Robbie Thomas

From SocietyOfRock

Over on YouTube, on the same day as the news of Neil Peart’s death, I didn’t have all the time in the world to make a post about the subject at hand. When I had some time, I made a YouTube video:

So now, I have a little time to make a post of the late Mr. Peart. Like I said in the video, I became a fan of Rush when I was 10 in 1992. When I had sat shotgun in my aunt’s car, WCSX, one of the few (at the time) classic rock station would be playing. I became a fan of Journey, later a fan of Boston and Rush. The first song I heard from Rush was Closer To The Heart, and I thought it was a woman singing the song. Later, to hear Tom Sawyer, and I noticed it was a man with a high-pitched voice. I thought Rush was at least a 5-piece band and later was amazed that Rush was actually a trio.

At the end of the 4th grade, I got the news that I would be going to a regular class instead of Special Ed (I commonly refer to a regular class as General Population). In the summer of 1993, I discovered Stone Temple Pilots “Plush,” and my love for Journey took a back seat. I became a fan of STP, Pearl Jam, and Alice in Chains. When I got to 5th grade, loving all these grunge bands got me popular in school, somewhat. With all my “grunge” fans, I tried to get them interested in Journey, but they weren’t biting. If you asked me in the summer of 1993 if Rush was still around, I’d say they weren’t. Then one of my friends said, “Hey, did you hear the new Rush album?” Which at the time was Counterparts. Rush was still around and was still approachable to the grunge crowd. I remember seeing the “Stick It Out” video and seeing how the three guys of Rush looked like regular guys in their 50s (I thought they were in their 50s, but all three of them were stepping Over The Hill at the time). I thought it was very cool that these guys who look like bankers are rocking and rolling.

From 1993 to 1998, I began to buy Rush albums slowly, and when I got to Signals, it blew me away, and Rush became my favorite band since 1998.  My favorite era of Rush is their 80s stuff, going from Moving Pictures to Presto. Of course, Permanent Waves was released in 1980, and it’s a good album; it sounds more 70s to me (it was recorded in 1979). I like keyboards and synths, so when they used more of it in the 80s, it became more of my liking. I’ve seen Rush 7 times, wish I saw them more.

Anyway, I could talk forever about Rush, but I’ll make this the last paragraph. It’s a bummer that we lost Neil Peart, and I must live life without him in this sick world (sometimes I wish I wasn’t in this world, April/May 2019 was a good example).