There aren’t too many folks who sit on the fence with Rush. Like many hugely successful bands, people either love them or hate them. I have always been on the side that loves them though I have gone through stretches where I have not listened to them much if at all. Today I was moving some books on my shelf to dust (yes I do that occasionally!) and saw one of my yearbooks from high school. In taking a quick leaf through the tapered pants and big hair I saw a note from one of my friends about how obsessed I was with Neil Peart, the drummer of Rush. While I am biased to drummers often I always thought he was the biggest reason for their success. Neil Peart is an anchor behind the two front men, an amazing lyricist and one of the most talented drummers of all time. In order to avoid hate mail from all of the challengers I am going to move on quickly here, but of course that subject can be debated until the end of time, it’s a personal choice.

This friend was referring to a particular day where a bunch of us were gathered around my encyclopedia sized bright yellow Sony Walkman trying to mimic the high hat beat of Red Sector A. Of course I was the ring leader and challenger. It went without saying that I had been listening to this “tape” to the point of exhaustion. It brought back memories of my feeling a little different from others around music and that frustrating feeling of trying to MAKE others love something as much as you do. “They just don’t understand how awesome this is” is along the lines of what I would have been thinking. A few friends were impressed by the seemingly random pattern of beats that I was referring to but they still kind of looked at me like I was the other glove that Michael Jackson never wore.

So I fully expect that many of you will hear this as just another song, others will relate and enjoy. Many of you I am sure will not even listen to Red Sector A because you think Rush is overrated or you can’t stand Geddy Lee’s hair or voice, or glasses or whatever.

I have included the studio track on Grooveshark as well as a live video. As is often the case the video quality isn’t great so to get the real experience I insist you listen to the original track. Don’t forget to follow along with Mr. Peart on the high hat!

LISTEN HERE

The bottom line is that Red Sector A by Rush is a Life of Tunes keeper. C’mon…don’t you get it???

Artist: Rush
Album: Grace Under Pressure (1984)
Track: Red Sector A
Website: www.rush.com