Since I got my first car with a cassette deck (a Ford Futura in 1979 or so) and bought my first two cassette albums, on the advice of my music-loving best friend, John Wax—Queen, Greatest Hits and Rush, Permanent Waves—Rush has been my favorite band (my two favorite albums being Moving Pictures and Permanent Waves). Well maybe Pink Floyd at some point edged them out for me. But I love all Rush up until about the Grace Under Pressure era (1984). I saw them a few times back in Louisiana and Texas but over time started disliking live concerts. I just prefer studio albums and don’t much like to be around pot-smoking fanboys and standing in urine at the urinals.
But Rush, after disbanding after Neil Peart’s death in 2015, had reunited for a (presumably final) tour. So my hard-core Rush fan and fellow libertarian Carl Bowen, who has been to 12 Rush concerts, who lives Manhattan, got tickets and he and I and another couple of libertarians, including Rush virgin Greg Morin, are attending the concert tonight in Madison Square Garden. See:
- RUSH Triumphantly Kick Off Four-Night Run at Madison Square Garden: Photos, Video + Setlist: The prog-rock legends sounded incredible at “The World’s Most Famous Arena”
- “Alex Lifeson went off on loose-limbed benders, taking madcap detours and stretching out phrases just to see where they’d land”: Rush deliver the thrill of mastery at Madison Square Garden – live review Joe Bosso, Guitar World
For those who are not aware, of interest in their strong Objectivist/Ayn Rand influence in some of their earlier albums, as lyricist Neil Peart was a big Ayn Rand fan in those days—the first side of 2112 is clearly inspired by Rand’s novel Anthem, and the liner notes state: “With acknowledgement to the genius of Ayn Rand.” In Anthem, the hero in a collectivist society rediscovers the lightbulb and rebels against the conformist, collectivist state. In 2112, the hero rediscovers a guitar and music.
Here’s a brief summary of some of their songs with Ayn Rand or libertarian themes:
“Anthem” (Fly by Night, 1975)
- Peart named the song after Rand’s 1938 dystopian novella Anthem.
- The lyrics directly echo Objectivist themes of individualism and self-reliance:
- “Live for yourself / There’s no one else more worth living for / Begging hands and bleeding hearts will only cry out for more.”
- It is an early, relatively straightforward statement of these ideas rather than a full plot adaptation.
“2112” (2112, 1976)
- 20-minute suite loosely based on Rand’s Anthem; an individual rediscovers creativity (a guitar) in a collectivist dystopia and is crushed by the authorities.
- The 20-minute multi-part title track is the clearest and most substantial influence. Its story of an individual who rediscovers creativity (in this case a guitar) in a collectivist, totalitarian future society closely parallels the plot and themes of Rand’s Anthem.
- Peart explicitly credited her in the original liner notes with the line “With acknowledgement to the genius of Ayn Rand.”
- Alex Lifeson later noted that Peart was reading Rand at the time and that the band responded to her emphasis on the individual and creative freedom (even if they were not strict Objectivists).
- Beneath, Between and Behind (1975) — Neil Peart’s first lyrics for Rush; a poetic look at American founding ideals and their later betrayal (“The principles have been betrayed”).
- 2112 (1976) — Something for Nothing (1976) — Blunt statement of personal responsibility: “You don’t get something for nothing / You don’t get freedom for free.”
- The Trees (1978) — Short fable in which maples demand equal rights from the taller oaks and enforce equality “by hatchet, axe, and saw”; widely read as a critique of forced egalitarianism.
- Freewill (1980) — Explicit anthem of personal agency: “I will choose a path that’s clear / I will choose free will.”
- Tom Sawyer (1981) — Portrait of a modern individualist whose “mind is not for rent / To any god or government.”
- Red Barchetta (1981) — Story of a man who finds freedom and joy by driving a forbidden car in a highly regulated future society.
- Witch Hunt (1981) — Critique of mob mentality, fear-mongering, and how emotion is used to justify control and conformity.
- Subdivisions (1982) — About suburban pressure to conform: “Conform or be cast out.”
