Reader B sent me an email pointing out that our Worst Song Ever thread was sorely lacking in anti-Rush sentiment. A few hours later, by chance, my NYT cooking newsletter began (inexplicably):
Good morning. Four days ago, we listened to an NPR interview with Neil Peart, the drummer for Rush, and our earworm is still air-drumming his solos from “Fly by Night.”
Now, I try not to think about Rush — because that’s what my therapist thinks is best for me — but there is something so perfectly libertarian about them. I have no idea how they vote but they based an album on an Ayn Rand book and they exemplify my favorite kind of libertarianism: “smarter than you” libertarianism.
You know….like a progressive income tax? You’re just too dumb to appreciate Hayek. Don’t like Rush? You’re just too dumb to appreciate Neal Pert’s amazing drum solos in thirteen-against-eleven time.
In the end, though, I might argue that Blues Traveler is the most awesomely glibertarian band ever. Led by a gun-toting Paultard, they do songs mocking the hoi polloi for enjoying songs with hooks. If you don’t like them, you’re just too dumb to appreciate harmonica virtuosity.
Who are your favorite glibertarian celebrities and what other songs need to be added to the worst ever list? (I had forgotten all about “Baby I’m A Want You” last time, for example.)
Not Adding Much to the Community
“Reuinted” by Peaches and Herb. They can choke on a bag o’dicks for singing that. I like that one song by Blues Traveller; you know, that one song they had.
burnspbesq
Although I own a Pono player and think it’s the best-sounding portable player I’ve ever owned, I am fairly sick of Neil Young these days, for reasons that have very little to do with his continuing inability to sing on key.
RandomMonster
“I choose free will” — You gotta appreciate just how stupid that lyric is. I hate Rush.
DougJ
@burnspbesq:
My sister feels the same way about Neil Young. I really like Powderfinger and Birds.
dedc79
Old Time Rock and Roll – Bob Seeger
What I Like About You – The Romantics
Walk of Life – Dire Straits (and I actually like Dire Straits)
In terms of Glibertarian celebrities – do the South Park creators (Parker/Stone) count?
kc
That sucks, but honestly, their music is all the reason I need to hate Blues Traveler.
DougJ
@dedc79:
Yeah, the South Park wankers have to rank right up there.
burnspbesq
@Not Adding Much to the Community:
Are you kidding? That’s classic 70s schmaltzy soul.
Hmmm … what did we forget last time? Well, I don’t think anybody took on Ted Nugent directly, and every record he was ever on (except for “Journey to the Center of the Mind” by the Amboy Dukes) sucks out loud. There wasn’t much mention of Grand Funk Railroad, either.
DougJ
@kc:
You know I only recently learned that that awful don’t know what it is that I see in you song that was on Friends and in all those proto-Zach Braff movies wasn’t them, it’s somebody called Sister Hazel.
DougJ
@burnspbesq:
Obviously American Band belongs in this discussion.
raven
Huh, I burned one back stage with Blues Traveler when they were doing a double bill with Panic many moons ago.
burnspbesq
@DougJ:
I went to the 2011 Buffalo Springfield show in LA, and it was really sad. Neither Stills nor Young can sing worth a damn any more. By contrast, Richie Furay still sounds great, and he’s a clean-living evangelical pastor. Draw your own conclusions.
raven
@burnspbesq: Grand Funk was really good till someone got the idea for that Captain horseshit.
Not Adding Much to the Community
@burnspbesq: “Reunited” came out the same week (or so) that Blondie released “Heart of Glass;” The Blondie tune is so much better as to not even be in the same musical universe. Maybe I’ve got no soul, or maybe I just don’t like schmaltz.
RandomMonster
While I admire Penn Jillette’s atheism, I seem to recall some libertarian douchenozzlery there.
gogol's wife
@RandomMonster:
Oh yes. Lots.
Major Major Major Major
I like Rush :(
Peart was just going through a phase when he wrote 2112, according to Peart. They’re actually pretty lefty. Not big Harper fans. And they routinely send cease-and-desist stuff to conservatives who use their music but let liberals slide.
burnspbesq
@Not Adding Much to the Community:
Or both.
burnspbesq
A subcategory of this discussion is clunkers by great bands.
I offer “Hippie Boy,” from the essential Flying Burrito Brothers album “The Gilded Palace of Sin,” and the entire Little Feat album “Down on the Farm” as Exhibits A and B.
RobertB
I try not to think about Neil Peart’s politics. It’s definitely a case of “Where do you draw the line?”‘ for actors, musicians, etc. Mr. Peart hasn’t crossed that line for me yet, I guess. Having said that, that doesn’t make libertarianism or liking Ayn Rand any smarter.
Not Adding Much to the Community
Vince Vaughn and Drew Carey are the libertarian celebrity dream team. They should do a movie together.
ixnay
@dedc79: Knopfler beat the everlovin’ pants off Dylan at their concert in Boston this past year – and did only one Dire Straits tune – but I agree that Walk of Life is pretty lame.
dedc79
@RandomMonster: Penn & Teller had a show on one of the premium channels where they claimed to debunk various common misconceptions. Among them was the idea that recycling is a good thing. Enough said.
