From: tsirbasc@ERE.UMontreal.CA (Tsirbas Christos)
Newsgroups: alt.music.rush
Subject: Re: neil's cross?
Date: 1 Oct 92 02:53:30 GMT
Organization: Universite de Montreal

Gregg,

Lighten, up, after all, to quote the Stones: "It's only Rock and Roll, but I
like it".

Being that I have been a Canadian resident all my life, Rush has always been
an integral part of the music I have listened to.  As the band has evolved, so
have I, but it just seems to me, as I get older, that Neil's lyrics are starting
to sound more and more like the pretentious drivel of first year philosophy students.  If I want philosophy, I'll read Aristole and Heidegger.  If I want poetry
I'll read Robert Bly and Robert Frost.  Neil is good at neither of these, in my
opinion.  He is a good Rock Lyricist, and Rush is  a great Rock Band.  I enjoy their music, but it's hard for me to take it as seriously as I did when I was 16,
when "Tom Sawyer" was the deepest thing I had ever encountered.  

interviewed on a Radio special.  IMHO he came off sounding like a pompous
self-absorbed ass.  (I know I'll get flamed for it, but hey, it's an opinion).
His bit about not liking the term hero and its connotation, preferring rather,
exemplar, showed his pompousness at its worst.  I mean what is an exemplar, if
not a hero. Secondly, he was whining about how much time people demand from him,be they on the road crew or some kid asking for an autograph.  Well, Mr. Peart,
those kids asking for autographs have spent the money that has made you a millionaire, two minutes won't kill you.  That, for me was the last straw as far as
Peart is concerned.  It's bad enough that I have to put up with bad philosophy
from pretentious first year students who know everything.  I don't need to flood
my leisure hours with it!  For me, Rush is just a band, albeit, a band for whom
I still hold great respect, musically, but I think that it's a waste of time
trying to analyse Neil's lyrics for their deepness.  Hey, the guy is good, I'll
admit that, but there are infinitely better sources out there for philosophical
inspiration and thought.  As for Peart himself.  He sounds like the kind of person that I would have an extremely low tolerance for (please excuse the poor grammar of this last sentence).  Just because I am a fan of the band, it does not
mean that I have to like everything they do, nor does it mean spending my
time analysing liner-notes and lyric sheets. As for my opinions about Mr. Peart,
I can respect his lyrical abilities and his prowess as a drummer, but that does
not have to mean that I unconditionally have to accept everything he says as 
being binding or deep.  I think that this is the one good point he made between
heroes and exemplars (although I do believe that he was using the word hero in
its negative, uncritical aspect, rather than in the way in which it corresponds
to the notion of exemplar):  One should not blindly worship another (be it a 
human being or a divinity) without application of one's critical faculties, nor
to the point where one is completely in awe of the other and completely absorbedin the accomplishments of the other.

Chris Tsirbas
tsirbasc@brise.ere.umontreal.ca
_________________________________
And I wonder what am I doing here?
                  -Blue Rodeo