Rush Geek Week Part III

I kind of fell asleep at the post, well got really busy, so I haven't had the time to follow up on my Rush geekdom week. Good to see John-O post his top albums like I hoped he would. Very interesting selection, but for me there is no bad Rush album, and at one point or another they were all my favourites. Now time for something different.

Best/Worst Rush Videos Of All Time


(Note: I do not include any videos made in the 70's. The 70's were so bad that even the jazz sucked, not to mention all of the presidents.)

When I was in Virginia in 1982 there used to be a program on called Friday Night Videos (I'm really showing my age) that would play the best videos of the week. One late night I finally got to see what Rush actually looked like. Remember, this was before the Internet or cable (for us anyways) and we were miles away from shopping malls. Plus the fact that all the Rush tapes my brother had were second hand copies of the original, since we were poor as hell, so we did not possess any liner notes and had no clue what these gents looked like and more importantly, had no clue what Neil's drum set looked like. Subdivisions came on and my bro and I were estatic, and shocked. Man that song rocks, but that video kind of sucks. That wouldn't be the last time we said that.

To be fair, Rush probably does videos as an afterthought being more concerned about how their music sounds rather than how the video looks. But man, some of those videos are real stinkers, almost laughable. But there were a couple of good ones.

The Best

1) Distant Early Warning - probably their first good video and the reference to Dr. Strangelove is a plus. That is also Geddy's kid riding the missile. Off of the Grace Under Pressure album.

2) Mystic Rhythms - Looks like they actually took time to do this one. It looks like they did this video right before releasing Hold Your Fire, because they are wearing the same clothes as they are for liner notes of HYF. Very artsy, no fartsy. Off of the Power Windows album.

3) The Pass - The video is as haunting and dark as the subject matter of the song. I actually didn't see this video until the advent of YouTube, which was a couple of years ago. I was pretty impressed. Off the Presto album.

4) Half The World - Saw this video on MTV2 late one night right before leaving IU in 1997. The last time a Rush video ever graced that crappy channel ever again, seriously MTV sucks balls. Off the Test For Echo album.

5) Show Don't Tell - Saw this video right before Rush released Presto in November 1989. I practically broke my face jumping out of my seat with elation because I haven't seen a Rush video in nearly 6 years at that point. Again, this album, and this song especially, helped get over the fact that I moved to landlocked Indiana and was attending the shitty Creston Middle School.

6) Tom Sawyer (South Park Intro) - Just saw this on YouTube, makes me regret my decision on not going to the Snakes and Arrows concert, well, I actually had no choice.

7) Lock and Key - Really liked the song and video. Not sure what movie the video is referencing. Off the Hold Your Fire album.

8) Time Stand Still - This is right on the border between good and crappy. I give it a mulligan because it was 1987 when this video was produced. Off the Hold Your Fire album.

9) Nobody's Hero - Never really liked this song, but the video was decent. Off the Counterparts album.

The Crappy

1) Far Cry - This is awful, looks like this was done as an afterthought. Rush didn't even bother showing up for the making of this. I actually thought it was a goth video or something. Off Snakes and Arrows.

2) Subdivisions - Probably one of the first Rush videos produced, and it shows, though I do identify with the nerd in the video. Off the Signals album.

3) The Enemy Within, The Body Electric, Afterimage - I lump these 3 together because they were all off the same album. Afterimage looked like the director kept falling asleep, plus Alex's looked like he combed his hair with a rock. The Enemy Within was just plain awful, but it's nice to know that the bad guys in the video like to take the time to rock out. And The Body Electric was a story that I really didn't want to follow. I read not too long ago that The Body Electric was actually a 30 minute short that was only aired in Canada, thank Christ, and the video for the song showed exerts of that short. It was still a stinker. It was supposed to make the future look bleak and hopeless, it actually made it look really gay. The good guy's hair looks fabulous though.

4) Superconductor - Wow, yikes, even my wife couldn't get through the video, I barely could. Looks like Alex and Geddy switched positions on stage, looks really weird, like bizarro Rush or something. Off Presto.

5) Stick It Out - Beavis and Butthead made fun of this video, with good reason. Is that Eddie Grant in the chair? Off Counterparts.

6) Big Money - From the clothes, to Neil's rat tail, to the cheesy graphics, to the butchering of the song. Not all that great. Off Power Windows.

7) Driven - This video actually gave me a headache. Kind of cool, but not really. Off Counterparts.

8) Countdown - No imagination. Off the Signals album.

Time for a beer....and for me to pop in Chronicles.