Not Adding Much to the Community
@burnspbesq: I would think it would be easy for you to recognize people without souls, being an attorney and all.
burnspbesq
Did New Riders of the Purple Sage get an appropriate amount of disdain last time?
RandomMonster
I’m not sure if Bill Maher can be completely despised yet, but I know I’m liking him less and less.
DougJ
@burnspbesq:
I like their cover of Dead Flowers.
cahuenga
I always got a sporadic libertarian vibe from Danny Elfman.
dedc79
@ixnay: Wild West End is one of my favorite songs ever. I like most of their stuff – just hate Walk of Life and Money for Nothing, which I think was mentioned in the prior thread.
RandomMonster
@dedc79: Your comment reminds me that we can all hate on the Freakonomics guys for some of the same types of arguments.
NCSteve
I find it interesting that two bands whose music I hated with a loathing that began from the first note I heard from them and only grew in intensity over the years turn out to also espouse an ideology that I feel exactly the same way about. Maybe I was subliminally hearing the lyrics I wasn’t listening to, and that influenced the hate but . . . naw. I just hated their music. A lot.
The only other groups for whom I’ve ever had anything close to the same kind of instant, visceral hatred that only grew over the years I feel for these two were Boston and the Cure. They aren’t fronted by libertarian Randian douchnozzles are they?
DougJ
@burnspbesq:
It’s an interesting category. I’d put Hang Fire and Both Sides Now in there too.
RobertB
@Major Major Major Major:
Probably the same phase I was going through at that time as well, involving way too much weed. “A Passage to Bangkok” is my argument for that.
Hildebrand
@Major Major Major Major: Peart left behind the Randian influences quite a long time ago. I would think many would appreciate Peart’s fairly stout atheism around these parts.
The other reason that Rush deserves a little bit of respect – they are relentless in making fun of themselves. Not many libertarians who can mock themselves – including Bill Maher and Glenn Greenwald, who seem to be heroes around here.
DougJ
@Not Adding Much to the Community:
Say what you will about the tenets of burnspbesq, he knows his music.
KG
I’ve found it best to not give a flying fuck what any particular entertainer’s politics are unless and until they run for office… given that I live in California, this happens a bit more than you’d think it would. If their work is good, I’m down, if it’s not, eh, whatever.
@dedc79: it was on Showtime, called Bullshit! Didn’t see the recycling one, but some of the other one’s were pretty good.
JustRuss
@cahuenga: Considering “You’re just a middle class socialist brat” is a line from one of his early songs, yeah me too. Could be he grew out of it.
burnspbesq
I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that Donald Fagen has libertarian tendencies. He has always appeared to see himself as the smartest guy in the room, and that seems to be a prerequisite for going down that path.
Major Major Major Major
“Can’t Buy a Thrill” kind of sucks, in the “good band/bad album” category.
dedc79
@KG: My recollection (it was a while ago) was that, among other offenses, they considered the costs of recycling but not the costs of not recycling (waste disposal, environmental costs, etc…)
And yes, other episodes were much better.
cahuenga
@JustRuss:
Yup, love Boingo, but that first album… Only a Lad and Capitalism both sounded a bit Randian sociopathic.
Svensker
When I was a libertarian (I was YOUNG), the boy libertarians I knew all loved Abba’s Fernando. Something about that lush sucky romantic sound fit right into their Randian fantasies.
I doubt that Abba were libertarians, however.
@cahuenga:
No informed idea about Elfman and libertarianism but somehow can’t imagine the Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo or the creator of The Forbidden Zone being true Randians, though. Used to love going to the Mystic Knights shows in L.A. — so much fun!
RobertB
@burnspbesq:
I don’t know what he’s going to have to do to make me change my mind about _Aja_ being one of the best albums ever. Strangle a kitten at a Santorum rally maybe.
JCJ
I always hated that song with the hook “my future’s so bright I gotta wear shades”
Not Adding Much to the Community
@DougJ: Maybe, but defending Peaches & Herb doesn’t support your observation.
MattR
FYI – Being “inspired by” something does not mean that you endorse it. While Peart has some libertarian leanings, he has never advocated for an Ayn Rand style of government. If anything, he has a very similar political philosophy to mine – In an ideal world we may be able to have a libertarian utopia where everyone could do as they pleased and it wouldn’t harm others, but in reality people’s actions do negatively affect others and too many people are assholes who don’t care about that so we need the government to help out the less fortunate and to keep the playing field relatively level.
@RobertB: It was more that the band’s previous album had been an overly adventurous attempt that was a commmercial and critical failure which led to the record company pressuring the band to make their next album more mainstream. 2112 was their FU response (and also explains why they would be thinking about a dystopian future where artistic creativity has been squashed)
cahuenga
@Svensker:
I’ll bet we crossed paths many times. Never missed a show.
RobertB
@JCJ: I have that Timbuk3 CD in my collection somewhere. I don’t hate stuff I used to like, but I can damn sure be embarrassed by it. There’s an example, right there.
