MovieChat Forums > Rush: Beyond the Lighted Stage (2023) Discussion > I bet more people will start liking Rush...

I bet more people will start liking Rush now....

posted 14 years ago by miked272001
13 replies | jump to latest

I think the scene of Rush fans might be changing. Main stream audiences are now embracing Rush & I think you might start to see people who are not 'real' fans, but like Rush because it is the popular thing to do. I already see this happening. The same way that you might see a kid in junior high with a Doors t-shirt on, because he thinks it's cool, but probably doesn't even know 5 songs by the band. Or a hipster drinking pbr because it's now 'cool' and 'edgy', meanwhile people have been drinking this swill for years simply because the like it. Rush is better than pbr though. Maybe that was a bad example.

Get busy livin..... or die tryin - Morgan Freeman, "The Shawshank Redemption"

[–] bfk_94 14 years ago

Yeah I know what you mean. There's just a bunch of preppy ass posers running around now stealing our band!!! Just 3 years ago I would talk about Rush and everyone would shun me, now when I talk about Rush people still shun me because I'm not "cool" enough for them. IT'S *beep*

[–] miked272001 14 years ago

lol, exactly!

Get busy livin..... or die tryin - Morgan Freeman, "The Shawshank Redemption"

[–] keith66-1 14 years ago

There music has been featured in a few popular movies lately, and with "I Love You Man" they got even more exposure. So, like anything else that gets mainstream exposure, they were bound to catch on with a new crowd. Give it a few years and it will go back to "normal".

[–] mrclhuskey 14 years ago

Regardless when someone becomes a fan of Rush it is always easy to figure out who the "real" fans are. I'm 41 now and anyone who has known me over the last 27 years (shortly after Signals was released) knows who my favorite band has been during ALL these years. My parents could tell you, all my friends that have come and gone during that time, current and previous co-workers...etc. So when the "posers" tell their friends, family and co-workers...their favorite band is Rush...the response would be "oh..wow..I didn't know that about you!" So they look like they are just joining into what is cool or what is "in" right now.

Kind of reminds me of fairweather sports fans. When I was a young teenager, my favorite NFL team was the Denver Broncos. My favorite player was John Elway. So you can imagine during the 80's how much abuse I got because this team lost 3 SB's under Elway badly, but I stuck with him and the team and then the late 90's came and....POW!!!!...Redemption!!!! SB Champs...Super Bowl MVP...then came all the BS fans who trashed Broncos and Elway in the past, now praising him and the team. I had people calling me, people at work congratulating me (yet I did't play for the Broncos but to them I was the first person they all thought of when they won..lol). They all knew how much I liked this team and Elway over the years through the good and bad times. Now Rush has popped up on Colbert Report, few movie references, and now this great documentary. Anytime people from my past and present hear anything pertaining to Rush....I'm the first they contact!

As I somewhat mentioned above, people who have known you over the years know who the true fans are. :-)

[–] tom-1674 14 years ago

I too was a Broncos fan in the 80's. Tough times, for sure - I took a lot of ribbing.

As for Rush, at one point they were my favourite band. The first LP I ever bought was Electric Light Orchestra's Out of the Blue album, because I liked their song "Telephone Line" from their previous album. Anyway, I hated it, so I convinced the guy at the record store to trade it in for Farewell To Kings, even though I had no idea who they were - I just liked the cover. I took the album home, slapped it on the turntable, put on the headphones (good speakers were way too expensive in those days), and was totally blown away. It stayed on my turntable for weeks (it was the only album I owned at that time). Awesome...

The first concert I saw was Rush at the Guelph arena in 1977 (Farewell to Kings tour). How awesome is that? I saw them and Max Webster several times after that. Max Webster even played my high school!

Those were the days...

[–] goodbyeenemyairship 14 years ago

That had to have been awesome!

Cygnus has long been a favorite of mine and I can't imagine how exciting it would've been to get that album brand new and study that tune and it's story, only to be rewarded with the part 2 on the next album.

