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

[Stadler]

I've always felt like I should like it more than I do. I just don't care for it.

I'm in this crowd too.  Just doesn't resonate (and I LIKE Fly By Night as an album).

[TAC]

I've always felt like I should like it more than I do. I just don't care for it.

I'm in this crowd too.  Just doesn't resonate (and I LIKE Fly By Night as an album).

Yes same here.

[pg1067]

Anthem was played on the Roll the Bones tour, although it might have been part of the encore medley.

Not sure how setlist.fm calculates the songs that were played in medleys, but In the Mood has to be up there as well. That was played on practically every tour from the debut through Presto (but never played after that).

Yeah...it was part of a medley -- both on RTB and R30 (hence my reference to "non-medley plays").  In this case, setlist.fm has separate entries for Anthem and for "2112 Part I: Overture / Finding My Way / La Villa Strangiato / Anthem / Red Barchetta" and "Finding My Way / Anthem / Bastille Day / A Passage to Bangkok / Cygnus X-1 / Cygnus X-1 Book II: Hemispheres Part I: Prelude."

And you're right about In the Mood.  I completely overlooked it when I posted yesterday (I kind of had it in my head that WM would be the most played from the debut and didn't look to see if anything else was higher).  Setlist.fm shows it with 1,045 plays.  I'm sure a lot are the By-Tor/In the Mood/In the End/Grand Finale medley, but there's no separate listing for that.

[MrMike]

I get that In The Mood is catchy and the audience seemed to like it as a "fun" ender to the Rush set.  But I've never cared for it and easily thought of 75 songs I like better.  To me, the lyrics are among the most embarrassing in the whole catalog.  Thank God Neil came along!

[pg1067]

I get that In The Mood is catchy and the audience seemed to like it as a "fun" ender to the Rush set.  But I've never cared for it and easily thought of 75 songs I like better.  To me, the lyrics are among the most embarrassing in the whole catalog.  Thank God Neil came along!

If he hadn't, DT probably wouldn't exist, and people would be posting stuff on message boards like, "Anyone familiar with a Canadian band called Rush?  They had a couple albums in the mid-'70s.  Very derivative of Zeppelin, but they had a song called Working Man that was really good."

[Stadler]

"They opened for Kiss a lot, and on their last album, they rocked these bad-assed kimonos! "

[Deadeye21]

I'd rather wait for everyone to post any of their lists or bottom 10s or whatever till I finish doing the countdown, which will start in a couple days.

Wait, do you actually want the bottom 10s?

[King Postwhore]

I'd rather wait for everyone to post any of their lists or bottom 10s or whatever till I finish doing the countdown, which will start in a couple days.

Wait, do you actually want the bottom 10s?

75 through 65.  Kev wants to wait until they are through the reveals. 

[pg1067]

I'd rather wait for everyone to post any of their lists or bottom 10s or whatever till I finish doing the countdown, which will start in a couple days.

Wait, do you actually want the bottom 10s?

75 through 65.  Kev wants to wait until they are through the reveals.

I think my actual bottom 10-12 would make some folks rather upset.   

[Setlist Scotty]

Funny - I was under the impression you all were speaking about the bottom bottom, as in #161-170.

[TAC]

Funny - I was under the impression you all were speaking about the bottom bottom, as in #161-170.

Same here.

[HOF]

Funny - I was under the impression you all were speaking about the bottom bottom, as in #161-170.

Same here.

I’ m pretty sure that was the idea, not 75-65.

[nick_z]

That's how I took it too - and why I mentioned I actually didn't rank anything beyond 100...

[King Postwhore]

Sorry. I thought you were talking about Kev.  Oops.

[KevShmev]

Okay, I will kick this off shortly.

Also, I want to give props to all 24 Rush fans who submitted lists to me.  Thanks again for participating! 

The top 75 will be based off of the lists from the 25 posters:

ReaperKK
Dream Team
jammindude
CoolChris
Stadler
The Realm
DragonAttack
The Letter M
HOF
TAC
Deadeye21
devieira73
nick_z
pg1067
DTA
romdrums
Puppies_On_Acid
wolfking
BRGM
nobloodyname
Setlist Scotty
MrMike
Tomislav95
kingshmegland
KevShmev

[TAC]

[KevShmev]

Let's start with two tonight and I will play it by ear as to how many I will feature each day...

75 Roll the Bones
Appeared on 10 of 25 entrees
Top 10 finishes: 0
Highest Ranking: 18 (nick_z)

I was pleasantly surprised that this made the top 75. I had it at 42.  I know some dislike it, but I have always loved it.  I still know the rap by heart. 


74 Double Agent
Appeared on 12 of 25 entrees
Top 10 finishes: 0
Highest Ranking: 19 (DAT)

Another longtime favorite of mine, I had this at 29.  Not sure Rush ever got this dark again in their later years with that kind of vibe, but they did it really well.  That song kicked my ass the first time I heard it, and still does.

[TAC]

[Dream Team]

I’ll probably be the culprit for the situation when Kev says “highest ranking: dream team” and I’ll have forgotten how the song goes    . Oh well tried my best to assimilate a lot of songs in a short period of time.

[TAC]

75 Roll the Bones
Appeared on 10 of 25 entrees
Top 10 finishes: 0
Highest Ranking: 18 (nick_z)


74 Double Agent
Appeared on 12 of 25 entrees
Top 10 finishes: 0
Highest Ranking: 19 (DAT)

I have Roll The Bones at #61. It's actually a pretty decent song. It'd rate much highwr without that ridiculous rap section.
I must say that RTB is one of the most dissappointed I've ever been in a Rush album. I thought Presto was so classy, but they followed it up with ..nothing really, save for a few cool tunes. This simply could not be the same band that recorded Hemispheres, Permanent Waves, and Moving Pictures. WTF happened to them??

