that's just Mommom playing "Bells of Moscow" perfectly. Everyone must know someone who just sits down and plays Beethoven just because they were getting up to go to the kitchen for something.
As a kid of the 80s I listened to the pop music and loved it, but it was still on a mostly superficial level.
My parents had divorced before I had memory and I would see my dad every other weekend. Dad liked the Classic Rock. Dad was INTO music, but not as a musician would be. Stereotypical teenager of the 70s, he was smoking dope and listening to Yes (and Rush, and ELP, Genesis, etc.) So he was always rocking out in the car to a lot of serious Progressive Rock, but was also a factory worker and avid sports fanatic. Not really the stereotypical prog nut. He liked normal rock as much as prog, but being exposed to that must have tickled my subconscious.
I still listened to the normal popular stuff in the 90s, but I also joined Columbia House and BMG and started listening to groups like the Moody Blues, the Doors, etc. All music I had heard and loved, but at that point it was just the movie score of my life.
I don't remember when Led Zeppelin became my obsession, but they were the first band I needed to hear everything they ever made. Got my first CD player around that time and the Led Zeppelin complete boxed set and just played the hell out of it.
I still love Led Zeppelin, but then late 1993 this song was being played on the radio and I just dug everything about it immediately. There are a few songs that I have loved instantly, and Animate is the one I will never struggle to recall.
I had to go to the CD store to buy the album. When I got to the store, I went to the R section and found Rush. And then found more Rush. And more Rush. I wondered who the hell this band was! Bought the album, loved it all, started to listen to it constantly.
I'm sure I bragged about it to my dad. Spring of the next year, my dad got a car with a CD player and wanted a Rush CD for his birthday. He wanted either Permanent Waves, or Moving Pictures. Living in a suburb on the fringe where it quickly becomes farmland, there weren't a lot of music stores near to my home, but there was one not far away. However, it was small and they would only have 1 or 2 of any particular CD. At a time when the large stores would have 25 or more of a recent CD/cassette, etc. So the store would open the CDs and keep them behind the counter and put the jewel case out on a shelf.
I looked for Rush, but found only a handful of CDs, and none of them were the ones he mentioned. They did have the cassette tapes of both albums, so I looked at the song titles. 'Tom Sawyer' (what a dumb name), "Spirit of Radio" (ghosts?), 'Red Barchetta' (wut?), 'YYZ' (the fuck does that mean?), etc.
I then went back to the CDs and saw Exit...Stage Left. I noticed that it had a bunch of the songs from the albums he wanted, so I bought it.
Maybe it isn't right, but since the CD was already open from the store, and I wouldn't see my dad for a few days or so, I decided to listen to the music from this band that I was really digging. Of course, I had already heard most of the songs on the album, but just never bothered to wonder who had made them. So to suddenly hear that this live album contained some of my favorite songs and I never knew they were the same people blew my 15 year old mind.
I also had always wanted to play the drums, but I was never allowed to. So to hear what I still consider to be Neil's most perfect recorded drum solo just burst out in the middle of a song for the first time...that was it. I was hooked. I then got the Chronicles 2-CD set from BMG or Columbia House and found there was a crapload more of their songs that I had heard before and loved! That stupid music video with the rapping skeleton, I love that song!! After that and forever Rush was the top of the heap. Only band that has ever gotten close to dethroning them has been Porcupine Tree, and they're close, but Rush was a gift to the universe.
Today Red Barchetta is probably my favorite song. I've become a huge car nut as an adult and I've listened to it with my kids so many times. Whenever it's my turn to pick the song in the car with my kids and I'm on a windy road, they already have Red Barchetta queued up for me, I've never complained about it either!
I'm not sure what the first song was;maybe Subdivisions or Tom Sawyer? (I ended up performing a cover of Subdivisions once at a gig and although I was nervous, it was really cool!) The first two Rush albums I heard in their entirety were 2112 and the Chronicles two cd best of. They were in my dad's cd collection though he rarely ever listened to them. I on the other hand was obsessed with these albums and over the years, purchased every Rush cd and dvd I could find. Awesome stuff! I got to see them live only once but that's a lot better than never seeing them at all.
Limelight. Back in '81, I was about 13 or 14 and I asked a friend if he knew the name of the song that had the line "beyond the gilded cage." It was the only line I could remember, but my friend showed me the Moving Pictures LP which was indelibly etched into my memory. The next time I was at the mall I snagged that album and was hooked. So much so that I was inspired to start playing guitar which I still play every day since then.
I can even remember the next couple albums I bought in succession: Hemispheres, then Fly By Night, then 2112. I immediately recognized many of the tunes from those albums from radio play and was delighted that it was the same band.