R. Johnston
No thread about glibertarian celebrities should go without a mention of Scott Adams. He’s a special one in his cluelessness, for, like all glibertarians, he feels a deep personal entitlement to be the pointy haired boss. Dilbert is the best example I know of of art that is completely misunderstood by its artist.
Major Major Major Major
@RobertB: Pretty sure Fagen is lefty as well. Don’t know the specifics, but he has nothing but scorn for the paranoid style in American politics, and you can look at e.g. “Mary Shut the Garden Door” from Morph the Cat as a metaphor about creeping illiberalism in the post-9/11 world.
ETA: His is the type of “smarter than you” that comes along with depression, IMO. He’s got very low self esteem, it’s one of the reasons they don’t tour much. So he’s got the liberal version of knowing he’s smarter than you.
Major Major Major Major
@R. Johnston: He is truly mind-boggling. If he were a younger man, I imagine he’d be a part of the pick-up artist/men’s rights community.
Bobby B
@burnspbesq: If you think “Hippie Boy” is a clunker, you’re not hearing it right, or you’re not partial to Luke the Drifter.
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
@RandomMonster: I can certainly totally despise Maher, for whatever that is worth. And I do; call it a rush to judgment if you must.
@DougJ: Okay, but I still prefer TVZ’s.
RandomMonster
@R. Johnston: My god, yeah, Scott Adams goes on the list.
burnspbesq
Two good artists, one huge clunker.
youtube.com/watch?v=fi-bEzF8xEE
Randy Khan
@Not Adding Much to the Community:
Yes, yes, yes.
I was working at an amusement park that summer, at the skeeball lanes, and the jukebox played oozed that song out about a million times (okay, probably only about 6 times a day, but it felt like a million). It’s not just the gooey lyrics, but the whole arrangement, which sounded like easy listening that lacked the courage of its convictions.
It alternated with Cheap Trick’s “I Want You to Want Me,” although when I hear that I smile a little, which is not what I do when hear “Reunited.”
EthylEster
re:
Department of Redundancy Department
….NOT to imply that I’m smarter than you ;=)
Tree With Water
I tuned out what passes for top of the charts music too many years ago to make fun of any bands or singers. I no longer recognize 80% of all show biz celebrities nowadays, either. Time was I new everyone on the cover of People magazine at a glance. How about Madonna? She’s always impressed as likely being interesting- a bit of a screwball in the best sense of the word. But I never understood her appeal show-biz wise, although I know people whose tastes I respect that think she’s incredible. Go figure.
Mike J
@Hildebrand:
Why would I give a shit about his religion? The militant atheists are as stupid as any of the god botherers, but easier to troll.
RobertB
@MattR: Maybe because I was in those ‘music formative years’ at the time, but I consider _Caress of Steel_ to be one of Rush’s best albums. About half of it, if not more, of the lyrics are total Tolkien-wannabe nonsense, but the guitar parts kick serious ass. At least my inner 15-year-old thinks so.
RandomMonster
@a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q): I should probably just admit I can’t stand him.
Major Major Major Major
We should have a “people who don’t suck” thread. I nominate Stephen Fry as the least suckiest person.
JCJ
@RobertB:
Yeah, I’ve got some records from my high school days (late 70’s) that are really embarrassing.
The Golux
@ixnay: Walk Of Life is one of the songs that gets the most enthusiastic crowd response when we play it. It’s the kind of song that gets many pairs of women on the dance floor. That and Lay Down Sally.
@dedc79: We do Money For Nothing, too. Glad to know we’re on the cutting edge of dreck.
Hildebrand
@Mike J: Yeesh, it was a comment about a component of his worldview, nothing more. Since the thread was essentially about the content of Rush’s lyrics, I thought this bit to be somewhat salient to the conversation. Have lovely day, though.
Mike J
@cahuenga: Capitalism always sounded more like a critique of holier than thou jerks than any real commentary on economics.
You criticize with plenty of vigor
You rationalize everything that you do
With catchy phrases and heavy quotations
And everybody is crazy but you
Only a Lad is just Excitable Boy, but not as good.
burnspbesq
@JCJ:
We all have our guilty pleasures. I’m a total Trisha Yearwood fan.
MattR
@RobertB: Don’t disagree with you at all about Caress of Steel, but we are in the minority when it comes to that album
Steve in the ATL
@raven: Poseur. It’s “the Spread,” not “Panic.” But props for burning one with them!
RSR
If I choose not to decide, have I still made a choice?
RobertB
@Major Major Major Major: I always thought that Steely Dan didn’t like to tour because their stuff is produced to the nth degree. Stuff like _Aja_ has seven tracks, and used four drummers, six guitarists, three sets of backing vocalists, and Michael McDonald on it. But I would buy “too depressed to tour” as well. :)
Major Major Major Major
@RobertB: The heroin addiction didn’t help much either.
Randy Khan
@burnspbesq:
Do you watch her Food Network show or do you draw the line at her music? (She is something of an endearing goofball on the show, actually.)
RobertB
@Major Major Major Major: Hell, I’d have thought that heroin addiction was a requirement for a touring rock band back in the 70’s.
