En el vasto panorama del rock progresivo, pocos nombres resuenan con la misma intensidad que Rush. La banda canadiense, formada en agosto de 1968 en Toronto, Ontario, nació de la unión de Alex Lifeson en la guitarra, Jeff Jones en el bajo y la voz, y John Rutsey en la batería. Jeff Jones, sin embargo, fue rápidamente reemplazado por Geddy Lee, un cambio que marcaría el inicio de una dinámica revolucionaria.
En 1974, después de numerosos conciertos y una creciente base de seguidores, Rush lanzó su álbum debut homónimo. Este disco introdujo a un público inicial a su sonido característico, una mezcla ecléctica de hard rock con influencias de bandas como Led Zeppelin y Cream. Aunque el álbum no recibió instantáneamente gran atención crítica, despertó el interés suficiente para continuar su carrera musical.
El siguiente año, en 1975, significó una encrucijada importante para Rush. Neil Peart se unió al grupo como baterista y letrista. Peart no solo ofreció habilidades percusivas inigualables, sino que también trajo consigo una profundidad lírica que se refleja en la posterior obra de la banda.
A partir de mediados de los años setenta, Rush ingresó a una etapa prolífica. Tres álbumes definieron esta era dorada:
Woo! Ohhh.. yeah.. sink in
Brand new.. Marc Live... let's go!
Rush, let's work, rush
Rush, yo.. rush
Yo, check, check, yo
Rush - jump all hot, jump off the whole top
Jump off the roof 90 proof, listen
Break up the floor, break up mad tours
Shake up the state, shake like it's earthquake
Break up the cake, break 'til it's daybreak
Shut down the block, pay off corrupt cop
Set up shop, set off the whole block
It's all good, yo it's all hood listen
Stop it - I know this shit sound mad good
It's supposed to, niggaz I told you
Chickens I told you, you brand new
It's a, new me yo it's not you, you old news
Take off the top, blow past the hot spot
Everybody look, get chicks took
Hit the lick quick, get the bricks quick
The chain so sick, rims so thick, c'mon!
Rush - it's the cars, the clothes, the dough
Rush - it's the bar, the clubs, the 'dro
Rush - it's the girls, the diamonds, the blow
Rush - it's the street, it's gangsta, so heat
Rush - okay, yo I'ma make sense of it (tell 'em)
The rush, the overload, overdose, fuck it
It's over most fuck it, so go 'head with it
People love the scene, it's all cream
It's all flash, it all costs, it's all green
It's all ching, it's the whole thing, the TV's
Rims so mean, and so extreme
Buy the bar out, and ride out with the best thing
See me at the next thing, text ring
It's head trauma, bad drama, they need body armor
The streets is monster, the streets is Tonka
Watch your truck, you might get stuck
You might not wake up, wear the make-up
You fake and shook, you won't get off the hook
We takin dough right from off of your books
Your whole label break up, you out of cake, wake up
(Rush) Okay, we got money, we got Manolos
Bessa Mistra, Diors, bottles
It's unstoppable, in V.I.P. top shelf
It's every day, it's not {?} baby
You know how we do
Rush - blow up the street, blow off the mad heat
Blow down the doors, it goes down mad raw
It's too real, go get steel
Stop all beef, snatch off the new piece
Walk down the street, pass to my man Pete
Go by Jacob and split all the cake up
All in a day's work, go get paid work
We made for it, break laws, rush for it
Rush