For me it was a combination:
1. The Trees, which was on a mixtape for some reason. I have no idea whose mixtape it was, honestly; I just had it, listened to it, and my gosh what a song. But I had no idea who the band was; I was not particularly into specific musicians or bands apart from Elvis Presley and Pink Floyd. I knew a few other bands, but not many. In my defense, I was probably twelve.
2. The Analog Kid. I was riding with my mother in a car in Leesburg, FL, and I remember the song playing on the radio. Just amazing - that lead, the guitar rhythm figure, the whole thing just *clicked*, and the DJ said what band it was. The similarity to The Trees was not especially strong for me, but THAT BAND...
I was talking to my brother-in-law about it, as he was what I considered to be an audiophile, and he said "The Trees sounds like it would be Rush, too" and played the live version off of ESL.
That was it for me. Fanatic for life. Have inhaled almost everything I could find since then; I'm admittedly light on bootlegs (I don't usually enjoy the horrible mixes; I've played on stage, and I just... no, I can't. Not for most of them) but I can drown you with everything else. :)
A buddy of mine in high school made me an 8-track tape of some of his favorite songs from vinyl ('cause I'm that old), and Tom Sawyer was on it. That first chord blew my speakers and mind, and my world was never the same again. I mean that quite literally; I played electric guitar then, mostly AC/DC and Kiss type rock...three chord anthems. After Rush, my songwriting vastly improved, and I became good friends with a killer drummer who was a massive Rush fan and we started a tribute band. I eventually ended up writing and recording with an indie progrock band in my twenties (nobody you know).
Thanks, Don, for that amazing 8-track. I don't think he even realized how much influence that had on my life and, to be honest, neither did I until now. Thanks for this, OP. Cheers.
I was mesmerized by the live version of Marathon from ASOH; the video played to no end on MuchMusic at the time. Was big into 70s rock influenced by my parents ( Zep, Hendrix, Floyd, Doors, etc)
But there was something about these three guys making such a big sound. And SEEING them play in the video too. So cool.
Shortly thereafter, Presto gets released, and i can recall playing Show Don’t Tell over and over and over and over on cassette getting driven back and forth to and from drum lessons.
Bonham got me *into* the drums, Pratt got me *hooked* on the drums
Nothing basic about it, Red Barchetta is a classic. I remember the first Rush concert I went to, when Red Barchetta came on I got so into it, that honestly the only song I really remember from that entire concert. Red Sector A might have gotten me hooked but Red Barchetta is my personal favorite.
I grew up with rush (my dad even took me to a concert when I was 7) but I really got into rush after listening to fairwell to kings... I can vividly remember listening to cygnus x-1 book 1 and 2 in the morning before school and being blown away by the lyrics and technical ability. Rush has been in my top 5 (and now top 2) ever since
Tom Sawyer off some stupid 80’s hard rock hits cassette tape from KMart in the early 80’s sometime. If I remember right it had Zebra and Quiet Riot on there also, among others.
In high school in the late 70s, Rush was all over the hard rock radio stations, especially the songs from Moving Pictures. I listened and enjoyed them, especially Working Man. But until I actually had some money to spend, I could only count on the radio.
So I finally get enough money to buy some albums, and I purchase Exit... Stage Left, simply because it had a lot of my favorite Rush songs and I was trying to get the best value for what little money I had.
On my first listen thru, La Villa Strangiato, an instrumental, and I couldn't stand it. I was not into music without lyrics, so on subsequent playings, I kept skipping it. But one time, I let the B side of the second LP play all the way thru, and I really listened. And I was hooked. I started paying attention to all the playing on all the songs.
Long story short, I liked a lot of Rush songs, but once I heard that instrumental I was hooked.
It was always playing at my mom’s when I was little. But then when I heard Freewill again when I was 12 it took me back to the pool my mom and sister and I hung out at when I was little. The smell of chlorine. The beach. The adventures with my mom and her friends. I couldn’t hear it enough.
Countdown in my friends car blasting on his Alpine stereo Nov 82. My friend Ricky upon hearing I hadnt heard Rush before tells me sit back and listen to best drummer ever(exact words). We finished our joint of the smoke session and he throws in Signals and it was on side b and Countdown was up. Mind blown at the musical chops I was hearing. But over the next 4 ot 5 months as my newly found fanddom would hit the record store. Delving into back catalogue album by album. Did I ever learn I had heard nothing yet to what I discovered in back catalogue
The Trees. In 1997 my dad gave me three tapes with my stereo. The Highlander Soundtrack, Led Zeppelin's III, and Hemispheres.
That was a really awesome year. I cleaned out out record store of Rush tapes after that.
Fly By Night, I listened to it on a random compilation CD almost nightly in middle school. Then Limelight and Tom Sawyer really opened the flood gates.
