Official Top 75 Rush songs Thread!!! (Top 2 revealed!!)

[KevShmev]

I almost had Neurotica actually. I do love that song.

Bet I’m the highest placement of a certain RtB track though.

Yep.  You are one of only two people to have that song in their 75.

[Setlist Scotty]

I almost had Neurotica actually. I do love that song.

That song would be great if not for the absolutely lame chorus. Completely ruined the song.

[KevShmev]

I remember for the first time seeing the Rio documentary where they used bits of Neurotica, but without the vocals, as the background music, and thinking, "Hmmm, maybe that song is better than I thought," and then when I went and listened to it again, I was like, "Nope, the chorus is still boring."  I will never skip anything from that record if I am doing a full listen (even the lesser ones like that, You Bet Your Life and Face Up are ones I can enjoy enough within the flow), but a good chorus would have elevated Neurotica by leaps and bounds.

[jammindude]

On my complete list, Neurotica came in dead last. You Can’t Fight It and I’ve Been Runnin were next.

[KevShmev]

jammindude, I was a little shocked by your list.  In all of our CP vs TfE fun debates over the years, I have lost track at how many times you have said something along the lines of the first five songs from TfE being one of their best 5-song runs ever, so I was surprised when only four of those five songs made your top 75.

[jammindude]

jammindude, I was a little shocked by your list.  In all of our CP vs TfE fun debates over the years, I have lost track at how many times you have said something along the lines of the first five songs from TfE being one of their best 5-song runs ever, so I was surprised when only four of those five songs made your top 75.

That one surprised me as well. I had to do a double take.

I stand my my assessment of the complete albums. The strength and/or weakness of either one lies in the tracks that didn’t make it. Rush just simply has so much good material. It’s just impossible to include everything I love.

For what it’s worth, CP had 4 songs that didn’t even make the top 150. The only song that got that low from TFE was Dog Years.

EDIT - If you had made this a top 100, you would’ve seen a bigger difference.

[KevShmev]

Great point. As I input all of these lists, I keep thinking about all of the good songs that didn't crack my top 75.  Vapor Trails was the one album that didn't have any song make my top 75, but they had three in the 76-85 range for me (Freeze, Earthshine, Nocturne), and another (Vapor Trail) was not far behind.

[The Letter M]

24 list have now been submitted, and today is the last day anyone else can submit one.

The three songs which have not appeared on any of the 24 lists so far are:

Take a Friend
Face Up
Neurotica

Every other song on a studio album has been on at least one list.  Yes, someone included BU2B2, and yes, someone included Tai Shan.

Well I got TAF right, I guess, but I didn't expect the other two to be BOTH from RTB. Granted, I don't rate much of RTB very highly either, so I'm not terribly surprised.

-Marc.

[King Puppies and the Acid Guppies]

I'm actually a little surprised Face Up didn't make anyone's list. Even though it didn't quite make mine, it's still a great song.

[King Postwhore]

and sent!

[nobloodyname]

[...]and yes, someone included Tai Shan.

[pg1067]

I'm surprised that Need Some Love made someone's top 75!  That someone thinks that song is better than half of Rush's catalog is just staggering.

[King Puppies and the Acid Guppies]

I'm surprised that Need Some Love made someone's top 75!  That someone thinks that song is better than half of Rush's catalog is just staggering.

Indeed! That one ended up at #158 for my list.

[jammindude]

I'm surprised that Need Some Love made someone's top 75!  That someone thinks that song is better than half of Rush's catalog is just staggering.

Granted, I don’t have it ranked in my top 75. But I actually really love that entire first album. It probably depends a lot on when and how you heard it.

I did first discover Rush with Moving Pictures when I was 12 years old. But my next two albums as I recall were when a friend of mine bought COS and Rush because they were in a bargain bin. Because we were at an age where we were living on a glut of AC/DC and Led Zeppelin, and probably about 13 or 14 years old, we thought those albums were almost the coolest thing we had ever heard. To this day I don’t consider anything from that album to be a skip track.

[TAC]

I love the first album. Two of its tracks ranked pretty high on my list.

[TAC]

[King Postwhore]

The Veapon!  And you can only see it in 3D!!

[MrMike]

Reviewing my submitted list, it appears that Presto is the only album that didn't have any songs making the cut.  Even though I can think of one now that probably deserves to be in there.  It's difficult trying to decide between what I consider to be objectively better and others that are just favorites.  And besides that, Rush just has too damn many good songs!

[The Realm]

I'm surprised that Need Some Love made someone's top 75!  That someone thinks that song is better than half of Rush's catalog is just staggering.

Indeed! That one ended up at #158 for my list.

Ha! Well Need Some Love made my list. I love the first album. I'm a huge fan of Rush up to Hold Your Fire then I'm not as familiar with the albums after this. However I do have all albums represented on my list. While you may be shocked to see Need Some Love on a list I am just as shocked to see someone only include one song from 2112 on their list!

[jammindude]

I'm surprised that Need Some Love made someone's top 75!  That someone thinks that song is better than half of Rush's catalog is just staggering.

Indeed! That one ended up at #158 for my list.

Ha! Well Need Some Love made my list. I love the first album. I'm a huge fan of Rush up to Hold Your Fire then I'm not as familiar with the albums after this. However I do have all albums represented on my list. While you may be shocked to see Need Some Love on a list I am just as shocked to see someone only include one song from 2112 on their list!

Ya. Side 2 is really spotty. Twilight Zone came really close, but the others were pretty far back.

