Even with Yes?

I totally agree. Nine times out of ten prog vocals totally turn me off to the music.

I guess you have to be a nerd like me to enjoy complicated lyrics with complicated meaning?

I'm a nerd too.

and I've been known to understand complicated things from time to time...

I'm just not crazy about the style of most prog vocals. It has nothing to do with whether they're "complicated" or not and it has nothing to do with the lyrics.

Three of the most incredible musicians of all time in one band!

what don't you like about them?

YES!! I think Alex is the most underapreciated of them, Niel gets all the fame he deserves I think. But Lifeson is definitely one of my favorite guitarists ever, 'La Villa Strangiato' is my favorite song ever for the guitar. He has more technical skill than most guitarists, but what makes him one of my favorite is that he focuses on creativity rather than showing off his technique whenever he can. It's why Rush has the best guitar solos IMO, because they always fit perfectly and no two are even similar.

oh, and like I said before Geddy is my favorite rock vocalist.. so.. plus his base playing is epic as well.. and keyboard.. and both at once.. ya he's just too good

To be honest, Lifeson isn't really that amazing in his technique. However, I really appreciate his music because he is a tasteful guitarist. He pulls off some very creative and original work without simply "shredding". I'd dake him over an Yngwie Malmsteen or a Tom Morello any day, simply because he knows how to play many varieties, and he can change his stylistic approach nearly from year to year, while someone like Malmsteen has been releasing what seems to me like the same album over and over again for the past 20 years. Lifeson also knows when and how to restrain himself. The solos from Red Barchetta and Heresy are great examples of instances where he simply holds back rather than exploding into a technically-amazing but tonally-tired solo. Yet on the same token, he really knows how to rock the hell out. Look at The Analog Kid or Circumstances. There, he really seems to "blow a fuse" without surrendering any of his originality. GO ALEX!!!

One of the reasons RUSH stands out to me is because their lyrics actually have some contiguity. Peart is incredibly poetic and ideological, and his lyrics have grown on me. Unlike the psychedelic-infused musings of Yes and King Crimson or the whimsical fairy tales of Octopus and Genesis, Rush lyrics actually MEAN SOMETHING. Whether he's discussing objectivist philosophy (Anthem and 2112), giving us a history lesson (Bastille Day, Closer to the Heart and Heresy), describing his own personal experiences (Secret Touch, Entre Nous and Limelight), painting an atmospheric mural of a situation or story (Red Barchetta, Jacob's Ladder and Dreamline), inventing a surrealistic scenario as an allegory for our society (By-Tor and the Snow Dog and The Trees), or advising us to be ourselves and march to the beat of our own drummer (Roll the Bones and Stick it Out), Peart always brings something insightful, and often ingenious, to the table

I haven't posted in this thread since July of last year....

...but yesterday while in the lab I heard again on the radio my favorite Rush song, "The Spirit of Radio," and I want to write about it with reference to what some of the rest of you have said about their lyrics and sound.

After hearing the song yesterday, I decided finally to read the lyrics to learn what the song is about, because the song gives me such a feeling of a happy rush that I have always just made up my own meaning for the lyrics without considering what Rush actually intended!

While reading about "The Spirit of Radio," I learned that I'm not alone in liking it: "It remains their biggest UK hit to date. 'The Spirit of Radio' was named one of The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Spirit_of_Radio

The lyrics made me see that they are about our freedom to be stirred and reached by music without needing to fork out a lot of money to enjoy it. I actually hadn't realized this literal meaning, because I always thought the song was a relationship song...but maybe it really is, since hearing someone's song *is* like hearing that person's "spirit" or sense of self singing out.

Now that I've read the lyrics, I enjoy them for their cleverness. They make a song about music on the radio sound sumptuous and poetic.

My favorite stanzas are the first three, which *could* be about a person rather than a song on a radio. I also especially like certain other lines that I have placed in bold, below. And I like that the final lines in the song play off Simon and Garfunkel classic "The Sound of Silence": "...the words of the prophets/Are written on the subway walls/And tenement halls/And whispered in the sounds of silence." That is clever, and I didn't realize until today that Rush were being clever in this way.

While writing all this, I enjoyed listening to the song because I am watching the growing pink glow of an Iowan sunrise, beginning *my* day in much the same way as is described in the song...

I agree with Hitting_Singularity, who says:

I also agree with jastrub, although I haven't listened to all the songs mentioned in this post but would like to:

Like I wrote earlier, though, I never actually *listened* to the meaning behind "The Spirit of Radio" until today, because I just like the music so much. It is a song that inspires a lab dance. And no, I didn't mean "lap dance," though maybe it could! ;)

I meant that when I hear this song while working in the lab, I just have to stop what I'm doing and dance and sing around the lab, as all serious scientists do, I imagine, when the right song comes on the radio. :)

I love the energy in the song, the drums, the solid feel, the tempo changes, the way it builds up (say at 0.28 in the song posted below) to little climaxes and changes. My favorite part of the song begins around 1:50 as it leads up to "it's just a question of your honesty, your honesty." Somehow that feels very profound to me!

I've never thought of this as one of my favorite songs, but I like to listen to it more than once, and it has so much stuffed into it (tempo changes, interesting lyrics and concepts, nice melody, lovely instrumentals that can be beautiful, I feel, yet also have a nice grungy feel) that maybe the song actually *is* one of my favorites:

The Spirit of Radio:

YouTube - Rush- Spirit Of The Radio