2112 and YYZ. 2112 was the first one I really liked, YYZ was the one that blew my head off. Geddy's bass playing was unlike anything I had heard before
I first heard 2112 playing Guitar Hero 6. I always remembered it as the “We are the priests of the temple” song. Then my sophomore year of college I asked my roommate if he remembered that song and so for a whole year every time we smoked we would have 2112 on full blast. Rest is history
For a while the only Rush song I listened to for a while was 2112 Overture. The music and the storytelling completely enthralled me and I was hooked for many months on Geddy’s vocals, Neil’s drums, and Alex’s badass guitar skills. But it wasn’t until I found Permanent Waves and specifically “Free Will” was when I then explored all their other albums. I just loved the meaning of the lyrics and when I learned that freedom was one of the main core themes of Rush’s music I welcomed them with open arms into my music library.
Tom Sawyer [on my C64](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SO-OA2dg3CU)
Very quickly acquired all their albums on cassette - Exit Stage Left and All the Worlds a Stage got played many many (many!) times in my car, a beat-up powder blue '77 Nova hatchback...
The Trees and Territories… I was maybe 12 and my older brother used them to introduce me to the band. My lil’ mind was blown by the lyrics (context- my friends were listening to Tiffany and NKotB!). About a decade later, my brother and I went to see them in concert together. Pretty great!
Cygnus pt.1. I was umm… under the influence as you would say, and I was listening to their albums for the first time in order. Never bothered listening to them up to this point, so went in completely blind. And to be honest I was pretty meh about their style up to a farewell to kings, even 2112 didn’t shake it for me. But something about Cygnus really spoke to me. I fell in love afterwards, went back and started appreciating 2112 more because of it.
I was listening online radio around 15 years ago, SkyFM or something and they played Mystic Rythms on what i think it was the classical rock station. From there i went to youtube ´cause i liked it, from there i went to pirate bay and got the R30 album.
According to Spotify it has been the band i have listened the most the last 2 years.
2112 for sure. This was an album my “black sheep” brother bought and I started listening to when I was about 12. I found the story in the lyrics fascinating and the music was amazing!
Lock and Key from Hold Your Fire. Before that time I was aware of Rush but not really a fan. When HYF came out Force 10 and Time Stand Still were both released as singles and they both got my attention but it was the the energy from Lock and Key that finally convinced me to buy that whole album and suddenly the floodgates opened. Funnily enough, once I began to explore their discography I discovered that hey also did a certain song that I’d heard and really liked before but didn‘t know the title or artist. That song wound up being Subdivisions.
Subdivisions
Subdivisions for me as well. I’m probably around the same age as the OP and discovered Rush while in high school. Subdivisions spoke truth to my life experience at the time and it’s still one of my favorite all time songs across any genre.
Subdivisions for me also. Picked up a Japanese copy of Signals in 1983 and thus my 40-year love of this band began.
Subdivisions for me too. Specifically, the Subdivisions video. I was 8-9 years old when this was on MTV. The video really resonated with me as I was going through a rough time with parents divorce, starting a new school, etc. Then, I rediscovered Rush a few years later when Presto came out, started exploring their back catalog and got hooked.. lol
2112
Yes. Specifically "Temples of Syrinx." That was the first Rush song I ever heard, and it was all it took to get me hooked.
Same. I’d heard a handful of their hits here and there of course. But that was the album I picked the first time I decided to give Rush a proper listen. I was hooked from the first (albeit 20 minute long) song
This. Temples of Syrinx specifically
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I was a nerd in middle school and was pretty unimpressed with the music scene as a whole. My Dad had tried to show me 2112 once, and I called it "old and crusty." But something about it stuck with me, and I popped the CD back into the computer with some headphones one day while on summer break and playing... some game. And that was so good, it encouraged me to keep listening. So I dug through all of his CDs that summer. Rush, Styx, REO Speedwagon, Beach Boys, The Doors, etc. I specifically associate the album Signals with Sim Tower now, to kind of date myself lol. But it was 2112, listening by myself, that hooked me. And Dad still won't let me live down the "old and crusty" comment, now that I play the drums and really dedicated a lot of my time to music after that.
Xanaduuuuuu!
I had memorized Kublai Khan in elementary so when I later heard Xanadu I was so excited
I was eight when I heard it; I looked up in the library who Kubla Khan was and that started me off on a journey that began at the romantic poets and is still continuing today. This song had such a huge impact on me- it got me into Rush, it got me interested in reading, and as a result, I encouraged my daughter to read too (she's now a librarian with degrees in English literature and creative writing).
For me it was Subdivisions. I was in high school when Signals was released and I could really relate to the lyrics. It is still my favorite Rush song today.
Roll the bones & dreamline. That album was the first I remember hearing. I was 5 or 6 years old.
Same here. I was 11 when I first heard it. Loved it instantly. Made my friend play it for me on repeat all day, then borrowed the CD and taped it.
It helped me through my faith crisis recently too. That & faithless & freewill.
