Rush: Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Excellence

Sound Bite

Rush is often referred to as a libertarian rock band but really what the band is channeling is an Aristotelian individualism, a philosophy that strongly resonates with today's 40-somethings. This helps explain the band's resurgence in popularity, culminating in its Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction in 2013.

About the Book

Rush: Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Excellence is a systematic look at the Aristotelian philosophy embedded in the band's lyrics over its 40-year recording career. The book brings together the excitement of the band's progressive music, performed by three musicians whose mastery of their instruments has won them the admiration of their peers, and the surprising philosophical sophistication of their music's lyrics.

Although the topic of the book is academic, the writing is sharp, down-to-earth, and leavened with a dry wit. Anyone interested in the band's music, popular culture, and philosophical ideas simply explained will enjoy this entertaining and thought-provoking book.

As a cultural phenomenon, Rush is worthy of serious study, and although other books have looked at the philosophical character of the band's music, this is the first time the music over the band's entire 40-year career is demonstrated to fall under a single, unified theory: Aristotelian individualism.

Even readers who have pored over earlier books on Rush will enjoy this unifying theme. "Rush, Rock Music and the Middle Class" (by Chris McDonald), says Rush is an avatar of middle class values. While the work ethic and value structure of the middle class is part of the band's philosophy, that is just a subset of the band's Aristotelianism, as shown by Robert Freedman here. The unified Aristotelian philosophy is also different from what's discussed in Rush and Philosophy (edited by Durrell Bowman and Jim Berti) looks at the music through multiple philosophical filters and no attempt is made to look at it through a single, unifying lens.

Another book that studies Rush lyrics, Mystic Rhythms (Carol Selby Price ad Robert M. Price), provides an interpretation of selected lyrics but does not systematically look at any philosophy. Rather, it approaches the lyrics as literary analysis and provides no overarching theoretical framework.

Introduction

Foreword

Ed Senger, 'Rush is a Band'

Like so many other fans, my obsession with Rush began with this simple, 4-digit number: 2112. One rainy afternoon in the fall of 1982, when I was 12, I discovered a beat-up cassette tape of Rush's 2112 in a cave behind a waterfall—okay, it was my older brother's closet, but you get the picture. After several listens on my mono-speaker cassette player I was hooked.

What struck me about the music was the power of the lyrics and the emotion in which they were delivered. The lyrics told a story of discovery, hope, rejection, and despair. These were themes I could relate to, and they were told it in such a way that I felt I was being spoken to, like the song was written for me. In the weeks that followed I devoured Rush's catalog and would forever be changed by it.

Although I loved the music and recognized the musicianship behind it, the lyrics were what ultimately drove my fascination with the band. The messages of individualism and humanism. . . .

Preface

Robert FreedmanIt's a remarkable turn of events that Rush is in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. While its brand of hard rock has long had a large and loyal following worldwide, the band has never been 'canonical' to many music critics—that is, representative of what's best about rock and roll. Not only did the band, when it was building its audience in the late 1970s and early 1980s, lack groove, but its spirit of rebellion seemed almost to be going in the wrong direction. While other bands were singing about smiling on your brother and getting together to love one another, it was exhorting people to pull themselves up by their bootstraps and get on with their lives, come what may.

But a lot has changed in the 40 years since the band first came onto the scene from its roots as a Toronto bar band. Today, the forty-somethings that make up its core fan base are moving into positions of power in business, government, academia, entertainment, and the arts and they want their band, the myth-maker of their generation, to be given its due. Maybe that's why, when the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2012 opened its selection process to the public for the first time, Rush was the biggest vote-getter of all the contenders. The people had been given a chance to speak and a band that leaves so many baby boomers mystified is joined with the likes of Jimi Hendrix and Led Zeppelin in the Pantheon of rock.

Rush really is a mythmaker for a generation. Its tales of the individual against society, cast in the robes of science fiction and fantasy in the band's early years, formed the perfect backdrop for the first generation growing up on video games and harnessing the Internet. It's all about the individual empowered: armed with sense and liberty, together each of us helps create a world that's a perfect sphere, heart and mind united. . . .

Information

For decades, the music of Rush has inspired passionate devotion and intense debate. In Rush: Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Excellence, Robert Freedman offers a new lens through which to understand the band’s entire body of work. This book moves beyond biography to present a single, coherent philosophical framework for the ideas that have animated Neil Peart’s lyrics for over forty years. The central argument is that Rush’s 165 original compositions are firmly rooted in the great Western intellectual tradition of Aristotle, John Locke, and Adam Smith. Freedman organizes the band’s lyrical evolution around a grand, unifying theme: Aristotelian individualism.

The book traces this intellectual lineage from the band’s earliest work to its final studio album. It directly addresses the group's famous connection with Ayn Rand, giving a balanced look at her influence while showing how the band’s message is broader and more nuanced than any single source. Readers will discover how Rush’s lyrics champion personal stewardship, reason, and self-reliance. Specific songs are given close attention, from the heroic tales of “The Fountain of Lamneth” to “Tom Sawyer” as a libertarian anthem and the existential questions posed in “Prime Mover.” The analysis extends to the band's later work, highlighting how their focus shifted from standing alone to walking together, examining cooperation and the respect for the sovereignty of others.

A significant portion of the book investigates how Rush co-opts the language and imagery of religion to serve a deeply humanistic worldview, giving an austere philosophy the emotional power often associated with faith. The narrative culminates with a detailed treatment of the concept album Clockwork Angels, presenting it as a modern satire, akin to Voltaire's Candide, that brings the band’s Aristotelian themes to a powerful conclusion. Complete with appendices that review other scholarly essays on the band and provide a guide to the alchemical runes of Clockwork Angels, this work provides an accessible and substantive guide to the enduring intellectual legacy of Rush.