Daily Dose of Awesome: Rush

If you ask most people what was the greatest band of all time, most will answer with The Beatles. It will almost be instantaneous and without a second thought. Rightfully so, I agree with the sentiment. In Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction, two of the characters have a discussion and say that you're either a Beatles person or an Elvis person. I like Elvis' music, but if I had to choose I would definitely go with the Beatles.

There is, however, a band that comes close to rivaling the sheer awesomeness of the fab four. It's not Nirvana, or The Ramones, or even Led Zeppelin. No, the band that could actually challenge the Beatles for greatest band of all time is Rush.

The band has had a long and illustrious career that's spanned decades, four to be exact. The band formed in 1968 but had a rotating roster until it settled in 1974. Their drummer, Neal Peart, is a legend among men for his amazing drumming abilities as well as his drum which is quite massive.

I eagerly await the release of Rock Band: Rush. If it is ever released, they need to include a complete Neal Peart style electronic drum set. I do believe that that would be quite epic. It would be challenging beyond words, I'm sure and I don't know if there's room in the apartment for one, but I would find a way to make it work. It would be well worth the effort.

The band has even managed to incorporate cowbell (though admittedly not enough) and the glockenspiel into their music.

Their most well known song is probably Tom Sawyer, though they have had many hits over the years. It won't take long for new listeners to be amazed by this band's music. If you haven't heard it yet, you need to. They don't make it like this anymore.

The band has been around for a long time, and in that time they haven't been afraid to experiment. If nothing else, you can't accuse the group of picking a format and sticking to it.

While the band isn't big on making the late night circuit, they did appear on The Colbert Report several months ago to promote the release of their new album. As one would expect, it was glorious. Colbert himself spent half the episode talking about it and much of the humor came from the fact that they couldn't get over their excitement about seeing the band perform.

Even though the band only consists of three people (Geddy Lee, Neal Peart, and Alex Lifeson) they incorporate a large number of instruments and devices, which requires the band members to multitask in order to create the elaborate melodies that they create.

On top of that, this is a band that you should definitely try to see live in concert.  It really is an amazing experience.

If you aren't familiar with their music, I highly recommend checking it out as it really is sublime.