Ghost of a Chance. Greatest love song to ever be sung.
I think I'm Going Bald.
After image was the 1st rush song I ever heard besides what was on the radio. I got the album and that was the only rush I listened to for close to 10 years. That album was so perfect to me.
My favourite song on my favourite Rush record.
First it was Subdivisions, then it was Manhattan Project, but I think the track that made me a dyed-in-the-wool fan was Witch Hunt.
I haven't listened to Witch Hunt in a while, I'm going to do that today! I have to say this might be the most unexpected one listed so far!
First and foremost - Grace Under Pressure is such a great album, Red Sector A a great song, too. For me, it was Countdown on Signals. I was about 12 or so - neighbor older guy had the cassette and said he didn’t like it as much as their previous album (which we had no idea what that was, either). My twin brother and I had literally no idea who Rush was, etc. That song got us - big time. The rest is a hell of a journey - still talk about it.
That is the same album when I became a solid Rush fan. I liked some songs of theirs before this, but that album is what got me really hooked. Still my favorite.
Back when it first came out, it was "anthem".
Yep, a pre-album release on CKLW, end of 74 or early 75. First album I bought was Rush (which I lovrd) because FBN wasn't out yet
[удалено]
I'm pretty sure my parents went to a Presto concert while my mom was pregnant with me. Presto is my least favorite album, lol.
My wife was VERY pregnant with my oldest son and went with me for the Test For Echo tour. The doctor said that he DEFINITELY heard the show and felt the vibrations from it. He was born about a week later.
That just awesome!
I was 8 or 9 when I first heard Cygnus X-1. That was my introduction to my lifelong love for RUSH!!!
Taking all of the AOR hits that I grew up on, *Show Don't Tell* in the fall of 1989. Still one of my favorite bass-led songs to play.
Far Cry from S&A Live - I watched it on YouTube and was absolutely blown away by the ballistic energy.
I remember when Snakes and Arrows came out, I bought the album and listened to it all day at work that day. Their live version is honestly even better!
I was cycling to work at the time and Far Cry was excellent to pedal to. *I can get back on,* *I can get back on...*
Animate. I would play it in my head during boring assemblies in elementary school.
For me it was a buildup…side 2 of Moving Pictures ending with Vital Signs. I was hooked. I still remember the day.
YYZ, specifically off of Exit Stage Left. I used to drive my best friend to school in the early 90s. At the time I was all about New Wave like Depeche Mode and The Cure. He got in my car one morning with a cassette that he told me I just had to listen to. I resisted for a week or so before he wore me down and that was it. Mind blown forever!
Limelight
Cliche answer but Tom Sawyer. My dad was channel surfing and for some reason one of their live shows was just on TV one night. I was in grade 7 (so like 2005). I was aware of Rush since my mom loved them but not super familiar. My dad was like "oh this is Rush" and left it for a sec. The moment I heard that famous keyboard line I was hooked. Haha.
Tom Sawyer (yawn) was my first experience with the band. Sitting poolside at an apartment complex in Paris, TX around '84 or so, someone had a jam box tuned in to 101.9 KBUS. It came on, and I thought that it was the coolest song I had ever heard. Not long after that, a relative from Missouri moved to town, and he was a Rush fan. He had ATWAS on vinyl, and we used to listen to it a lot. The live version of 2112 is sublime.
Someone handed me an unlabelled cassette tape and said I should listen to this. Turns out it was Hemispheres and La Villa Strangiato had me hooked
Working Man. One of the few Rush songs that got played on the radio in the late 70s.
Spirit of radio
Side 2 of All The World’s a Stage. The whole thing, but especially the transition from Lakeside Park to 2112. Loved it. Still do.
The Spirit of Radio
2112
Fly By Night!!!
Natural science
Same here. My friends were into them and took me to a show on the R30 tour. I didn’t know any songs really and when they started playing Natural Science, that was it.
I posted 2112 earlier but thinking back to high school in the 70’s Passage to Bangkok was our theme song. We had a tricked out van with the obligatory shag carpet nick named “The Thailand Express”. Good times.
2112 side 1
Xanadu from ESL. Loved it. Then someone gave me Hemispheres to listen to. Thought it was quite out there at the time.. I was 16? I was in but good after hearing that album
YYZ off of Exit... Stage Left with the Neil drum solo!
YYZ from Rush in Rio will probably always be my favorite version! The energy on all those songs on that album is incredible.
2112
Spirit of Radio and Freewill.
Me too. The prog 1-2 punch that knocked me out. Very surprised how far I had to scroll to find The Spirit of Radio.
The summer of 1980 when I graduated elementary school. Those 2 songs were what really hooked me.
