From what I understand they moved away from the Rand stuff pretty hard and publicly distanced themselves from it. I honestly never got anything but wholesome vibes from the dudes, even if they were a bit misguided in their early years. Their songs are usually about fostering connections with others, doing your own thing, and accepting others who are doing the same. That just translated into hyper-individualism and maybe buying into red scare propaganda in the seventies. The USSR and China really had a bad taste in everyone’s mouth when it came to communism. Not saying they’re perfect or that i agree with it, but i can see how they got there.
Oddly enough, for all its Rand influence, 2112 goes fuckin hard. Discovery was an absolute delight to me as a musician, and Priests is still raw af.
I started typing up my own personal observations about Rush lyrics changing over time, but then I found this quote from Geddy Lee himself:
A few songs may have also been a little naive in their original intent. The nasty little tale called “The Trees,” of course — a comment on forced equality. Being a much more liberal-minded adult, I now have a softer approach to things in life and I’m much more open and willing. I put a lot more importance on social responsibility now than I ever did. I talk about that, of course, when I’m referring to free will. There were a few things we sang about in our early twenties that seemed very important. But as time has gone on, you ameliorate those views because life has told you it’s not so simple. Once you encounter problems and you begin to help your family or friends with some of those problems, you learn a lot about how much of life has lived in the gray areas as opposed to the black and white areas.
The Trees was, and still is, one of my favorite songs for the sake of the music. And I can see how the lyrics may have worked a lot better back during the cold war, just a couple of decades after genocide and famine wiped out millions in the USSR and China.
I grew up listening to both a greatest hits CD that has libertarian tracks like Freewill and The Trees and 2112, but also listening to Snakes and Arrows that had polar opposite messages in songs like Far Cry, the Way the Wind Blows, and The Larger Bowl. They got smarter and more aware of their own privilege as they grew older and saw more of the world.
2112 does go fucking hard, Temples of Syrinx was one of my all-time favourite songs, and I listened to it for years on a bad audio system without being able to understand the lyrics properly. Once I started hearing them properly, though, it started feeling a bit sus (I’m a big lyrics person) which lead me to find the interview above. I’m glad to hear they’ve changed since then, though.
I mean Neil Peart took the right ideas from “individualism” : personal liberties, and dedicating yourself do doing the hard, necessary work. Selling organs and not paying taxes so corporation scan profit off hospitals isn’t what’s in Rush’s lyrics; it’s the collective oppressing the individual, which happens under many ideological forms.
Wrote several books about how the rich are rich because they make society gooder and invent all the things, and the poor workers would be lost without them (therefore libertarian capitalism is the best system). Among other proto-fascist ideologies. If you want a longer form, Angela Collier has a really good video that goes in-depth a bit more, “Billionaires want you to know they could have done Physics” on YouTube or Nebula (Ayn Rand portion starts at around 26:00, but the whole video is pretty good)
From what I understand they moved away from the Rand stuff pretty hard and publicly distanced themselves from it. I honestly never got anything but wholesome vibes from the dudes, even if they were a bit misguided in their early years. Their songs are usually about fostering connections with others, doing your own thing, and accepting others who are doing the same. That just translated into hyper-individualism and maybe buying into red scare propaganda in the seventies. The USSR and China really had a bad taste in everyone’s mouth when it came to communism. Not saying they’re perfect or that i agree with it, but i can see how they got there.
Oddly enough, for all its Rand influence, 2112 goes fuckin hard. Discovery was an absolute delight to me as a musician, and Priests is still raw af.
I started typing up my own personal observations about Rush lyrics changing over time, but then I found this quote from Geddy Lee himself:
The Trees was, and still is, one of my favorite songs for the sake of the music. And I can see how the lyrics may have worked a lot better back during the cold war, just a couple of decades after genocide and famine wiped out millions in the USSR and China.
I grew up listening to both a greatest hits CD that has libertarian tracks like Freewill and The Trees and 2112, but also listening to Snakes and Arrows that had polar opposite messages in songs like Far Cry, the Way the Wind Blows, and The Larger Bowl. They got smarter and more aware of their own privilege as they grew older and saw more of the world.
2112 does go fucking hard, Temples of Syrinx was one of my all-time favourite songs, and I listened to it for years on a bad audio system without being able to understand the lyrics properly. Once I started hearing them properly, though, it started feeling a bit sus (I’m a big lyrics person) which lead me to find the interview above. I’m glad to hear they’ve changed since then, though.
I mean Neil Peart took the right ideas from “individualism” : personal liberties, and dedicating yourself do doing the hard, necessary work. Selling organs and not paying taxes so corporation scan profit off hospitals isn’t what’s in Rush’s lyrics; it’s the collective oppressing the individual, which happens under many ideological forms.
Red lenses, Red Tide
Can I get a TLDR about Rand for me and the rest of the terminally lazy people
Wrote several books about how the rich are rich because they make society gooder and invent all the things, and the poor workers would be lost without them (therefore libertarian capitalism is the best system). Among other proto-fascist ideologies. If you want a longer form, Angela Collier has a really good video that goes in-depth a bit more, “Billionaires want you to know they could have done Physics” on YouTube or Nebula (Ayn Rand portion starts at around 26:00, but the whole video is pretty good)
Please tell me John Petrucci have regretted backing Trump!
wtf…Is he a maga supporter? That’s disappointing
At least in 2016, he said “give Trump a chance”, don’t know how this changed, especially as The Astonishing was astonishingly bad.
I will give a pass to anyone who said that in 2016 and changed their mind.
If you said it in 2020 or 2024, you’re lost though.