Timeline
Series Editor Foreword
Introduction: Why Rush?
Chapter 1: “Finding My Way”: From Blues-Rock to Arty Hard Rock,
1968-1975
Chapter 2: “Their Own Music”
Chapter 3: “The Universe Divided”: From Progressive Hard Rock to
Post-Prog, 1978-1980
Chapter 4: “Modern-Day Warrior”: User-Friendly Progressive Rock and
Moving Pictures, 1981
Chapter 5: “Be Cool or Be Cast Out”: Fusions with Synth Rock and
New Wave, 1982-1984
Chapter 6: “Against the Run of the Mill”: Rock / Technology
Balance, 1985-1988
Chapter 7: “It’s Hard to Play It Safe”: New Approaches to Being a
Power Trio, 1989-1995
Chapter 8: “To the Margin of Error”: Eclectic Rock, Tragedies and
Sabbatical, and Return, 1996-2003
Chapter 9: “Some Will Be Rewarded”: Getting to the Rock & Roll Hall
of Fame, 2004-2013
Conclusion: “In the Fullness of Time”
Selected Reading
Selected Listening
Durrell Bowman is a cultural musicologist, musician, and IT consultant. He is coeditor of Rush and Philosophy: Heart and Mind United and the author of numerous works on rock history,Rush, film and television music, and other subjects.
From Rush’s self-titles debut album in 1974 to 2012’s Clockwork
Angels, this work covers the recording career, music, and, less
extensively, the personal lives of the progressive rock band. After
a time line outlining key points in the band’s existence, Bowman’s
introduction notes that Rush deserves such extensive focus because
of the musicianship, professionalism, and willingness to experiment
that have garnered the band a cultlike fan base from its native
Canada and the U.S. to many other countries. While there is some
biography in this band history, for the most part Bowman focuses on
the band’s music as he analyzes each album, including lyrics, time
signatures, key and chord choices, themes, and cover art. . .
.[T]rue Rush fans will revel in the author’s complex descriptions;
for instance, he notes from 1980’s Permanent Waves to Roll the
Bones in 1991, the band’s lyrics evolved 'from vaguely Randian
atheistic individualism to vaguely left-wing agnostic liberalism.'
It’s fitting that Bowman finishes with how Rush, after years of
being ignored, was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
thanks to its fans.
*Publishers Weekly*
[T]his is an excellent stylistic primer for the band.
*ARSC Journal*
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