Citizen_X
I’ll put up honorary nominations for the Beatles and the Stones, for all the whining they used to do about UK taxes. And what did they have to collect all those taxes for? Oh, paying for WWII, that’s all. Rock star wankers.
Kylroy
@Tree With Water: Mostly she’s incredible because she’s managed to be relevant for three decades in a business where few people survive three years. I’m mostly indifferent to her music, but I respect her ability to follow trends without simply copying them for just about my whole life.
GxB
One for the “Who?” file, but Dave Mustaine from Megadeth. I’m only aware of him because my old bar band played a couple tunes from them, but that was a lifetime ago. Anyhoo, he’s said some pretty vile right leaning libertarian crap over the years including some rips on Obama shortly after the 2008 election. He was too douchy for Metallica (another FYIGM group I hope to never hear from again) so if you’re insufferable by Lars Ulrich’s standards, well that’s saying volumes
As for Pert, I haven’t listened to Rush in 20 years, but I think he has moderated considerably over time. I heard they were rather vocal in opposition to Canada’s flirtation with going full NeoCon during Dubbayah’s rein; and as I recall, Rush (the band) sued Rush (the fat puke) to remove their music from his program as they didn’t want any association with him whatsoever.
burnspbesq
@Randy Khan:
The music. And she can act a little, too. She was good in that recurring role on “JAG.”
FridayNext
@RobertB:
I have to speak up for Timbuk3 pretty vociferously in this context. Yes, that song is insufferable, but it was supposed to be insufferable. I am not one of those people that will defend a work of art like this in “well, if you don’t like it, you must not have gotten it.” They meant the song to be ironic, and if people didn’t get it, well that’s kind of on them.
But their entire oeuvre is so NON-randian as to make me laugh out loud. Their politics is pure left of center agit-pop. Where to begin defending them and their leftist cred? My flight boards in ten minutes, so I don’t have time to list all the left causes they have embraced in their songs, but the most you could accuse them of in songs like “Assholes on Parade” is nihilistic cynicism, but far from “Randian.”
kc
@DougJ:
I’m not sure I know that song – lucky for me, probably.
Right now I need something to drive this awful BT earworm out of my head. Damn it!
RobertB
@Citizen_X: Marginal tax rates in the Nixon days were 70%ish – Great Britain’s taxes must’ve been brutal back then if that rate looks to a citizen as a tax haven.
kindness
RUSH are Canadian.
They don’t vote here.
Not Adding Much to the Community
@GxB: Mustaine came out as a born again evangelical type a couple of years ago, IIRC, but I lost interest in his music sometime around 1988 or so.
Turgidson
I had a regrettable jam band phase in my early adolescence. I knew Blues Traveler before they were big, maaaaan. Didn’t know Popper was a libertarian douche. Oh well. I wonder if he instructed the ambulance to only take private roads to a private hospital when he had a heart attack that nearly killed him 15 or so years ago.
His music sucks almost as bad as his politics then, I guess. He can certainly play the harmonica really fast. That’s…something.
Arclite
@Major Major Major Major:
They’re one of my all time favorite bands, one of the few bands that never wrote songs about banging chicks. Even Objectivist-inspired songs like 2112 and Freewill have things to like about them: don’t accept your fate, throw off oppression, freedom of expression, etc. Other songs are allegorical (Trees), introspective (Limelight), critiques on society (Subdivision), and sometimes just great fun (Red Barchetta). They have a history of philanthropy as well.
ranchandsyrup
Did a shuffle post featuring Queens of the Stone Age f/Will Ferrell on cowbell.
Rush is for junior glibertarians.
GxB
@burnspbesq: I’d be really surprised if this was the case, Fagan has a sense of humor. Though admittedly, he comes off a bit pretentious.
RobertB
@FridayNext: Oh, I’m not beating on Timbuk3 over their political leanings. I’m saying that the RobertB of 2014 thinks that “Gotta Wear Shades” is kind of bad.
I have a Squirrel Nut Zippers CD in my collection as well. I’d rather get caught wearing Zubaz pants than admit that I listened to anything that even remotely sounded like swing, given how badly that musical hiccup turned out.
WereBear
I can no longer listen to any Peaches & Herb love songs because there were so many different Peaches.
Makes them lack conviction.
DissidentFish
When Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers’ “Refugee” came out, it’s lack of compassion towards the woman
it don’t really matter to me
everybody’s had to fight to be free
that I actually put a verse in a song I wrote beefing with the sentiment — I was 14. And I called him an “elephant.”
Tom Petty’s record of appearances and statements on environmental and gay rights issues suggests he’s not actually the least bit glibertarian, even if the song’s speaker is.
MattR
@Arclite:
Pre Peart, but In the Mood?
Jamey
DougJ: PERFECT!!
Have explained the same phenomenon innumerable times, albeit in a much clunkier manner.
