NEWS4U DECEMBER 2021 | MUSIC
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ROCK & METAL PROFS WITH MATT ALSCHBACH & DR. COURT LEWIS
Associate professors at Owensboro Community College and Pellissippi State Community College, respectively, Alschbach and Lewis host the popular podcast The Rock & Metal Profs: The History & Philosophy of Rock & Metal. Now they're bringing their keen insights to the pages of News 4U with a monthly deep dive into some of the best bands of the rock/metal genre and thoughts on music in general.
THE RELIGION OF RUSH
Also consider the lyrics and themes in RUSH’s music. Neil Peart
Few bands have as devoted a fanbase as RUSH. They don’t
and information. The same thing that drove Peart to be the
have casual fans. When people discover RUSH, it is as if
greatest rock percussionist of all time also made him a brilliant
someone pulled back a veil to reveal the glory and splendor of
songwriter and storyteller. Whatever your interests - history,
a galaxy replete with vibrant sound, color, texture and meaning
philosophy, culture, economics, war, love, cars or fantasy, Peart
that speaks to their souls. Fans celebrate them, collect their
wrote songs that captured the essence of these subjects in a
catalog of albums and videos, and scan the web for anything
profound, thoughtful and poetic manner.
was a learned man and a voracious consumer of literature
RUSH-related. They follow multiple RUSH podcasts and social media pages. And, most importantly, they seek out other
Perhaps that is why hardcore fans will find a way to insert RUSH
RUSH fans to talk about the band every chance they get.
into any conversation. My good friend John is such a fan. No matter what we are talking about, he’ll manage to bring RUSH
But what is it about Geddy, Alex and Neil that elicits such
into the conversation. It’s actually quite a remarkable skill. As
passion and enduring curiosity? First and foremost, it is the
an experiment, I’m going to introduce three random topics
superior musicianship - all three are brilliant and hard-working
to John that have nothing to do with music or RUSH, just to
musicians revered by their peers. You would be hard-pressed
see how he navigates the conversation towards RUSH. I’m not
to find a professional musician who doesn’t recognize the
going to tell him what I’m doing ahead of time. I’ll report back
genius of RUSH. Take for example, guitarist Alex Lifeson. In
on this in a future column. In the meantime, you should try it
any other band, Lifeson would be considered a virtuoso on
too, with RUSH or another band that you know a friend loves.
the level of Eddie Van Halen. However, within RUSH he was
This should be fun!
often overlooked because bassist/keyboardist/vocalist Geddy Lee and percussionist/lyricist Neil Peart were so gifted as well.
Be sure to check out episodes 14, 16, 19 and 20 of the Rock &
These gentlemen pushed each other to be the very best at
Metal Profs podcast covering the career and legacy of RUSH.
their craft, and that is obvious in the music.
The Rock & Metal Profs podcast is available on iTunes, Google and Spotify.
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