🤭 That is what they looked like when I saw them open for Kiss in NJ. 🤗 Went to a Kiss Concert & left a Rush fan. 🤯 I couldn't get over how full their songs sounded with only 3 people. 🥰🐰
I have never seen this video of historical proportions. Yes how young looking. Can’t get past how small Neil’s drum set looks, and he played that set no more different than his later on ever growing enormous drum sets. Thanks for posting this and great reaction too.
IIRC Neil was once asked why he always looks so serious when playing, his response was something like playing our music is like running a marathon while doing calculus.
Anthem was the leadoff track on their Fly By Night album, which not only announced Neil's arrival as Rush's new drummer but also played a role in his replacing their original drummer John Rutsey. Many people in these forums have mentioned John's health issues, with his Type 1 diabetes, and Chapter 8 of Geddys memoir includes a discussion of the creative differences that also played a role, with him and Alex leaning in a more progressive direction while John preferred a more straight-up rock sound. While Neil was auditioning to join them, Geddy suggested that they jam on a piece of music they'd written in 7/8 time that would eventually become a part of Anthem, which John wasn't into, and he nailed it so well that after finding out that they also had a lot of mutual interests, Geddy practically hired him on the spot, except that he and Alex had agreed to see all the candidates before making their final decision, but the last candidate never stood a chance after what they'd just seen and heard, and so they officially brought Neil on board the next day, which also happened to be Geddy's 21st birthday - great birthday present, eh? As for doing an animation of Witch Hunt, they released a visualizer alongside the 40th anniversary edition of Moving Pictures, which may provide some inspiration. Have a great evening, and Rush on! 🎤 🎹 🎸 🥁 🎸 🐐 🐐 🐐
Amazing footage of a very young Rush. You can see that they were pretty proficient on their instruments from the very beginning. Geddy’s voice is on full display on this song.
forgot used to play these old rush songs on the guitar back in the 70s, that reminds me "bastille day" has this same groove you will enjoy. take care grate reaction
It probably helped that Alex and Geddy had been playing music together for six years before they got their first record deal. They came out pretty polished right from the get go.
Greetings, Ms Meadows. San Diego's resident Rushoholic here. The title song "Fly By Night" as well as "Anthem" are from the 2nd Rush studio album called FLY BY NIGHT released in early 1975 when Geddy & Alex were both 21 and Neil was 22. The 1st album track is "Anthem" which is also the name of Rush's publishing company and record label today. "Anthem" is how the world started to get to know the writing and drumming of Neil Peart. John Rutsey drummed the debut studio album RUSH which came out the year before, but Neil was brought in as a replacement starting with that concert tour due to health concerns over John (1953-2008). "Anthem" also is the name of a novella by objectivist writer Ayn Rand (1905-1982) which inspired Neil's lyrics and Rush's philosophy of living, writing and performing for for one's self without letting others tell them how to go about it. This is also what "2112" is about having come out a year after this. This likely is from a weekly TV show back in the day called Don Kirchner's Rock Concert. It's also likely that the audio is from the album and is dubbed over the guys live playing which, note for note, looks spot on! You mentioned how Rush sounds like as many as "triple" the number of players. Let's not get carried away. Besides, splitting the royalties might not have been worth it! Anyway, Happy Holidays, Ms Meadows. Stay warm and stay classy...
After 50 years still so good. Amazing. I love the early Rush, they really rock. Please do a reaction video of fountain of lamneth. Music and lyrics are perfect. All the best from the Netherlands.
Rush, all in from the first album. Neil comes along and opens up possibility with no limits. Rush go to work. We, the fans keep getting presents right throughout their career. Thankyou Mrs Meadows for doing yourself a favor.
Good Morning Rush Sister ❤ The guys were around 22 to 23 here. Neil was a year older than Geddy and Alex. Alex with his baby face and Prince Valiant haircut. LOL Alex and Geddy had been playing music together since they were 16 and best friends since 13. Neil only had two weeks to learn the songs before they were going on tour after he replaced John Rutsy. Quite amazing. If you want to see them even younger check out Bad Boy live at Bandstand 1974 Laura Secord Secondary school. John Rutsy was still with the band and they had just released their first album. Cheers ❤
@WhimsyMeadows I highly recommend reacting to Beyond the Lighted Stage. It is a little long but if you break it up in sections that would work. All three of them came from working class families. Geddy's parents were Holocaust survivors and Alex's dad was in prison camps in Yugoslavia during the war. Neil's parents worked in farming. They all had down to earth upbringings. As some one else mentioned Alex became a dad at 17 with his then girlfriend Charlene who he later married. Both Alex and Geddy have been married to their respective wives for over 50 years. Also, because they wouldn't comply to the music industries wishes they were seen as outcasts and were scorned by the music media at the time. They had to build their fan base by constantly touring. It was a hard grind for them at first. I think though it was because fame wasn't their main goal music was. As Neil once said. I wanted to be good not famous. Oh, their whole Induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is a must to see. Right from when they were introduced to their speeches. Alex's speak is something to behold. LOL Cheers from the frozen Canadian prairies. 🥶 💖
I was 14 years old, flirting with various different bands and styles of music, trying to discover what I liked. This was the very first Rush track I ever heard. I was an instant fan, and 43 years later, I still am.