Also, fuck John Popper. My guess is he looks like that because nutritional labeling is a libtardo-fascist mind-control plot.
trollhattan
@Svensker:
It would be apropos if libertarians were forced (by the gummint!) to dress as Abba. As a warning to the rest of us.
raven
@burnspbesq: henry
Scott
Sunglasses at Night – Corey Hart
Enough said
RobertB
@Arclite: My take on the concept parts of _2112_ is that it wasn’t totalitarian vs. libertarian, rather than totalitarian vs. Boy Who Just Wants To Make Music. There could be a ton of libertarian shit hiding in everything on 2112 that _isn’t_ in the “Temples of Syrinx” stuff though; it’s only been 30 years or so since I’ve listened to it front-to-back. :)
GxB
@Major Major Major Major: I think Walter Becker is the depressed one. I saw some clips from their fairly recent tour (around ’11) and he looked like shit, mussed hair, slobby beard, sweatpants on stage – probably 40 pounds overweight. It was horrible to see.
@Not Adding Much to the Community: Now that doesn’t surprise me a single bit.
raven
@Turgidson: You know what Howlin Wolf said about Magic Dick?
raven
@Major Major Major Major: Don’t tour much, where you been? They are even playing COACHELLA !
burnspbesq
So much 80s synth-pop that was likable in the 80s now comes across as hopelessly dated.
For example:
youtube.com/watch?v=nKWbMJOIkUk
Major Major Major Major
@raven: Yes, they are older and wiser now.
Calouste
@RobertB: “There’s one for you, nineteen for me” (from Taxman)
Top rate was 95% in GB at one point.
RobertB
@burnspbesq: XM channel 33 – First Wave. Sometimes you get Kajagoogoo, Spandau Ballet, stuff like that. That’s why they put presets on the receiver.
raven
@Major Major Major Major: Their appearance has also prompted this:
Coachella is dead, and Steely Dan killed it: Remembering the day other music fests died
burnspbesq
The antidote to synth-pop overdose. Spouse and I are going to see these guys tonight, to celebrate our 22nd anniversary.
youtube.com/watch?v=5LIrrxbI3Wo
DougJ
@DissidentFish:
I’m not the biggest Tom Petty fan but I think he probably has to be counted as the most non-misogynist male rock star of all time. American Girl is one of the only examples I know of of a song sung by a man from the point of view of a woman that doesn’t patronize or objectify.
(I realize I’m a man so who am I to judge but the misogyny of a lot of rock music is astounding.)
Major Major Major Major
@raven: Pshaw. Steely Dan only gets better with age. They were never exactly attitudinous rockers. Get off my lawn.
dcbill
I heard The Ramones before I heard Rush and my life has been all the better for it.
GxB
@burnspbesq:
Uhm…. I’m having some issues with some of the statements you are presenting as facts today counselor…
:)
Okay you got me there – for some reason A Flock of Seagulls doesn’t make me break out in hives (dare I say it was “catchy”) and it don’t get much more synth-dreckier than that.
raven
@Major Major Major Major: I love em but I didn’t used to. Really like Live From Daryl’s House too and I NEVER thought I’d like Hall and Oates.
Mike in NC
@Not Adding Much to the Community: I believe Drew Carey was the first entertainer to volunteer to appear at George W. Bush’s inaugural gala. Douchebag.
buddy h
Wife and I love watching Shark Tank, but I know the sharks are right wing a-holes. Whats-his-name, the tall guy on the left, the team owner, actually reads and re-reads Ayn Rand novels for inspiration. And I remember when Chris Hedges was being interviewed by “mr. wonderful” and was called a leftwing nut bar or something like that.
But the show is still entertaining. In earlier seasons, they used to bully entrepreneurs into shipping production to china, to save on labor, but since ABC news started their “made in america” campaign, they must have been told to tone it down.
raven
@DougJ: I fucking love him, the Bogdanovich Documentary is a really good look at the band.
Mike in NC
@dedc79: We’ve known conservatives who loudly and proudly refused to recycle anything. Apparently some point of honor picked up from talk radio.
JustRuss
@Major Major Major Major:
Yeah. The Nightfly has songs mocking 50’s-era American imperialism and apocalyptic paranoia, so I’d agree. One of my favorite albums.
Mary G
I can’t think of any music – although one of the reasons I don’t listen to lyrics much in rock and roll is because there is so much misogynist objectification of women in it that if I paid attention I’d get mad. However, I have been reading a lot of science fiction lately and it seems to be full of libertarians, very annoying to be enjoying a book until you run into an anti-government rant.
Turgidson
@buddy h:
Mark Cuban’s Randroid interests are lamentable, but he is more reasonable about it than most. Pretty sure he voted for Obama in ’08, at least, and I vaguely remember him saying something positive about the patriotism of paying taxes. So he’s not a Randroid of the Zombie-Eyed Granny Starving variety, at least. And he seems to be a good guy, despite his occasional sleaziness. Most of the Randroids I’ve met have been odious pieces of shit and proud of it.
WereBear
@Mary G: You need some Joanna Russ!
trollhattan
@Mike in NC:
Totally ‘splains the Bud Lite cans flying out da Eff Tree Fiddy bed while they’re rollin’ coal.
Arclite
@MattR:
I like Caress of Steel, (esp Lakeside Park) but think 2112 is far superior musically. The guitar work in Discovery, Presentation, and Soliloquy is especially sublime.