[The Realm]

I'm surprised that Need Some Love made someone's top 75!  That someone thinks that song is better than half of Rush's catalog is just staggering.

Indeed! That one ended up at #158 for my list.

Ha! Well Need Some Love made my list. I love the first album. I'm a huge fan of Rush up to Hold Your Fire then I'm not as familiar with the albums after this. However I do have all albums represented on my list. While you may be shocked to see Need Some Love on a list I am just as shocked to see someone only include one song from 2112 on their list!

Ya. Side 2 is really spotty. Twilight Zone came really close, but the others were pretty far back.

All good but as a contrast I have two songs from 2112 in my top 10 and another 3 in my top 30! Really looking forward to seeing how the countdown works out, not sure any of us can predict anything at this point!

[Cool Chris]

I'll take the debut over most of the synth era material any day.

[HOF]

I'm surprised that Need Some Love made someone's top 75!  That someone thinks that song is better than half of Rush's catalog is just staggering.

Indeed! That one ended up at #158 for my list.

Ha! Well Need Some Love made my list. I love the first album. I'm a huge fan of Rush up to Hold Your Fire then I'm not as familiar with the albums after this. However I do have all albums represented on my list. While you may be shocked to see Need Some Love on a list I am just as shocked to see someone only include one song from 2112 on their list!

Ya. Side 2 is really spotty. Twilight Zone came really close, but the others were pretty far back.

I only included one, and it’s from side 2…

[King Postwhore]

I'll take the debut over most of the synth era material any day.

That's a huge no for me.

[TAC]

I'll take the debut over most of the synth era material any day.

That's a huge no for me.

Not everyone is a dork though.

[King Postwhore]

Not everyone it trapped in a time warp from 1974.

[pg1067]

I'm surprised that Need Some Love made someone's top 75!  That someone thinks that song is better than half of Rush's catalog is just staggering.

Granted, I don’t have it ranked in my top 75. But I actually really love that entire first album. It probably depends a lot on when and how you heard it.

I did first discover Rush with Moving Pictures when I was 12 years old. But my next two albums as I recall were when a friend of mine bought COS and Rush because they were in a bargain bin. Because we were at an age where we were living on a glut of AC/DC and Led Zeppelin, and probably about 13 or 14 years old, we thought those albums were almost the coolest thing we had ever heard. To this day I don’t consider anything from that album to be a skip track.

You and I are about the same age, although it seems like you were younger when you discovered Rush.  I started with the videos that played in the early das of MTV.  I initially didn't think much of Signals, other than Subdivisions and Countdown.  2112 was probably my initial favorite when I started with the back catalog.  I probably had a fair grasp on 2112 through MP before hearing the debut (my friend and I always referred to it as "Rush Rush").  I probably had heard ATWAS and was familiar with Working Man and What You're Doing, and my friend had warned me ahead of time that there was a different drummer.  Forty years later, unless I'm doing a complete catalog listen, I have zero interest in Need Some Love, Take a Friend, Before and After and Here Again.

[TAC]

I almost had Neurotica actually. I do love that song.

That song would be great if not for the absolutely lame chorus. Completely ruined the song.

It wasn't far off of my list either.

[King Postwhore]

Parts of that song are amazing but that chorus is atrocious

[KevShmev]

A couple of friends who are a little older than me and who grew up listening to Rush swear by the early albums and both are massive fans of Here Again.  I like it a lot, but it didn't make the cut for me.  I love the solo and it is definitely one of those "they never did any other song like that" instances, but I feel like the production wasn't as sharp as it should have been for that kind of tune on the debut, as opposed to the rockers, all of which sound really good. 

Overall, I like the debut, but I rarely listen to it, and whenever I think of the best debuts by any artist, this one never comes to mind.  Some bands crushed it on their first album (Boston, LZ, VH, etc.), but I don't think Rush was one of them.

[wolfking]

Parts of that song are amazing but that chorus is atrocious

Have to agree with this.

[Stadler]

Only three songs from Rush's 19 studio albums of original material have not been listed yet on anyone's top 75.

Apparently Stadler hasn't submitted his list yet.

Har har.  It's not entirely wrong, though.   

[Stadler]

24 list have now been submitted, and today is the last day anyone else can submit one.

The three songs which have not appeared on any of the 24 lists so far are:

Take a Friend
Face Up
Neurotica

Every other song on a studio album has been on at least one list.  Yes, someone included BU2B2, and yes, someone included Tai Shan.

Tai Shan didn't make my list, but I actually like that song. I do not get the hate for it, honestly.  It's not a popular opinion, but I think a fair number of people assume it's bad because the band have spoken poorly of it.   

[Stadler]

A couple of friends who are a little older than me and who grew up listening to Rush swear by the early albums and both are massive fans of Here Again.  I like it a lot, but it didn't make the cut for me.  I love the solo and it is definitely one of those "they never did any other song like that" instances, but I feel like the production wasn't as sharp as it should have been for that kind of tune on the debut, as opposed to the rockers, all of which sound really good. 

Overall, I like the debut, but I rarely listen to it, and whenever I think of the best debuts by any artist, this one never comes to mind.  Some bands crushed it on their first album (Boston, LZ, VH, etc.), but I don't think Rush was one of them.

I think some - well, except for TAC - will be mildly surprised at how high "Here Again" is on my list.

[TAC]

I had actually forgotten to put Herr Again on my list somehow. I made the revision yesterday. It’s not really high but it’s on there.

That’s an early Schenker solo right there.