I've been a long-time lurker on this board. Really long. Probably 15+ years. I setup my account in only god knows what year, but never posted before... until now. This is a subject I feel a little qualified to talk about.
I became a Rush fanboy in the mid- to late-80s. I heard of Rush back in the early-80s thanks to MTV (I watched MTV night and day in the early-80s) and thanks to some older neighbor boys playing it on their boombox while out in the yard. However it wasn't until the summer on '87 when I really explored their back catalog. I went on a soccer tour of Europe in that summer and a guitar playing high school classmate of mine dubbed Rush's first six albums onto cassettes for me to listen to on my Walkman. It was an awakening. From that moment on they'd be "my band". By the time I hit college two years later I was basically listening to Rush non-stop.
The first new release as a total Rush fanatic was obviously Presto. Then I was lucky enough to see them on that tour in '90 from the tenth row with the buddy that set me up with those dubbed cassettes three years prior and the drummer in his band. Magical show.
I'm not one to ever get really saddened over the death of someone I never met, but Neil's passing hit me. He was such a mainstay in my life due to me being a wannabe drummer and the lyrics he wrote.
"Suddenly, you were gone.. From all the lives you left your mark upon." -NEP
As a thank you to Ghost Rider for this excellent diversion in these turbulent times... I'd like to present my Top 50-ish. Feel free to pick it a part. Obviously some picks vary from day to day, mood to mood, but hopefully I don't have any glaring omissions. As you can tell from the rankings I'm not a huge fan of the last few albums... like at all, but that didn't dampen my enthusiasm supporting them on tours, and celebrating their back catalog, etc.
- Middletown Dreams
- Losing It
- Earthshine
- Anthem
- The Necromancer
- Cinderella Man
- Vital Signs
- Force Ten
- In The End