Hildebrand
@Arclite: They just announced their 40th anniversary tour. Their live shows are excellent, and I look forward to seeing them again this summer.
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
@burnspbesq: That’s a great antidote. Happy anniversary, counselor.
Beatrice
@Major Major Major Major: Stephen Fry is a great choice. As far as I can tell, Yo-Yo Ma completely and totally does not suck.
Linnaeus
@burnspbesq:
Eh, I would disagree, but YMMV.
Linnaeus
@RobertB:
First Wave on XM is probably my favorite channel. I like 80s on 8, too.
feral1
@JCJ: That song’s by Timbuk3. They were an Austin band when I went to UT in the ’90s and they’re politics were definitely lefty. I worked with the group CISPES (Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador) at the time and did a fundraiser for us. The “future’s so bright” song is actually mocking frat boys/girls who ran around campus wearing sunglasses all the time.
SatanicPanic
@Svensker: But Fernando is clearly about a leftist guerrilla. I don’t get libertarians.
Seanly
@dedc79:
I don’t know about Teller, but Penn Jillette is definitely a glibertarian. If he wasn’t in show biz he’d probably be some chairbound Alliance jerk on a WoW PVP server ganking low level Horde.
I started reading Ayn Rand based on being a teenage Rush fan. Kinda lost interest in them after Signals. I read a bunch of Ayn Rand, but never really embraced her idiot philosophy. Probably the anti-establishment aspects of Pink Floyd’s The Wall inveighed against any drift towards Objectivism.
Splitting Image
About Rush’s politics, it ought to be mentioned that Geddy Lee donated about 200 baseballs to the Negro League Baseball Museum in Kansas City. One cannot acknowledge the existence of the Negro Leagues and remain an Objectivist.
As much as Peart has suffered from pretentiolyricitis over the years, Ayn Rand was indeed a youthful phase for him. Apparently he tried to interest Lee and Lifeson in her books and they both thought she was too out there for them. Rush still appeals to something of a niche audience, but it’s not really fair to lump them in with other glibertarians. As a few people have mentioned, you could do the same with George Harrison because of “Taxman”, but if you’re going to call someone with his record a glibertarian, the word has has lost all meaning.
You would probably have a hard time finding two bandleaders that were less likely to be Randians. Robert Smith doesn’t like talking politics at all, and Tom Scholtz has always been a leftover hippie from the 1960s. He occasionally veers into vegan douchenozzle territory, but that’s a different kettle of fish.
I’m surprised no one has mentioned former Velvet Underground drummer and current Tea Party stalwart Moe Tucker yet. She describes herself as being apolitical until Barack Obama’s election alerted her to the immanent danger of real, true Americans losing their liberty. In other words, one of those.
Mike in NC
@Seanly: Penn and The Donald are BFFs.
Linnaeus
@Splitting Image:
I mean, if we were to judge people only by the views they may have held in the past, then I would imagine a lot of folks wouldn’t be here on this blog…
Mike E
@Beatrice: Yo Yo Ma may be the nicest person you’ll ever meet.
C.S.Strowbridge
@Major Major Major Major:
I heard that as well. I really don’t think they are libertarians.
Tissue Thin Pseudonym
I’m a huge Rush fan but, sure, there are plenty of reasons one could dislike them. They can be very pretentious and often too clever for their own good. And they definitely have some clunker albums.
But if your stated reason for not liking them is because they’re libertarians it just means that you haven’t actually listened to anything they’ve written in the last 35 years. Of course, since it’s a DougJ post, looking like an idiot who doesn’t actually know anything about the subject is to be expected.
Tissue Thin Pseudonym
@C.S.Strowbridge: Peart’s response to questions about basing a song on Ayn Rand is that he read one story and liked it without realizing that she was completely insane. Reading his books, Peart comes off as kind of a dick but he definitely isn’t Randian.
For anyone who thinks he is, just try reading the lyrics sheets from Snakes and Arrows
PIGL
@Turgidson: You like harmonica, check out Daddy Longlegs outta Brooklyn. Like Magic Dick, J Geils Band, Full House era.
Dan Storms
“Alone Again, Naturally.” Self pity on a stick. Gilbert O’Sullivan should be drummed out of the human race for that abomination.
Big Picture Pathologist
@JustRuss: @JustRuss:
Elfman wrote a column for Huff Post where he explained why he was voting for Obama in 2004. IIRC it had something to do with him being scared of having Palin a heartbeat away from the Presidency.
PIGL
1) The worst song in the whole world ever is Season’s in the Sun as covered by Terry Jacks.
2) What did Howlin’ Wolf say about Magic Dick? Raven, I’m talkin to you.
SatanicPanic
@Splitting Image: Moe Tucker’s pretty obscure. We could talk about Exene Cervenka or Lee Ving too, but again, not exactly household names.
Olivia
This song isn’t libertarian or about libertarians but I am going on record as saying it is the worst song ever written, performed or listened to.
youtube.com/watch?v=OpQuNY3XFI0
Joey Giraud
Used to practice Geddy Lee’s fast and complex bass riffs when I was in my 20s.
