Is Rush the silliest band ever?

geddy Lee is screaming in the office next to me from speakers like he is a Canadian God.

did they ever perform "Oh By Jingo!"?

I'm thinking that Gentle Giant is sillier

did they ever look like this?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/totp2/features/wallpaper/images/800/chicory_tip.jpg

no.

Got rush archives the first three albums on vinyl, packaged together, fly by night is a jam

the music is good but they are just kind of funny - I thin k they feel like they have this really important responsibility to the world to make prog-rock with a new wave feel

fyi: geddy is totally a canadian god.

Defend the Indefensible: Rap in the Middle of "Roll the Bones" (Rush)

there are even sillier canadian gods.

http://akashaman.files.wordpress.com/2010/03/max.jpg

silly canadian god hall of fame

http://991.com/NewGallery/Max-Webster-Universal-Juvenil-465641.jpg

if Rush is considered silly, I really think you have a privileged collection, cuz there's much sillier shit out there with way less musical inclination

Yeah, I mean, there are several sillier Canadian bands.

I think they feel like they have this really important responsibility to the world to make prog-rock with a new wave feel

― Latham Green, Monday, May 30, 2011 9:09 AM (53 minutes ago) Bookmark

OTM, rush's silliness is the silliness of earnest self-importance, the unfettered will to heroism. plus the occasional randian leanings in peart's lyrics for extra fun times ("there is unrest in the forest, there is trouble with the trees..."). i think of these as progmetal symptoms, the combination of triumphal uplift, mental and moral hygiene, and ostentatious musical athleticism. kind of like those "be all you can be" army ads.

fwiw, these things only seem silly if you buy into the idea that stylishness demands that artists should be more circumspect in their ambitions, should couch them in reticence, irony and self-denigration.

as usual, fuck "good" "taste"

xpost You're writing about Rush some 30+ years ago, you realize? No argument, they were sillier then, but it was a phase.

yeah, i know. i'm speaking of a bygone rush, a band that existed between the mid 70s (2112) and mid 80s (signals or so). my rush, i suppose. but the world's rush, too, as that's when they were at their commercial ― and arguably their artistic ― peak. good shit.

A huge percentage of Canadian bands are saddled with the kind of names that come up when your just sitting around drinking with your buddies thinking up stupid band names. Without spending any time pondering this too much, here's a bunch of Canadian bands with sillier names than Rush. This list could probably be expanded by about 400% with some research:

Bob's Your Uncle
Thee Skablins
Local Rabbits
Barenaked Ladies
AIDS Wolf
Gob
The Tragically Hip
The Wailin' Jennys
The Four Lads
Fake Shark Real Zombie
Arrogant Worms
Images in Vogue
Luther Wright and the Wrongs
Martha and the Muffins
Jazzberry Ram
Town Pants
Grand Theft Bus
Hot Panda
Said The Whale
Len
Set Fire To Flames
The Poppy Family
Bootsauce
Les Breastfeeders
Chilliwack
Toronto
Propaghandi
Re:
Strapping Young Lad
Rhymes with Orange
Sarcastic Manequins
You Say Party We Say Die
Furnaceface
Men Without Hats
Shout Out Out Out Out
Splitting Adam
Po'girl
Alexisonfire
Celine Dion

ah c'mon Propagandhi are great

There's lots of good bands there. Just talking about silly names.

i thought this would be a thread of geddy lee's rotisserie chicken amplifiers:
http://www.bassvideolessons.com/wp-content/uploads/Geddy%20Lee%20Rotisserie%20Chickens.jpg

fly by night is a jam

Wish they'd done entire albums along the lines of the intro to "Anthem."

Rush has its silly moments, mostly due to there nerdyness, or there lack of hipness and street cred... But all that is WAY over shadowed by their musical genius.. There are a shit ton of bands that if they didn't exist, wouldn't change the landscape of music, but if there were no Rush, music would be way different and so would pop culture...

it's hard to imagine the 20th century without power windows

Not directly related to the thread question, but I found this interview with Geddy and Alex really endearing:

http://www.rollingstone.com/videos/new-and-hot/exclusive-rush-rock-madison-square-garden-20110412

... "Les Breastfeeders"?

This is tight.

http://youtu.be/iLoUGYxR0uM

xpost. Les Breastfeeders are a spin-off band from Galaxie 500. No, not the real Galaxie 500, the francophone band of the same name. Really.