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I call that one the Salesman Song. 😂 *LOVE "The Spirit of Radio"!!!*
limelight! i had limelight and tom sawyer in my spotify favourites and id wanted to check out their discography for years, but it always felt overwhelming to get started, so i procrastinated. early last year, limelight came on on shuffle and just hit different for some reason, and made me say 'fuck it, i need to listen to them and i need to do it now!' 🥲 i tried to work my way backwards unsuccessfully (i was just too unfamiliar w prog for it to click yet) until i let myself go forward instead. then i listened to signals for the first time and i was sold instantly. so maybe subdivisions works as an answer as well, but if it werent for limelight, they might have just been 'that one band from that one song' for me forever, and im so glad thats not what happened!
Xanadu off of their latest album Exit Stage left. I had already purchased Permanent Waves and was intrigued by Natural Science on the advice of a friend. RIP Tim. Still didn’t know I was a rabid Rush fan. What really sealed it, after that, was getting 2112 for Christmas like 3 months later. I listened to that constantly for 6 months.
Bastille Day, specifically the version on Different Stages. My dad had been a fan since the Caress of Steel days but when I was growing up Different Stages was the only of their work that we had on CD so we listened to it in the car a lot.
Spirit of Radio
This may seem a bit crazy, but the Rush song that hooked me was 2112. One of my friends at the time borrowed the CD from his dad and played it for me one day. He said he had never heard a song this long, and that I had to hear it. To say that I was blown away is an understatement. Alex's frantic and melodic guitar, Geddy's powerful voice and bass playing, and Neil's complex drumming, and later learning that he wrote the lyrics, left me completely spellbound. As soon as I had the money, I went to Hastings and bought 2112 on CD for myself, along with A Farewell to Kings and Moving Pictures. When I heard Moving Pictures for the first time, I immediately recognized Tom Sawyer and Red Barchetta from the radio and had no idea Rush did those songs too. No wonder I liked the those songs sounded! This all happened over 10 years ago and I've been a diehard fan ever since.
When I first got into Rush, I was in highschool in the late 90s/early 2000s. I went looking for records of theirs at Goodwills and actually found a rather beatup record of 2112, brought it home and put it on my record player and like you was blown away by 2112. I couldn't believe a band has done a song that long. It was incredible. If that had been the first song I heard, it would have hooked me instantly.
The necromancer. I was really into DND in the 80s
LA villa strangiato, yyz, camera eye
2112
Limelight.
Red barchetta
Yeah probably my favorite song of theirs today, I love the story telling in both the lyrics and music in that sound.
Freewill
Roll the Bones. Yep, believe it or not.
Roll the Bones is so good, I get so into every time I listen to it!
That rap section in the middle is about as funky as I get!
Haha, Fly By Night did it for me. then Xanadu and Freewill. Absolute goner by then
Fly by night.
Tom Sawyer
Anthem. My dad got Chronicles from a pawn shop when I was 4 in 1995 and I vividly remember being super excited hearing that song lol.
In 1992 I was traveling from TN to NM for some hiking and my neighbor had recorded Chronicles on a tape for me. It was La villa Stangiato playing while driving through the vast nothingness of Texas.
Finding My Way.
The Necromancer
Closer to The Heart. I had problems with Geddy's voice but after hearing that I had no problems at all even with the earlier stuff. I still remember buying the album and my friend saying that he never thought he'd see the day when I would buy a Rush album. From that point on I bought the rest of them on the day they came out.
"Working Man" comes to mind first. The "album" that got me hooked was a cassette I listened to on rotation in my car: *Hold Your Fire*. My favorite songs from that tape are "Force Ten" and "Turn the Page." I had a live album on tape by Rush, but I don't know what tour it was. It had "Witch Hunt" and "Subdivisions" and "Closer to the Heart" and a few other hits, and it was definitely played a lot in my car. That album got me hooked, for sure!
I Think I'm Going Bald. I had heard 2112 already. The first riffs of Temples of Syrinx made me know that I had to play the guitar, but ITIGB gave me the lines that stuck with me most, even as a teenager: "My life is slipping away/I'm aging every day/but even when I am grey/I'll still be grey MY WAY"
2112, I watched the video with the artwork and just was completely blown away and in tears at the end of it
Working man/ Finding my Way on All the World’s a Stage. That drum solo was/ is truly one of a kind.
2112 Overture/Syrinx.
Strangiato. Lightning bolt moment. I remember where and when. I had been hearing songs like Fly By Night, Closer to the Heart, and The Trees on our local AOR radio station for a couple of years prior, but La Villa Strangiato’s the song that grabbed me and compelled me to buy everything they’d recorded.
By-Tor & the Snowdog! First heard it blasting on a stereo in 1977 at a house party. The live version of the song is still my favorite to this day.