I let a friend of mine hear that the other day (on vinyl, I have that and Hemispheres on vinyl to get the full experience) and he was completely blown away! He said he was surprised by all the heavy, odd time signature stuff. He is a big metalhead and thought the newer metal bands invented that. It was great to show him how RUSH was doing stuff back in the 70s that took other bands decades to catch on to! :-)

PS: Out of the Blue is really awesome. Jeff Lynne wrote that entire masterpiece in a 2 week fury of creativity. You might want to give that album another chance! :-)

[–] djnumeric 13 years ago

I have to admit I wasn't a fan of Rush when watching this and I was blown away.

Growing up in Toronto I was exposed to a lot of the band growing up, but it just wasn't quite my thing. I definitely have a new admiration for them after seeing the movie.

Doesn't mean I am going to necessarily go out and buy some of their records, but my opinion has changed immensely. Rush are pretty awesome.

[–] mrkovacs1 13 years ago

djnumeric (Thu Dec 23 2010 00:43:29)
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I have to admit I wasn't a fan of Rush when watching this and I was blown away.

Growing up in Toronto I was exposed to a lot of the band growing up, but it just wasn't quite my thing. I definitely have a new admiration for them after seeing the movie.

Doesn't mean I am going to necessarily go out and buy some of their records, but my opinion has changed immensely. Rush are pretty awesome.

That's awesome. I've loved Rush for almost twenty years now and it's good to hear of new fans. I get what the other posters are saying about "fad" fans and agree but it's also great if their new exposure can introduce people to Rush who become life long fans.

It is true about Rush though, you're either a die hard fan or hate them; there isn't much in between.

[–] Andy4444 13 years ago

I've been a Rush fan since around 1981 or 82, and I'm also a real-life geek, I do math and tech stuff for a living. I also used to watch a lot of Star Trek.

So I understand the nature of cult fandom. The hardcore fans always get ticked off when "newbs" come along. They act as if their favorite band/TV show/sci fi universe/Monty Python movie, etc. is being "taken over" by the high school jocks and they get all resentful and sullen.

Try not to be that way, it only makes you look silly. Always look at the bright side: If you like Rush you can still buy their records and go to their shows and the "newbs" will either get on board and join you or they will get bored and move on. Either way, you can't lose. If the band gets more air time, or makes a little more money, it works in your favor. If not, they still have legions of dorks like us who will hang on every note they play, and unlike some a-hole musicians, these guys actually appreciate us.

As for me, I am a huge fan, but I couldn't believe those guys in the film who have been to 100+ shows. I mean, for real? Where do they find the time and money to do that? I love the band, but that seems a bit obsessive to me. Unless, of course, somebody buys me the tickets and transportation, in which case I'm listening...

[–] BobCH88 10 years ago

My main criticism of the people that see rush hundreds of times was basically, "WHY?".

Don't get me wrong. I'm a deadhead. I loved going to see them as much as possible as well as other groups like that genre, phish, moe., widespread panic, etc. But, the difference is those bands never play the same show twice. They mix it up every night and that's what keeps the fans coming back for more. That, and they have improvisational sections where anything can happen at any moment.

Rush, on the other hand, plays the same show every night and it sounds exactly the same every time they play it! I love rush. They were my first favorite band as a teen in the eighties. I have seen them once! And I got a water bottle thrown at me for dancing in my seat.

I guess the hardcore rush fans love seeing the same show every night with a bunch of other dorky dudes. Go see widespread panic, and there are tons of hotties that are drunk and having a good time.

I seriously got uncomfortable at the certain scenes in the movie that showed the fans air guitaring and air drumming it up and just spazzing out hard. It was just like I Love You, Man. I thought those guys were making fun of themselves in that movie, nope, hardrcore rush fans really are that gay at shows.

[–] mmarcopolo 10 years ago

I wouldn't count on it. If anything, I think this doc made them look nerdier than they were already thought of especially considering Neal's quirkiness

[–] miked272001 10 years ago

Haha- good point!

Get busy livin..... or die tryin - Morgan Freeman, "The Shawshank Redemption"

[–] sage2112 8 years ago

Well it's kinda like the South Park guy said. At some point now you've just GOT TO give them their props. Else you're just being an old d***head. lol