But some decades later, after an inebriated evening with an excellent oldies band, in a flash of light I realized the golden truth as so many have uttered before…..
Black Sabbath rocks and Rush sucks.
Big Picture Pathologist
@ranchandsyrup:
Great performance I caught at the time (on TV) — thanks!
miserybob
@burnspbesq: My Pono comes on Tuesday… Squee! What are the best albums you’ve gotten from the Pono store?
As for terrible music – I don’t know if BTO was mentioned in the previous thread, but “You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet” has to be one of the worst rock songs of all time. I mean, The Who pretty much finished off ‘stuttering as a musical affectation’ with “My Generation”, I think everyone else can just knock it the hell off now…
different-church-lady
Well first off, they’re Canadian, so the entire framework is somewhat different. Then Peart kinda threw her under the bus in recent years.
@PIGL:
OK, let’s do “Top Ten ‘bummer’ songs of the 70s. Not necessary bad songs (although most of them are), but songs that to modern ears are so surprisingly depressing that it’s hard to believe there was a period when they could be hits.
* Seasons in the Sun (dying protagonist)
! Without You* (Nillson, originally Badfinger)
* Shanon (about a dead dog, apparently)
* Billy Don’t Be a Hero (dead boyfriend)
* Alone Again Naturally (dead parents)
* Gypsys, Tramps and Thieves (prostitution for economic survival)
! Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald (dead sailors)
* The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia (executed innocent guy)
! Just Enough for the City
* How Much I Feel (married guy still thinking about old flame)
* All By Myself (well, at least nobody dies…)
* Lonely Boy
* Baby Come Back
* Wildfire (dead horse or horse owner, I can’t really tell which…)
* At Seventeen (holy god, you might as well be dead)
I know there’s one in particular I’m forgetting — so damn bad even the YouTube suggestions don’t want to suggest it…
different-church-lady
@different-church-lady:
*Let’s Just Kiss and Say Goodbye
Ripley
@Splitting Image: Agreed,and well stated.
Five minutes on the Wikipedia contraption would have talked you off this ledge, DougJ. Dude: you got old.
HinTN
@burnspbesq: Even on my tinny phone there’s a snaky sax on the bottom end of that. ENJOY!!!
Rex Everything
There was a time when I thought both Rush and Rand were AWESOME. My excuse: I was 14.
I haven’t liked Rush’s music in a very long time, but I did watch their movie, and they’re good guys. Just likable decent folks. Not libertarian types at all. I think Neil Peart was the only one who ever really gave a shit about Ayn Rand, and he outgrew her many moons ago.
neil peart
Geddy, Alex and I disapprove of this post. I am misunderstood.
NobodySpecial
DougJ, still trollin’ hard as ever.
Misterpuff
@different-church-lady: Timothy by The Bouys
burnspbesq
@miserybob:
You are almost certainly going to love the sound, and be occasionally exasperated by the interface. The exasperation level will be higher if you use iTunes to organize your library of digital music.
I haven’t bought anything from the Pono store yet, and I don’t expect to. I get my high-res downloads from HDTracks, ProStudioMasters.com, and record label sites like eClassical (a joint venture between BIS and Harmonia Mundi).
burnspbesq
@different-church-lady:
Year of the Cat? Dimming of the Day? Louise? Love Has No Pride?
AliceBlue
@PIGL:
IMO the worst song in the whole world EVER is “Daddy Don’t You Walk So Fast” by Wayne Newton. (Runner up is ‘Watchin’ Scotty Grow” by Bobby Goldsboro).
burnspbesq
@AliceBlue:
What about Michael Bolton’s cover of “Since I Fell for You?”
burnspbesq
@different-church-lady:
Ever heard “All the Time in the World,” by Clive Gregson and Christine Collister? It’s a lovely little ditty about spousal abuse.
Gus
@FridayNext: Amen. I was in college when that song came out. It was a perfect satirical description of the average right wing college student of the Reagan era. Pat McDonald is really good songwriter, sardonic to the point of being bitter, and TImbuk3 has some really good albums.
dr. luba
@different-church-lady: Honey (dead wife) by Bobby Goldsboro. 1968. The worst song of all time.
PIGL
@dr. luba: My wife and my dead wife? Different era, though.
different-church-lady
@burnspbesq: Now wait a cotton pickin’ minute here… you might not like “Year of the Cat” but you can’t call it a bummer! It’s an exotic romance!
No, the one I’m thinking of is a guy with a beard (yeah, like that narrows it down) and he’s so emotional he’s gonna cry or something and… wait… “SOMETIMES WHEN WE TOUCH!!!!” Way to go dude, make intimacy sound like a flippin’ trip to hell!
different-church-lady
@dr. luba: Good one, but I arbitrarily limited it to the 70s. Otherwise we could have added a whole lot of teenage tragedy hits.
dr. luba
@PIGL: Hitchcock did it so much better; sardonic rather than schmaltzy.
dr. luba
@different-church-lady: Honey fits the 70s better, it has that feel. Incidentally, author of Honey also wrote the “Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia.”
