When Not Rushing?

Above: Canadian born, Tom Cochrane

Music? Is it not an escape from a tormented world, to a place where you cannot be bothered by anyone? It’s simply you and the music.

Actually, that’s dribble. While partly true is some people’s life, in mine it is simply a hobby. A big one at that, I consider music to be one of my greatest passions.

Now it’s obvious that Rush is my favourite band and as a result, they get the most playtime in my collection. Which I’m more than fine with, because with two and half decades of music to listen to, I never get tired of them. However, when those times arise when I must put Rush away, its bands like The Fixx, Tom Cochrane, English Beat and Dire Straits which fill my appetite.

I was born in the late 80’s and as a result you might think that I grew up on 90’s music. However, that’s not the case; I wasn't into Nirvana or Pearl Jam. By the time I started listening to music (can’t remember my age) I was pre-exposed to music from both the 70’s and 80’s. My dad had never lost grip of his favourite bands from those eras.

Anytime I went with a ride in my father’s car we listened to music from the 80’s. The particular bands which stand out were The Doors, Billy Idol & U2. Because of that, I loved Billy Idol (and still do today), but for the longest of time U2 was my favourite band.

You see, I grew up on both The Joshua Tree and Unforgettable Fire albums. While the Unforgettable Fire was a great album, The Joshua Tree was an amazing album! Timeless, entertaining and well written. Aside from the obvious hits (Where the Streets Have No Name, With or Without You & I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For) I very much enjoyed One Tree Hill and the powerful - Bullet The Blue Sky.

As 2002 approached my interest in music multiplied and I was introduced (by my dad of course) to bands such as The Police, English Beat, The Fixx & Tom Cochrane. The one thing all of these great bands shared in common is that they were at their peak in the 1980’s (more or less)

Therefore, it goes without saying that the 1980’s is my favourite decade of music. The whole electronic synthesizers and strange sounds might have been a turn off for some, but I loved it. Of course, that really depends on who has using this new age (at the time) instruments. Some bands made a complete hash of it and rather than implementing synthesizers into their music they quite simply replaced the guitars with them. The end result was a terrible squealing organ…

Thankfully there were bands which were able to mix those traits. Rush, was obviously one of them. They felt they had the utmost responsibility to keep their music original and stay modern, but not let the electronics destroy it. Therefore Lifeson’s guitar notes were not drowned out, neither was Peart’s drum kit (equipped with cowbells, gogo bells, an electronic xylophone and God knows what else). The integration was seamless and another band which did an excellent job with doing so, was The Fixx.

The Fixx did a fantastic job at adding synthesizers, but without destroying the rest of the music. On the subject of The Fixx, I should get it out of the way – they are my second favourite band.

I knew very little of them until I decided to pick up a greatest hits album based on the merit of “One Thing Leads to Another”. Amazing song to say the least, but the greatest hits album I purchased allowed me to further explore The Fixx’s music. How about Red Skies? What an amazing track – Cy Curin’s voice is so energetic. I can’t even explain the brilliance of this song, but if you like Red Skies and One Thing Leads to Another, check out: Deeper & Deeper, Less Cities - More Moving People, Sunshine in the Shade, Saved by Zero, Stand or Fall & Are We Ourselves.

It should be mentioned, while there were certain bands working to combine the new age pop technology with their style, there was a certain band who took complete advantage of it and developed a new style: The Thompson Twins. While the career of the TT was short, they did manage to squeeze two amazing hits out: Doctor Doctor & Hold Me Now. Both of which were amazing songs (and big hits!)

Both songs featured full out synthesizers with midi activated sounds, something similar to Rush, but magnified by ten.

So then, The Fixx are my filler when I’m not Rushing. Of course, simply leaving it at Rush and The Fixx would be improper because I love much of the music made in the 1960’s and 1970’s.

A complete list (I think..) of my favourite bands:

Rush, English Beat, Fine Young Cannibals, The Fixx, Tom Cochrane, Valdy, Dire Straits, U2, Gordon Lightfoot, Frozen Ghost, Thompson Twins, A-Ha, Yes, Pink Floyd, Men At Work, Dave Matthews Band, Coldplay, Jethro Tull, Bob Dylan, Talking Heads, Paul Simon, Simon & Garfunkel, John Denver, The Eagles, R.E.M, General Public, The Police, America, Eric Clapton, Simple Minds, Neil Young, Elton John, The Who, Bread, Barenaked Ladies, James Taylor, Cat Stevens, Tears for Fears, Moody Blues, Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers & Crosby Stills Nash & Young.