Almost fifty years ago, in the summer of 1974, a Canadian rock band named Rush released their debut album. With the trio set to hit the road for the tour, Neil Peart replaced original drummer John Rutsey.
And the rest, as they say, is history. Over the course of the next forty years, Rush went on to release a total of 24 gold records with 14 of them platinum. They never reached doubled digits on any one album, but Geddy Lee, Alex Lifeson, and Neil Peart were steady stalwarts. For rock bands, only the Beatles and the Rollings Stones had more consecutive gold or platinum records.
I consider myself very lucky. My adult life has paralleled most of the span of Rush. I saw them in concert for the first time in 1976 for the 2112 tour. Of their next 19 tours, I only missed two (Permanent Waves and Grace Under Pressure).
One of the most rewarding parts of being a fan was keeping scrapbooks. Thought it would be fun to go through them and pick out some items from each one.
2112
In 2112, er, 1976, Rush released 2112. Coming out in February, it was their fourth LP. I was 20 at the time, living in Greensboro, North Carolina. Toronto is a short, two hour flight away from where I used to live, but back then it was well off our radar. Our world was so small, if we drove to the next county we bragged about it.
Had never heard of Rush until my next door neighbor and friend Robert brought the album home. Our part of Greensboro would later get a Peaches Record store, but back then we bought our records from department stores. Many an LP was purchased after seeing an album cover. Robert had been thumbing through and was impressed that way.
To say the least, we were mesmerized by 2112. We liked the hard rock and heavy metal bands of the day - Led Zep, Blue Oyster Cult, Deep Purple, Pink Floyd, Black Sabbath - but this was something different. They were taking us on a journey through space and time. We read the lyrics more than once. I was looking up words like "soliloquy."
We didn't know it at the time, but Rush had already released three albums. Sales were paltry. Mercury Records told them, if the next one doesn't sell, that's it.
2112 certainly saved the day for Rush, but that summer they were still not full time headliners. When they came to Greensboro on July 23rd, they supported Blue Oyster Cult, whose smash hit "Don't Fear the Reaper" was rocking the airwaves. Mott the Hoople warmed up the crowd (as I recall it was hot inside) of about 5,000 at the Piedmont Sports Arena, a venue on the outskirts of town.
My first scrapbook is rather thin compared to the others. The only way to keep up with a band back then was reading Creem and Circus magazines. At least that is what I remember. Before Rush came along, I didn’t buy music magazines. Compared to what is available now on the web, we were living in the Dark Ages.
What I have for 2112 are two articles. The first is:
Rush Goes into Future Shock
Music Will Not Exist in 2112
Dan Nooger, Circus, 27 April 1976
Although Nooger takes some potshots at the band, this is overall a decent article. Given that Rush was still not headlining, we can appreciate they got about 1,500 words. Nooger tells us their first album became Mercury Records’ “most successful debut product ever.” The band they soared past was Bachman Turner Overdrive, another Canadian band that would soon become one of my favs.
Neil gets quoted a number of times:
"2112 is based on a progression of some elements of society today, but projected 150 years into the future."
Nooner also spoked with Geddy and Alex.
Geddy said:
"The way we usually write is to sit in hotel rooms trying to come up with heavy metal on an acoustic guitar, but this time the complete opposite.”
Alex looked back to the first album:
"The first stab at that album was done in eight hours following a gig. We cut it at Eastern Studio in Toronto."
Some much has been written and documented about Rush that even something this far back is nothing new to the legion of Rush fans. A nugget, at least for me, is Nooger for pointing out Geddy was a plumber and Alex pumped gas.
The other article I have is by the prolific Rick Johnson with Creem. (I see where he passed away in 2006). He was influenced by the legendary Lester Bangs, who took a don't-suck-up approach. Once again, though, the length and three photos are greatly appreciated.
The one I am including is one of my favs. Rush were young lads back then, but in this photo they looked like maestros. 2112 had given them a boost of confidence...
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