Omnes Omnibus
@SatanicPanic:
Depends on the household.
villageidiocy
You light up my life, by Debbie Boone. Fingernails on the chalkboard bad.
@different-church-lady: and as a 11 year old I loved Wildfire. Damn that was great. OMG Ponies!!11!!!!11111!
different-church-lady
@villageidiocy:
Like I said, not necessarily bad songs, just depressing songs. Wildfire has a fairly sophisticated melody, and great harmony singing.
Mobile Grumpy Code Monkey
“Feelings”.
WHOA WHOA WHOA FEEEEEEEELLLIIIINGSSSS!!!!!!
That, or You Spin Me Right Round Baby Right Round Like A Record Baby – that song always puts me in a mood for murder.
Don’t know the politics of my favorite musicians; not sure I want to know.
mcDick
quoting someone else, forget who:
“Rush albums are the soundtrack to being a dork.”
true that. as a drummer myself, i guess i am supposed to like peart, greatest living rock and roll drummer. can’t stand him. he never learned that less is more, and he can’t swing at all.
Spike
This thread needs moar “Midnight At the Oasis”.
Barney
@RobertB: The top marginal rate is widely quoted as 98%, but the government admits that in special cases (I have no idea if it would apply the the Beatles or Stones) it reached 136.25%:
Matt
@burnspbesq:
Sorry to hear about your loss – of roughly $300 for an audiophool product.
At least the Pono was nice enough to include a confirmation bias warning light – oh wait, that’s the “SOOPER HI QUALITY MODE ACTIVE” light.
BruceFromOhio
*sigh*
Troll mocking one of my favorite bands, and here comes all the required Ayn Rand drivel, the usual they rock/i hate them. Granted, they are 82nd on the RIAA list of artists in terms of sales, so there’s clearly a lot of company in both camps. The bands legacy of promoting liberal causes in Canada is well known if one can be bothered to look around a bit.They also just happen to be a bunch of decent guys, not that it matters – only the shittier humans get the press.
What’s really discouraging is the harpooning of the 70’s pop that played endlessly through the single earpiece of my tiny AM radio, I grew up singing along with almost all of this stuff, and apparently a bunch of folk hate this stuff as well.
Pick something and be good at it, ma always said.
Sondra
Did someone add “Feelings” to the list? Cause that one really sucked worse than “Reunited”which I kind of liked.
Cain
@Tissue Thin Pseudonym:
That entire album was a critique on the Bush adminstration. You can tell those guys wer pissed about it. It’s too damn bad that I didn’t catch this thread when it was active, because Rush is anything but Randian. It kind of sucks that when people talk about Rush everything is always about first 4albums. If it isn’t about Ayn Rand it’s about Geddy’s wailing voice. It just goes to show that even on this blog, you can find people who make quick judgements about things and people without doing any real research. I encourage people to watch “Beyond the Lighted Stage” which I believe was nominated for a Grammy. (best long form music video – which is wierd, but whatevs) and you can clearly see the differnce beteween Rush.
Not that they need any defending, but these guys hit the sweet spot. They have full creative freedom, can still pack venues, and are still relevant picking up new, and younger fans even as they go past their mid 60s. That’s a fabulous achievement.
http://www.acurioushead.com/nike-nfl-c-359.html
I’ve tried to make use of, nevertheless it won’t works in any way.
Marc Jordan
Peart recently said there is no way to be a republican and a christian :) the whole 2112 thing was just an indulgence. his writing has explored so much more in 40 years. saying they are libertarians is dumbshit ignorant :)
parenthetical
I have a sad when hearing Ray Davies indulge his inner Tory. And Gary Numan, well, his inner BNP I guess.
eyelessgame
Pretentious as they are (hell, pretension isn’t a sin of itself, or neither Floyd nor Queen would have fans) I adore Rush, even their sucky period from Power Windows through Test for Echo, because their music is clever, relentlessly clever, and they work damned hard, and it’s fun to listen to. There isn’t any other band where I can go to a concert and really have nearly a religious experience, getting what I get out of their music.
But I’m tempted not to go to their final tour this year because so many of their fans are douchenozzles, specifically because those fans listened to 2112 and stopped thinking any more. The band themselves have talked about their early music like it’s their essays from sixth grade; they’re embarrassed by it.
Paul in KY
@burnspbesq: Saw them at Bonnaroo & Richie had by far the best voice. Did end set with an 8 or 9 minute Rockin in the Free World.
Paul in KY
@The Golux: Money for Nothing is a damn good song. Walk of Life is OK.
Paul in KY
@ranchandsyrup: Saw Queens of the Stone Age at Hangout last year. Was right up there. Josh Homme can really twist the strings.
Paul in KY
@Splitting Image: Citizens, not Subjects (motto on Robert Smith’s guitar).
Paul in KY
Eric Clapton is a right-wing douchenozzle.
S-Curve
@RobertB: I don’t know, it isn’t the greatest song ever, but it is totally taking the piss out of a certain kind of 80s college student. A lot of people read the lyrics straight, but they’re meant to be satirical.