Maybe they would rather play other songs? I've seen them 2-3 times and found the set list to be pretty tight. Although the last time I saw them was for Snakes and Arrows and considering that album isn't good you could count me pissed they played so much from it. Oh well.

But I guess I took umbrage with you stating that it was Spirit of Radio that was a "sell-out" song. I don't see how that's possible considering the album it came out of. If you really want to know where they lost your crowd was during the Signals-era, aka "Geddy goes nuts with keyboards" and you would probably agree.

Oh well.

Please stay out of Rush business.

rush had stopped playing their old shit by the early 90s when I saw them on the "roll the bones" tour, which sucked.

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Reality is your friend, not your enemy. -- Seacrest

Roll the Bones is a bad album.

You're correct Mac, RUSH should've continued taking the high ground, making artistic and creative music while staying true to their roots and early fans, like say, The Rolling Stones have continued to do. With you 100% on Philadelphia.

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Proud member of the white guy grievance committee

It aint the six minutes. Its what happens in those six minutes.

Of course it is, it's made by Rush.

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Rush was great when you were stoned all the time, loser.

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I'm sorry but Rush does nothing for me. Ooh, your drummer plays 80 drums, whoopee.

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"Subdivisions" and "Vital Signs" are my favorite Rush songs

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w/r/t Springsteen being overrated:

In total, yes. It's really tragic the way Bruce had to get that lobotomy in 1976. There are more lyrics in "For You" and more notes being played in "Rosalita" than there were in like five albums' worth of '80s crap. I think he used up all his ideas by the end of Born to Run, which is fine, because he got three all-timers out of it (and the simply phenomenal Hammersmith live set), but if you're going to do that, have the decency to go away when you're done. Don't reinvent yourself as The Singing Mechanic who just bleats on and on about Working Hard to mid-tempo 4/4 shit.

w/r/t U2 being overrated:

Sure, if you're going to talk about them as this life-changing force that transcends mere music and saves Africa and stuff. If you just assess them as a band that made albums, they're high achievers, and pioneers in the synthesis of ambient music with the mainstream (though that's more Brian Eno than Bono/Edge). They were out of good album material by Passengers, and only squeezed "Beautiful Day" and "Elevation" out of ATYCLB, and it's been mostly crap from there, but let's not pretend that War and The Joshua Tree didn't matter.

w/r/t Radiohead being overrated:

Lots of people still don't know who they are.

I guess if there's a point to this, it's that hyperbole is so fever-pitched on the internet that all acts at all times somewhere are being overrated.

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I agree with this to a point. There are many great rock songs with two or three chords and few words other than "oh" or "baby". But Springsteen was one of many "new Dylans". He set people up to expect a certain level of literacy. There's no doubt that Born to Run is the place where all of the Springsteen hallmarks, intelligent lyrics, rock and roll bombast, Phil Spector production, etc. came together to best effect. It's been downhill since then save for some shining moments on Nebraska, a record that was probably off-putting to many Boss fans.

My criticism of Springsteen wouldn't be so much that he has dumbed his work down, though he has. It's that his songs just don't ring true. He's a guy who has fucked supermodels and has more money than God. As much as he may want to be Everyman, he just isn't. He'd be much better off if he sang about what he knows, maybe sing about the struggles of a guy who has achieved what seems to be a dream life attempting to remain grounded in the real world. That would be far more interesting than second-hand Woody Guthrie.

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Don't take it personally.

Well put, CH. I would disagree with Radiohead as they are pretty popular, but again, it's subjective.

I do def. agree with U2, being my favorite band it has been tough dealing with the last few albums. Some good stuff in them for sure but 75% is filler. It also hurts that Bono just can't sing anymore. One quibble, Pop was a great (and rushed) album....I think that was the def. end of solid quality and they went and turtled under safe and bland mid-aged rock.

That would be a great idea. His '07 album Magic was terrible. The lead single was actually yet another song postulating that radio might not be what it used to be. How awful.

I didn't like Pop at all. Zooropa had its moments but it took a long time to settle on that. I like the Passengers album because I'm an Eno fanatic and it's more him than U2, really. And hey, "Miss Sarajevo"!

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Guys, I think we've come to a neat and tidy consensus.

Magic sucked and so does Wreckingball. Both are just hokey wanna-be blue collar life is tough garbage.

JORR, I agree with your above statement. His "blue collar" act was real in the beginning....now it is just an act and a poor one at that. "Fighting" for some class of people you have zero connection with makes for bad and eye-roll music. That and he really hasn't written any good lyrics or songs in years. I just think the whole "Bruce is a Middle Class Hero and Speaks Truth to Power and Gets to the Heart of the Blue-Collar Matter" has been overplayed for decades. He should have hung it up a long, long time ago.

CH, we will disagree on Pop, it needed polish, but whatever. Zooropa is solid but it is hard to access. That was back when they took chances, hell, they created the album in between the U.S. Outside Broadcast Tour and Zoo-Europa portions of ZooTV.

Rush isn't even the best rock trio from canada. Triumph kicks their ass!!!

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Bruce's first era wasn't even blue-collar. That was the whole wiry, stocking-capped, bearded street poet phase. Boardwalk by way of the Village, if anything. It may well be that Springsteen's songwriting chops were contained in his beard:



BY CRACKY.

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