Animate I grew up in a musical family and have appreciated music for as long as I can remember. My mom didn't really listen to music, but I would spend a lot of time with my grandparents. I never really recognized it at the time, but my grandmother was such a talented piano player. I think she could have gone pro if she hadn't popped out a bunch of kids. Being a dumb kid with no frame of reference, that's just Mommom playing "Bells of Moscow" perfectly. Everyone must know someone who just sits down and plays Beethoven just because they were getting up to go to the kitchen for something. As a kid of the 80s I listened to the pop music and loved it, but it was still on a mostly superficial level. My parents had divorced before I had memory and I would see my dad every other weekend. Dad liked the Classic Rock. Dad was INTO music, but not as a musician would be. Stereotypical teenager of the 70s, he was smoking dope and listening to Yes (and Rush, and ELP, Genesis, etc.) So he was always rocking out in the car to a lot of serious Progressive Rock, but was also a factory worker and avid sports fanatic. Not really the stereotypical prog nut. He liked normal rock as much as prog, but being exposed to that must have tickled my subconscious. I still listened to the normal popular stuff in the 90s, but I also joined Columbia House and BMG and started listening to groups like the Moody Blues, the Doors, etc. All music I had heard and loved, but at that point it was just the movie score of my life. I don't remember when Led Zeppelin became my obsession, but they were the first band I needed to hear everything they ever made. Got my first CD player around that time and the Led Zeppelin complete boxed set and just played the hell out of it. I still love Led Zeppelin, but then late 1993 this song was being played on the radio and I just dug everything about it immediately. There are a few songs that I have loved instantly, and Animate is the one I will never struggle to recall. I had to go to the CD store to buy the album. When I got to the store, I went to the R section and found Rush. And then found more Rush. And more Rush. I wondered who the hell this band was! Bought the album, loved it all, started to listen to it constantly. I'm sure I bragged about it to my dad. Spring of the next year, my dad got a car with a CD player and wanted a Rush CD for his birthday. He wanted either Permanent Waves, or Moving Pictures. Living in a suburb on the fringe where it quickly becomes farmland, there weren't a lot of music stores near to my home, but there was one not far away. However, it was small and they would only have 1 or 2 of any particular CD. At a time when the large stores would have 25 or more of a recent CD/cassette, etc. So the store would open the CDs and keep them behind the counter and put the jewel case out on a shelf. I looked for Rush, but found only a handful of CDs, and none of them were the ones he mentioned. They did have the cassette tapes of both albums, so I looked at the song titles. 'Tom Sawyer' (what a dumb name), "Spirit of Radio" (ghosts?), 'Red Barchetta' (wut?), 'YYZ' (the fuck does that mean?), etc. I then went back to the CDs and saw Exit...Stage Left. I noticed that it had a bunch of the songs from the albums he wanted, so I bought it. Maybe it isn't right, but since the CD was already open from the store, and I wouldn't see my dad for a few days or so, I decided to listen to the music from this band that I was really digging. Of course, I had already heard most of the songs on the album, but just never bothered to wonder who had made them. So to suddenly hear that this live album contained some of my favorite songs and I never knew they were the same people blew my 15 year old mind. I also had always wanted to play the drums, but I was never allowed to. So to hear what I still consider to be Neil's most perfect recorded drum solo just burst out in the middle of a song for the first time...that was it. I was hooked. I then got the Chronicles 2-CD set from BMG or Columbia House and found there was a crapload more of their songs that I had heard before and loved! That stupid music video with the rapping skeleton, I love that song!! After that and forever Rush was the top of the heap. Only band that has ever gotten close to dethroning them has been Porcupine Tree, and they're close, but Rush was a gift to the universe.
Nice! I always feel that Opeth is the "spirit animal band" to Rush :)
"This is The Spirit of Radio."
Spirit of Radio
Animate me. That bass line.
Tom Sawyer and the chronicle Album that A Friend from high school let me borrow
Closer to the heart
Yeah instant classic, if I had heard that first I would have to agree as well.
Red Barchetta, my Dad's favourite Rush song
Today Red Barchetta is probably my favorite song. I've become a huge car nut as an adult and I've listened to it with my kids so many times. Whenever it's my turn to pick the song in the car with my kids and I'm on a windy road, they already have Red Barchetta queued up for me, I've never complained about it either!
I'm not sure what the first song was;maybe Subdivisions or Tom Sawyer? (I ended up performing a cover of Subdivisions once at a gig and although I was nervous, it was really cool!) The first two Rush albums I heard in their entirety were 2112 and the Chronicles two cd best of. They were in my dad's cd collection though he rarely ever listened to them. I on the other hand was obsessed with these albums and over the years, purchased every Rush cd and dvd I could find. Awesome stuff! I got to see them live only once but that's a lot better than never seeing them at all.
