[DoodleBob]

Re: God and Neil/lyrics, Rush was (at least when I was younger) NOT the band to be a fan of, if you wanted to be "cool." Rush was the choice of nerds, dweebs, and band geeks. Nowadays, everyone is rushing to praise Neil (no pun intended). Many of us found solace in Rush's lyrics which championed individuality, eschewed collectivism, and their music which mere mortals couldn't play. While I don't like speculating on what music God would like, it is hard to listen to La Villa Strangiato and NOT hear God.

Is Rush a Christian band? Not at all. Would people turn away from God because of the influence of their lyrics? Maybe a few people. May some people see the Hand of the Lord in Rush's technically proficiency and (dare I say) bitchin' music? Probably more people than those who'd turn away from God due to the lyrics.

[CivilWarBrewing]

'The Trees' is my favorite RUSH song! RUSH isn't even my favorite band but I will concede that NO ONE (not even Stuart Copeland) could hold a drum stick to Neil Peart!

Greatest drummer EVER.

Rest in Peace, Neil.

[MeganC]

“Red Barchetta” aptly spoke to today’s leftist tyrants who want to ban private vehicles and force us all into mass transit...while they use private jets.

My uncle has a country place
That no one knows about
He says it used to be a farm
Before the Motor Law
And on Sundays I elude the eyes
And hop the Turbine Freight
To far outside the Wire
Where my white-haired uncle waits

Jump to the ground
As the Turbo slows to cross the borderline
Run like the wind
As excitement shivers up and down my spine
Down in his barn
My uncle preserved for me an old machine
For fifty odd years
To keep it as new has been his dearest dream
I strip away the old debris
That hides a shining car

A brilliant red Barchetta
From a better vanished time
I fire up the willing engine
Responding with a roar
Tires spitting gravel
I commit my weekly crime

[NFHale]

I’m still reeling from this news.

Amazing man, amazing musician. Someone who contributed so much happiness to so many.

Now he’s gone, and Hillary is still with us.

No justice at all.

[SkyPilot]

When I was in the 8th grade, a fellow classmate recited the lyrics to Rush's "Trees" in English class. He passed it off as a poem he wrote.

The teacher went gaga, and swooned. She told him, and the rest of us, that is was the most beautiful poem one of her students had ever written in all her 35 years of teaching.

We were cracking up (we knew the Rush song of course), and she got angry. "How dare you mock this beautiful poem!"

There is unrest in the forest
There is trouble with the trees
For the maples want more sunlight
And the oaks ignore their pleas

The trouble with the maples
And they're quite convinced they're right
They say the oaks are just too lofty
And they grab up all the light
But the oaks can't help their feelings
If they like the way they're made
And they wonder why the maples
Can't be happy in their shade?

There is trouble in the forest
And the creatures all have fled
As the maples scream 'oppression!'
And the oaks, just shake their heads

So the maples formed a union
And demanded equal rights
'The oaks are just too greedy
We will make them give us light'
Now there's no more oak oppression
For they passed a noble law
And the trees are all kept equal
By hatchet,
Axe,
And saw

[TalBlack]

championed individualism, choice, and freedom over soul-crushing conformity.”””

Well then he couldn’t have been to happy with the Demon creep party...

[Openurmind]

As a lifelong percussionist, my mentors to emulate and practice my skills to were, first Buddy Rich, second John Bonham, third Neil Peart.

Modern drummer Mag agrees with this same order...

https://www.moderndrummer.com/article/march-2014-50-greatest-drummers-time/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZm1_jtY1SQ

[Phil DiBasquette]

Crypto liberal claptrap

[Theo]

Well said.

[nwrep]

While I don't like speculating on what music God would like,...

Sorry, since you brought it up. And I like Rush.

But God - that is a different matter. God has already chosen his music. There is no debate, no doubt, no dissent about it.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

It is God's music.

[IrishBrigade]

Neil Peart...

sorry; I have no idea who he is; or was, as the case may be...

[Mariner]

Heavy rock has always been a bastion of liberty.
Checks the lyrics of James Hetfield or Geezer Butler.

Atlas, Rise!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uejGmZ6qQ74

War Pigs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ssDXiMLX9o

Or even Jimi Hendrix...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJw_XqvsSIs

[Extremely Extreme Extremist]

[sanjuanbob]

Rush’s 1976 album 2112, which Peart dedicated to the “genius of Ayn Rand,”

Which years later he refuted. Still enjoy their music, much more now than when it was released.

[Oshkalaboomboom]

I’ve read a lot of articles comparing Peart to other great drummers. Once, for instance, he was referred to as the “Billy Cobham of rock.” Funny, but you never heard Billy Cobham, Buddy Rich, etc., ever referred to as the “Neil Peart of whatever genre they played in”

[Disambiguator]

Just for the record, Neil Peart stated that Bill Bruford was one of his influences. I haven't seen his name mentioned much, so I thought I would bring it up.

Here's Neil playing an amazing solo (I saw this performed back in 2008):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LWRMOJQDiLU (R30 tour)

[Psalm 73]

Neil Peart was such a talented lyricist and musician - too bad his band had that ugly girl singing vocals....

[L,TOWM]

You & I could probably hang out in the same church, FRiend.

[Kush]

...and yet, Keith Richards still lives.

Kush