Rush: 2112

Call me old-fashioned, but in many ways I am still much more tied to the music of my growing-up years than I feel I can ever be to the things you find coming out today. Perhaps that is true for everyone. Maybe we are just put together in such a way that the music of our formative years will continue to resonate with us as we grow up in a way that nothing else quite can. I have a friend who refers to this as “the soundtrack of a life,” because the music we grow up with becomes so intertwined with the experiences of growth. Perhaps there is something to that.

So, that said, I suppose it would not be surprising that I would call a more-than-30-year old piece “Music of the Future.” My labeling it thus has nothing to do with when the piece was written, obviously, but has more to do with the piece’s connection with the sort of books and movies that speculate about possible futures for humanity, and explore those possibilities in artistic form. For me, Rush’s “concept album” 2112 is a nice fit into this genre of speculative fiction.


You can read the rest of this article, with some thoughts about the lyrics of Neil Peart, on my main blog. Admittedly, though, there's not near enough space in a single post to do justice to the band (or the man's) genius. Perhaps it is an issue I will revisit from time to time.




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