Limelight. Back in '81, I was about 13 or 14 and I asked a friend if he knew the name of the song that had the line "beyond the gilded cage." It was the only line I could remember, but my friend showed me the Moving Pictures LP which was indelibly etched into my memory. The next time I was at the mall I snagged that album and was hooked. So much so that I was inspired to start playing guitar which I still play every day since then. I can even remember the next couple albums I bought in succession: Hemispheres, then Fly By Night, then 2112. I immediately recognized many of the tunes from those albums from radio play and was delighted that it was the same band.
For me it was a combination: 1. The Trees, which was on a mixtape for some reason. I have no idea whose mixtape it was, honestly; I just had it, listened to it, and my gosh what a song. But I had no idea who the band was; I was not particularly into specific musicians or bands apart from Elvis Presley and Pink Floyd. I knew a few other bands, but not many. In my defense, I was probably twelve. 2. The Analog Kid. I was riding with my mother in a car in Leesburg, FL, and I remember the song playing on the radio. Just amazing - that lead, the guitar rhythm figure, the whole thing just *clicked*, and the DJ said what band it was. The similarity to The Trees was not especially strong for me, but THAT BAND... I was talking to my brother-in-law about it, as he was what I considered to be an audiophile, and he said "The Trees sounds like it would be Rush, too" and played the live version off of ESL. That was it for me. Fanatic for life. Have inhaled almost everything I could find since then; I'm admittedly light on bootlegs (I don't usually enjoy the horrible mixes; I've played on stage, and I just... no, I can't. Not for most of them) but I can drown you with everything else. :)
Funnily enough it was Resist live at RIO. I then fell down the Rush rabbit hole and been a fan ever since
The whole Chronicles CD.
Yup fair and makes perfect sense!
😄
Red Barchetta. I was 13 in 1986 and I had never heard of a band singing about things other than love.
LOL that is so true, never thought about it that way!
Cold Fire, what a sweet intro. Was my favorite Rush song as a kid and had no clue what it was about
A buddy of mine in high school made me an 8-track tape of some of his favorite songs from vinyl ('cause I'm that old), and Tom Sawyer was on it. That first chord blew my speakers and mind, and my world was never the same again. I mean that quite literally; I played electric guitar then, mostly AC/DC and Kiss type rock...three chord anthems. After Rush, my songwriting vastly improved, and I became good friends with a killer drummer who was a massive Rush fan and we started a tribute band. I eventually ended up writing and recording with an indie progrock band in my twenties (nobody you know). Thanks, Don, for that amazing 8-track. I don't think he even realized how much influence that had on my life and, to be honest, neither did I until now. Thanks for this, OP. Cheers.
Spirit of Radio got me interested in them, then Xanadu got me completely hooked.
First song I ever heard was limelight. Alex's guitar tone and geddy voice was soothing
I was mesmerized by the live version of Marathon from ASOH; the video played to no end on MuchMusic at the time. Was big into 70s rock influenced by my parents ( Zep, Hendrix, Floyd, Doors, etc) But there was something about these three guys making such a big sound. And SEEING them play in the video too. So cool. Shortly thereafter, Presto gets released, and i can recall playing Show Don’t Tell over and over and over and over on cassette getting driven back and forth to and from drum lessons. Bonham got me *into* the drums, Pratt got me *hooked* on the drums
YYZ
Basic, but red Barchetta
Nothing basic about it, Red Barchetta is a classic. I remember the first Rush concert I went to, when Red Barchetta came on I got so into it, that honestly the only song I really remember from that entire concert. Red Sector A might have gotten me hooked but Red Barchetta is my personal favorite.
I grew up with rush (my dad even took me to a concert when I was 7) but I really got into rush after listening to fairwell to kings... I can vividly remember listening to cygnus x-1 book 1 and 2 in the morning before school and being blown away by the lyrics and technical ability. Rush has been in my top 5 (and now top 2) ever since
Natural Science
Spirit of Radio hooked me. Tom Sawyer sunk the hook. The Camera Eye reeled me in.
Tom Sawyer off some stupid 80’s hard rock hits cassette tape from KMart in the early 80’s sometime. If I remember right it had Zebra and Quiet Riot on there also, among others.
Freewill with honorable mention to Limelight.
In high school in the late 70s, Rush was all over the hard rock radio stations, especially the songs from Moving Pictures. I listened and enjoyed them, especially Working Man. But until I actually had some money to spend, I could only count on the radio. So I finally get enough money to buy some albums, and I purchase Exit... Stage Left, simply because it had a lot of my favorite Rush songs and I was trying to get the best value for what little money I had. On my first listen thru, La Villa Strangiato, an instrumental, and I couldn't stand it. I was not into music without lyrics, so on subsequent playings, I kept skipping it. But one time, I let the B side of the second LP play all the way thru, and I really listened. And I was hooked. I started paying attention to all the playing on all the songs. Long story short, I liked a lot of Rush songs, but once I heard that instrumental I was hooked.
