Teacher Dave and I were doing Habitat for Humanity on Friday and Rush came on the radio.
The song was Subdivisions. Yes, I did sing along.
I made a banal remark about loving Rush at one point and Teacher Dave replied that he did as well but it was too bad that they were so "cheesy".
(An aside here: Over the Holidays, a friend and I were out at Brown's and we ran into Rick. I have known Rick since I was fourteen or so and seeing him made me listen to Rush the next day. Rick was the person who introduced me to the band, as well as instilling in me a love of Saabs.)
After thinking about it for a moment, and thinking about their lyrics, and they are not "cheesy" and I told TD that.
Rush isn't cheesy. Rush (as a band) is perpetually fourteen years old. When I think "cheesy", I think Warrant, Winger, and maybe Asia. With Rush, I think of myself before I discovered girls. Concerned with weird things like speculative fiction, cars, and the loneliness of high school (and of stardom). Rush never concerned themselves with girls, women, and maybe the chance at "sexy time". Plus, Rush promoted a type of rational objectivism that was really appealing to fourteen year old me (and is still appealing on a number of levels).
(Yes, I am listening to Rush as I am typing up this post.)
So, is it wrong that I love Rush, even as a guilty pleasure? Do you have guilty pleasures that you are embarrassed to mention in public?
At the risk of sounding like Patton Oswalt, Rush is a band of (self-admitted) actual geeks, whereas so many bands today use geekery as a fashion accessory/inside joke.
ReplyDeleteI think Chester Cheetah said it best:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RMKpKtTsO5E
You wear better suits than PO.
ReplyDeleteAnd was that a subtle dig against Rivers Cuomo?
Not really, I thought I would just cast some random aspersions in the general direction of the Gen Yers/Millenials. That's what crabby old people do.
ReplyDeleteWe were geeky when it was tough to be geeky.
ReplyDelete