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Music

Retrospective Reviews: Rush's '2112'

Taking the nerdy shit and teenage angst and making it a charm with their 1976 album.

There comes a time in every teen's life when, through a cocktail of hormones, angst, and Ayn Rand, they envision themselves as the protagonist in a dystopian novel. "2112," the 20-minute-long song making up the first half of the album 2112, captures that moment in all its glory and ugliness. It's a classic free-thinking-loner-against-society tale, like 1984 or The Matrix, but with a monsoon of riffage and guitar solo wizardry. What could possibly not be awesome about that?

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The lyrics tell the story of a man living under a totalitarian government ruled by The Priests of the Temples of Syrnix, who control all reading material, pictures, and music among their subjects. The man finds a guitar (or unnamed "ancient" instrument), teaches himself to play, and starts making music deviating that mandated by The Priests. The Priests disapprove, smash his guitar, and call his music a "silly whim" that "doesn't fit the plan." Then the man goes away determined to tear down the temples and the priests and all that.

This is just about the nerdiest shit ever, but with Rush, that's the charm. At some point growing up, everyone lived out a similar story in their daydreams, whether "The Priests" were their parents or their school principal or a small town that didn't get them. With nothing else to do and nowhere to go, loneliness turns to escapism, escapism turns to fantasy, and fantasy turns to Rush. The band's legendary drummer and lyricist, Neil Peart, has spent his career pouring his heart onto the page, and his child-like earnestness is what makes Rush so much more than some dudes who can play bitchin' solos.

When it was released in 1976, 2112 opened up an entire world for so many young musicians, and its effect on rock can never be fully quantified. A young Billy Corgan made his chops learning to play "2112" in its entirety, and it's no stretch to see how its proggy sound and escapist lyrics made their way into The Smashing Pumpkins' discography. Artists as diverse as Les Claypool and Kirk Hammett name 2112 as one of their definitive albums, hammering home the fact that most musicians are nerds at heart, whether they play funk or metal. When Rush were inducted into the Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame, the Foo Fighters covered "2112" with such ease, it was like the song was permanently burned in their minds from thousands of listens. For countless artists, "2112" is not just a song, it's an old friend.

Also, check this out: the album has a second side! Next to the monstrosity that is "2112," it's easy to overlook the six songs that make up 2112's other half. That's too bad, because its opening tracks, "Passage to Bangkok," "The Twilight Zone," and "Lessons," form one of the best trios of straightforward rock songs in their discography. It's important to remember that before they started writing 20-minute songs about space and dragons, and before Neil Peart entered the picture, Rush were some shaggy blues rockers who were into Cream and The Yardbirds. 2112 isn't the only album to include those two sides of Rush's identity, but it might be the one that offers the best combination of both. "Passage to Bangkok" boasts one of the sickest rock riffs in the band's catalogue, with enough power and blues grit to make Black Sabbath jealous, while "Lessons" is one of the most overlooked pop gems from their early career. When you consider how well it catered both to rock nerds and rock jocks, it's a lot less surprising that 2112 was Rush's first major success.

Rush's record label didn't want them to release "2112" after their previous album, Caress of Steel, with the 20-minute-long "The Fountain of Lameth," met with poor sales and reviews. But the band, kind of like the protagonist in "2112," believed in their music and would not be censored. It was a powerful triumph, one that artists, listeners, and record labels alike should never forget.

Greg Bouchard is a writer living in Toronto. He's on Twitter.