Awww, I forgot to vote! Doesn't much matter - they're all great songs. So young - Love Alex's hair! I first saw them live in 1978, they all still had their long hair and Neil was sporting his famous killer mustache. Fond memories!
@@WhimsyMeadows Hard to say, maybe Finding My Way because it's from the first album, or Anthem from the first album featuring Neil, or Bastille Day from the underappreciated yet badass album their record label couldn't abide, or Passage To Bangkok from their triumphant answer to the record execs. Hopefully you'll eventually get to them all, but Anthem was great fun watching you react as always! That first RUSH concert I went to, Hemispheres, they performed all of these except Finding My Way, and the next tour Permanent Waves they played them all!
As good an album as their debut was with John Rutsey on drums, this album was really the beginning for Rush as the band that they became. You can hear the seeds of ambition all over this record with odd time signatures & an attempt at their first story ( By-Tor & the Snow Dog). And a pretty good attempt it was too. Love your face as you watch them. You are genuinely digging what you see & hear. Looking forward to your animation video my lovely xx
Whimsy, you should check out the song “ Fly by Night” on the same video shoot! You will love it! It was there first song that was “Radio friendly “ and it’s so much fun to see the boys rocking in their early 20’s! Also, you are so cute!!
You need to watch Beyond The Lighted Stage it takes you all the way back to when Geddy and Alex were kids, as young as they are here by the time Fly By Night was released they were seasoned pros. This is one of the first songs Neil ever wrote and is one of the songs inspired by his affinity for Ayn Rands writings.
WHAT!!?? A Woman who likes (Ooops) A seemingly natural born femaley person who is seemingly comfortable with her natural assignment as being a female,,,,,,,, Likes RUSH⁉️⁉️ Is into ROCK and into Rocks!! That's freaking Awesome! I was lucky enough to see them 4 times. Geddy is my favorite Bass player. I see a Carpenters reaction. That's next. Great Reaction Mis Meadows! Peace 🕊️☮️♾️😎🎸🤟🏼
In this video Alex was playing his prized 1968 Gibson ES-335 hollow body guitar. Sadly, It would be broken a few years later when a stack of amplifiers fell over during set up. It was the first expensive guitar he could afford to buy. He picked that guitar specifically because not many other rock stars played it. And he didn't want to sound like everyone else.
What an introduction of Rush's then-new drummer to their fans and to the World, with this being the album's opener! 🤩 By the way, they're not actually playing live here, just miming to the studio version 😉
@WhimsyMeadows - They most likely did, too! 😊 There are things like the missing microphones on the drums and _two_ guitars playing during Alex' solo that give away that this wasn't live, though 🙂 Which isn't a biggie at all! I've always loooved this clip of 'Baby Rush'! 😄 Still, though: Maybe also check out the version of 'Anthem' on their '76 live album 'All The World's A Stage' some time, and you'll hear the difference between studio and live! 😉👍
First album with Neil. and you can still see how much of a big influence he was on the whole band from the 1st album to Fly by Night. Nothing against Rutsy, but Neil's addition really elevated everyone's playing. Great reaction. keeep 'em coming.
Didn't go through everything to see if mentioned earlier, but IIRC. This was still mostly a John Rutsey song musically...but Neil did do the lyrics. A true transitional song. But seems to have worked out for them
The song was directly inspired by Neil's recent encounters with the writer Ayn Rand. The title and the song are an exploration of her philosophy from her book Anthem. 2112 is also attributed along with a few other themes in Rush's early years to this philosophical perspective. From Wikipedia Anthem is a dystopian fiction novella by Ayn Rand, written in 1937 and published in 1938. The story takes place in the future, when humanity has entered another Dark Age. The novel explores Rand's philosophy of objectivism, which is the belief that individuals should pursue their own happiness. The story is about a society destroyed by collectivism, the philosophy that individuals exist only to contribute to the well-being of society. Read the lyrics with that description in mind. This is one reason why the collectivists in the music industry hated them and gave them bad reviews early on. It's also why Rush has been refered to as a thinking man's band. They took on harder subjects that the collectivists at the Rolling Stones and other magazines couldn't control. It's also why it took 14 years for them to make it into the Rock-n-Roll Hall of Fame. Nominations for thee RnRHF were controlled by the same people that hated Rush. They got in on the first ballot as the overwhelming majority vote the first year the RnRHF allowed fans to vote. If you haven't seen their induction speeches, especially Alex's, you should watch them. It's hilarious and a complete slap in the face to the industry that hated them.
![The Trees/Xanadu/La Villa Strangiato LIVE [Rush Reaction] 4K 2160p UHD 5.1 surround, Exit Stage Left](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/nubLU_oUong/mqdefault.jpg)
Check out my reaction to Rush playlist ua-cam.com/play/PLN62aS_HPHi5wre0liDG60mdPXg8OYcXK.html&si=NnrbvNeU53YKd4-N
will do thankyou
🤭 That is what they looked like when I saw them open for Kiss in NJ. 🤗 Went to a Kiss Concert & left a Rush fan. 🤯 I couldn't get over how full their songs sounded with only 3 people. 🥰🐰
@@cityhonors1 they are so much fun to watch. Especially later on in their years 🤗🤟
I have never seen this video of historical proportions. Yes how young looking. Can’t get past how small Neil’s drum set looks, and he played that set no more different than his later on ever growing enormous drum sets. Thanks for posting this and great reaction too.