I had Double Agent at #40. This is a great tune with tons of character. Yeah, as Kev says, it's kinda dark. I love the chorus as it is juxtaposed to the verses. Oh, and Neil's drumming in the verses is incredible.

[King Puppies and the Acid Guppies]

Roll the Bones - This one ended up at #150 on my list. It's not a terrible song, but if I never heard it again I wouldn't be upset. It's the lowest ranking song on that album for me. I am slightly surprised it made the overall top 75.

Double Agent - This one just barely squeaked into my list at #73, so 74 overall feels right. Kev's assessment is pretty much spot on, although I like quite a few other songs more. Neil has yet another tour de force drum workout in this song.

[TAC]

Roll the Bones - This one ended up at #150 on my list. It's not a terrible song, but if I never heard it again I wouldn't be upset. It's the lowest ranking song on that album for me. I am slightly surprised it made the overall top 75.

Wow, you must hate this song because that album blows.

[DTA]

Love both of these. Double Agent is a song that's really grown on me as of late, and I've always had a soft spot for RTB.

[KevShmev]

Only seven Rush studio albums have more songs in the top 75 than Roll the Bones.

Okay, four other albums then also have the same amount as Roll the Bones, but still...

[nick_z]

Roll the Bones (ranked #18)

ok - first song in the countdown, and I'm the highest ranker for it...not sure if this is what we'd call a "good start" or not 
Love this song. It's my second favorite on an album that I always enjoy putting on. Great performances by everyone and the rap section(s) is good fun.

Double Agent (ranked #37)

I'm a huge fan of Counterparts. There are a few songs on it that I ranked higher than Double Agent, but I like how this brings a bit of "crazy Rush" to the table, with aggressive riffing but also great melodies.

[King Puppies and the Acid Guppies]

Roll the Bones - This one ended up at #150 on my list. It's not a terrible song, but if I never heard it again I wouldn't be upset. It's the lowest ranking song on that album for me. I am slightly surprised it made the overall top 75.

Wow, you must hate this song because that album blows.

Hate is a strong word. I'd say there are only 7 or 8 songs that I actively dislike in Rush's entire discography.

[King Puppies and the Acid Guppies]

Roll the Bones (ranked #18)

ok - first song in the countdown, and I'm the highest ranker for it...not sure if this is what we'd call a "good start" or not 
Love this song. It's my second favorite on an album that I always enjoy putting on. Great performances by everyone and the rap section(s) is good fun.

I'm disowning you as my long lost brother 

[TAC]

Roll the Bones (ranked #18)

ok - first song in the countdown, and I'm the highest ranker for it...not sure if this is what we'd call a "good start" or not 
Love this song. It's my second favorite on an album that I always enjoy putting on. Great performances by everyone and the rap section(s) is good fun.

I'm disowning you as my long lost brother 

Pup, you need to get busy with the facts.

[King Puppies and the Acid Guppies]

Roll the Bones (ranked #18)

ok - first song in the countdown, and I'm the highest ranker for it...not sure if this is what we'd call a "good start" or not 
Love this song. It's my second favorite on an album that I always enjoy putting on. Great performances by everyone and the rap section(s) is good fun.

I'm disowning you as my long lost brother 

Pup, you need to get busy with the facts.

Don't make me kick some gluteus max 

[KevShmev]

I think y'all need to get out there and rock and roll the bones.

[TAC]

[Setlist Scotty]

Roll the Bones is a fine enough song - I remember I used to really like it when the album first came out, but over time, I got tired of it - especially when it seemed to keep reappearing in their setlists over and over and over again. That kinda ruined it for me in the same way that I really don't like The Spirit Carries On - overplayed by the band. The rap never really bothered me - lyrically it's pretty clever as you would expect from Neil. Would've been interesting if they would've gotten John Cleese to do the rap like I remember reading they had considered. For me the song ended up ranking at #122.

As for Double Agent, it's one of my favorites from CP which in turn is one of my favorite Rush albums - loved it from the first time I heard it, right up to the present. So glad they added it as a last minute edition. The only disappointing thing was that Geddy didn't do the spoken word lyrics live - never could understand why he didn't. This song ranked #20 for me (so almost made top ranking with DAT - whoever dat is!) 

[HOF]

It’s kind of weird to be so against the Roll the Bones rap section but like Double Agent, which seems to have a similar tongue in cheek angle.

I have always liked Roll the Bones, rap and all. It came in at 41 on my list. I think the chorus is tremendous, and I remember hearing it on the radio at a relatively young age and really latching on to that part for whatever reason. Love the overall groove of the song.

Double Agent didn’t make my list, but it was given consideration for the range where it landed here. Would have probably been in my top 100 if we went that far, though the next 30-35 songs would have been a bit hard to differentiate. My brother and his friends made up a fictitious boy band called “So Tight” once, so that part always cracks me up.

[King Postwhore]

I think y'all need to get out there and rock and roll the bones.

Jack, relax.

[nick_z]

Roll the Bones (ranked #18)

ok - first song in the countdown, and I'm the highest ranker for it...not sure if this is what we'd call a "good start" or not 
Love this song. It's my second favorite on an album that I always enjoy putting on. Great performances by everyone and the rap section(s) is good fun.

I'm disowning you as my long lost brother 

 

Brothers wouldn't be brothers if they agreed on everything!