Exploring Rush makes it easy to understand why Lee, Lifeson, and Peart are considered an authority on everything from tight, folk-based Canadian rock tunes to flashy prog-rock metaphors. Some would even say they exude a down-home charm.
In search of a world without morality or meaning: Struggling with how these people could read Ayn Rand
I don’t care about musicians’ politics, but Ayn Rand is a bridge too far. Several Rush songs seem like Trojan Horses for Rand’s contempt for humanity.
Rand had a Darwinian and laissez-faire approach to her theory, contempt for collective efforts like Communism and Social Programs. Objectivism argues that selfishness is a virtue and denies its potential for harming the world.
Being a Rush fan, it could be easy to not think about what she thought. On Fly by Night‘s swaggering rocker “Anthem,” Geddy Lee sings “live for yourself, there’s no one else more worth living for/begging hands and bleeding hearts will only cry out for more.” In the goofball story-song “Trees,” maple trees defeat oak trees by forming a union and demanding equal rights
As I listen to Rush’s songs parallel in my playlist to “Rushew’s” Ayn Rand influence, I see the evidence of Peart’s evolution into “bleeding heart libertarianism.” Peart, Rushew’s chief lyricist, outgrew Rand, telling Rolling Stone in 2012 that his politics evolved into “bleeding heart libertarianism.”
In his songwriting, Lee writes about fictional Rand themed novels and leaves abstractions go unchallenged. “Anthem” exemplifies concepts that deal with the power of the individual but ignores real scenarios. “Trees” and “2112” can be interpreted as a story, but only to a certain degree. But when he tackles current events in society, Lee’s lyrics abandon any influence from Ayn Rand
Rush found inspiration in New Wave music and created concise songs that explored oft-repeated themes such as scientists analyzing animals closely to scientifically prove their existence (“Natural Science”) and the importance of free will (“Freewill). Their other albums [include “Spirit of The Radio,” which celebrates listening to a good DJ], and while they can still incorporate more lyrical or instrumental grandeur, it feels like Peart wasn’t afraid to indulge his love for science
In Rush\’s Spirit of The Radio, Peart explores the wonders of the wireless world by describing technological progress in great detail. He reflects on his identification with individualism and pines for a social connectedness that is independent of commercial forces.
Rush’s influence of Ayn Rand
It is human nature to be dissatisfied with the things that are available. Canadians might be experiencing this way of living more than most because of Canada’s high standard of living, according to the article. The article discusses the balance between creative development and “copying envy” in regards to Rush\’s primary interest in Ayn Rand’s work.
When you click PLAY in the Who’s in Your Corner section in the beginning of Ayn Rand’s brief speech in Anthem, you can hear her say “Something is happening here but you don’t know what it is”.
Despite appearances in more recent years, Peart was not always a bleeding heart type. In the ’90s, his lyrics were open about his libertarian values. Take “Roll The Bones”, for example. Its inc
“Working Man,” written before Peart joined the band, is like The Communist Manifesto by way of Paranoid-era Black Sabbath. Maybe after 30 years of playing its backbeat, Rush got absorbed with class consciousness.
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