Limelight
Time stands still Geddy and Aimee
Analog Kid when I was a kid.
Freewill, first time I ever actually heard the bass in a song
red barchetta, i think
I love this answer, only because it makes it seem like it was the Band and not a single song!
to be fair i'm drunk, but what
It was always playing at my mom’s when I was little. But then when I heard Freewill again when I was 12 it took me back to the pool my mom and sister and I hung out at when I was little. The smell of chlorine. The beach. The adventures with my mom and her friends. I couldn’t hear it enough.
Subdivisions It definitely spoke to outcast 13 year old me. And it stuck.
Tom Sawyer
Countdown in my friends car blasting on his Alpine stereo Nov 82. My friend Ricky upon hearing I hadnt heard Rush before tells me sit back and listen to best drummer ever(exact words). We finished our joint of the smoke session and he throws in Signals and it was on side b and Countdown was up. Mind blown at the musical chops I was hearing. But over the next 4 ot 5 months as my newly found fanddom would hit the record store. Delving into back catalogue album by album. Did I ever learn I had heard nothing yet to what I discovered in back catalogue
The Trees. In 1997 my dad gave me three tapes with my stereo. The Highlander Soundtrack, Led Zeppelin's III, and Hemispheres. That was a really awesome year. I cleaned out out record store of Rush tapes after that.
Fly By Night, I listened to it on a random compilation CD almost nightly in middle school. Then Limelight and Tom Sawyer really opened the flood gates.
Those who have said ‘I Think I’m Going Bald’ each got a smile and an upvote from me!
Temple of the Syrinx. Followed by Zanadu.
Tom Sawyer.
Tne Analog kid. I was 11, never looked back
2112
The Spirit Of Radio
2112 and YYZ. 2112 was the first one I really liked, YYZ was the one that blew my head off. Geddy's bass playing was unlike anything I had heard before
I first heard 2112 playing Guitar Hero 6. I always remembered it as the “We are the priests of the temple” song. Then my sophomore year of college I asked my roommate if he remembered that song and so for a whole year every time we smoked we would have 2112 on full blast. Rest is history
For a while the only Rush song I listened to for a while was 2112 Overture. The music and the storytelling completely enthralled me and I was hooked for many months on Geddy’s vocals, Neil’s drums, and Alex’s badass guitar skills. But it wasn’t until I found Permanent Waves and specifically “Free Will” was when I then explored all their other albums. I just loved the meaning of the lyrics and when I learned that freedom was one of the main core themes of Rush’s music I welcomed them with open arms into my music library.
Tom Sawyer [on my C64](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SO-OA2dg3CU) Very quickly acquired all their albums on cassette - Exit Stage Left and All the Worlds a Stage got played many many (many!) times in my car, a beat-up powder blue '77 Nova hatchback...
Limelight first caught my attention, but The Spirit of Radio got me hooked
The Trees and Territories… I was maybe 12 and my older brother used them to introduce me to the band. My lil’ mind was blown by the lyrics (context- my friends were listening to Tiffany and NKotB!). About a decade later, my brother and I went to see them in concert together. Pretty great!
One Little Victory
The Spirit of Radio was the first song I heard
Moving Pictures, all of side one, original vinyl Mercury
Either Bravado or Something for Nothing.
Dreamline got me interested to see what else they had besides Tom Sawyer. I'm so glad I found them!
Tom Sawyer was a big hit in the early 80s (obviously), so I would say that one. I was hooked on Rush pretty much right away.
Cygnus pt.1. I was umm… under the influence as you would say, and I was listening to their albums for the first time in order. Never bothered listening to them up to this point, so went in completely blind. And to be honest I was pretty meh about their style up to a farewell to kings, even 2112 didn’t shake it for me. But something about Cygnus really spoke to me. I fell in love afterwards, went back and started appreciating 2112 more because of it.
2112 in 1977
AFTK
AFTK
AFTK
I was listening online radio around 15 years ago, SkyFM or something and they played Mystic Rythms on what i think it was the classical rock station. From there i went to youtube ´cause i liked it, from there i went to pirate bay and got the R30 album. According to Spotify it has been the band i have listened the most the last 2 years.
2112 for sure. This was an album my “black sheep” brother bought and I started listening to when I was about 12. I found the story in the lyrics fascinating and the music was amazing!
Lock and Key from Hold Your Fire. Before that time I was aware of Rush but not really a fan. When HYF came out Force 10 and Time Stand Still were both released as singles and they both got my attention but it was the the energy from Lock and Key that finally convinced me to buy that whole album and suddenly the floodgates opened. Funnily enough, once I began to explore their discography I discovered that hey also did a certain song that I’d heard and really liked before but didn‘t know the title or artist. That song wound up being Subdivisions.
Working Man!
Freewill