Jun. 09, 2010 - Issue #764: Hot Summer Guide 2010
Old Sounds
Rush: Moving Pictures
(Mercury) Originally released: 1981
» Love 'em or hate 'em / Supplied
That's a mildly common defence for any maligned form of music—especially '70s/'80s heavy metal—but it's particularly significant given Rush's sort-of libertarian bent. Libertarianism is a philosophy that seems especially well suited for people who are outcasts—hell, Ayn Rand was a RussAian Jew in a very bad period of time to be one—because it turns your outsider status not just into a badge of pride, but to a mark of superiority: the other people who don't get it don't just have different values or taste or something, they have inferior values and taste, they are mindless sheeple whose view of the world is fundamentally wrong and deficient. That's basically the reasoning of everyone from the high school nerd who sates himself with the millions he'll one day be making while the jocks wash his windows to the muddled masses of Glen Beck acolytes and Tea Partiers who see socialist fascism assaulting them from every corner of their democratic state (note, too, their reliance on casting themselves as relentlessly put-upon and hindered, despite the fact they're a bunch of rich white folk—old mentalities die hard).
That spirit is alive and potent on Moving Pictures, despite the fact it too was a massive success, a multi-platinum chart-topper that still gets played relentlessly on rock stations both classic and otherwise. "Tom Sawyer" is an obvious example ("His mind is not for rent / To any god or government"), but the individualist streak is perfectly patent even in stuff like "Red Barchetta" (a story about enjoying the freedom of driving a gas-powered hot rod in a world where government regulation has made all vehicles safe and air-powered) or even "Limelight": "Living on a lighted stage / Approaches the unreal / For those who think and feel," like apparently only Neil Peart is sensitive enough to feel constrained by celebrity, and the rest of those rock stars are just vapid jerks.
Still, even if you don't have misgivings about self-superior individualism, this is a lot of noodly, overblown pomposity, even for what's supposed to be the group's most accessible album. Of course, I say this knowing full well it will mean not one iota to a fan, and will instead just be further proof at how out-of-touch the critical establishment is. And, fine, whatever: the world keeps turning, and please do keep sating yourself with the knowledge that anyone who disagrees with you is just a complete, degenerate moron/asshole. If only everyone was as smart and in-touch as you, we'd all be better off. V vueweekly.com comments: powered by Disqus
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