@@kylekerwin4993 thank you so much. So glad you enjoyed it. I think Neil could play on toy drums n make them sound amazing lol
@@WhimsyMeadows I agree. Probably on my pots and pans too. Thanks for the reply and yes I’m now subscribed.
IIRC Neil was once asked why he always looks so serious when playing, his response was something like playing our music is like running a marathon while doing calculus.
@@gold98gtp lol makes sense
This was the opening song on their second album and the first album Neil was on. He announced his presence immediately!
Anthem was the leadoff track on their Fly By Night album, which not only announced Neil's arrival as Rush's new drummer but also played a role in his replacing their original drummer John Rutsey. Many people in these forums have mentioned John's health issues, with his Type 1 diabetes, and Chapter 8 of Geddys memoir includes a discussion of the creative differences that also played a role, with him and Alex leaning in a more progressive direction while John preferred a more straight-up rock sound. While Neil was auditioning to join them, Geddy suggested that they jam on a piece of music they'd written in 7/8 time that would eventually become a part of Anthem, which John wasn't into, and he nailed it so well that after finding out that they also had a lot of mutual interests, Geddy practically hired him on the spot, except that he and Alex had agreed to see all the candidates before making their final decision, but the last candidate never stood a chance after what they'd just seen and heard, and so they officially brought Neil on board the next day, which also happened to be Geddy's 21st birthday - great birthday present, eh? As for doing an animation of Witch Hunt, they released a visualizer alongside the 40th anniversary edition of Moving Pictures, which may provide some inspiration. Have a great evening, and Rush on!
🎤 🎹 🎸 🥁 🎸 🐐 🐐 🐐
What a fun opening to this song. First note is full on rocking! Such a good time. Thanks for sharing.
Have always loved this one. Simply an incredible track.
Amazing footage of a very young Rush. You can see that they were pretty proficient on their instruments from the very beginning. Geddy’s voice is on full display on this song.
forgot used to play these old rush songs on the guitar back in the 70s, that reminds me "bastille day" has this same groove you will enjoy. take care grate reaction
Anthem of the heart, or Anthem of the mind, a funeral dirge for eyes gone blind...
Rush was 3 bands, 74-81 hippie heavy metal prog, 82-92 new wave synth band, 92-2015 alt rock nostalgia act. This video is their best period.
It probably helped that Alex and Geddy had been playing music together for six years before they got their first record deal. They came out pretty polished right from the get go.
Hell yeah...thanks, Whimsy,awesome reaction as always...thanks so much, Todd from Ohio....
Great! Just Burning it Up!
Greetings, Ms Meadows. San Diego's resident Rushoholic here. The title song "Fly By Night" as well as "Anthem" are from the 2nd Rush studio album called FLY BY NIGHT released in early 1975 when Geddy & Alex were both 21 and Neil was 22. The 1st album track is "Anthem" which is also the name of Rush's publishing company and record label today.
"Anthem" is how the world started to get to know the writing and drumming of Neil Peart. John Rutsey drummed the debut studio album RUSH which came out the year before, but Neil was brought in as a replacement starting with that concert tour due to health concerns over John (1953-2008).
"Anthem" also is the name of a novella by objectivist writer Ayn Rand (1905-1982) which inspired Neil's lyrics and Rush's philosophy of living, writing and performing for for one's self without letting others tell them how to go about it. This is also what "2112" is about having come out a year after this.
This likely is from a weekly TV show back in the day called Don Kirchner's Rock Concert. It's also likely that the audio is from the album and is dubbed over the guys live playing which, note for note, looks spot on!
You mentioned how Rush sounds like as many as "triple" the number of players. Let's not get carried away. Besides, splitting the royalties might not have been worth it!
Anyway, Happy Holidays, Ms Meadows. Stay warm and stay classy...
@@stephenbracka2270 Thank you so much and Happy Holidays to you as well! 🤗 🎄 🎁
Always one my favorites. It kicks ass!!!!!
@@andyreid6826 i can't get enough lol
After 50 years still so good. Amazing. I love the early Rush, they really rock. Please do a reaction video of fountain of lamneth. Music and lyrics are perfect. All the best from the Netherlands.
Rush, all in from the first album. Neil comes along and opens up possibility with no limits. Rush go to work. We, the fans keep getting presents right throughout their career. Thankyou Mrs Meadows for doing yourself a favor.
@@PeterMcCracken-n3g i have fallen hard for these guys. Most amazing duo in rock history
Good Morning Rush Sister ❤
The guys were around 22 to 23 here. Neil was a year older than Geddy and Alex.
Alex with his baby face and Prince Valiant haircut. LOL
Alex and Geddy had been playing music together since they were 16 and best friends since 13. Neil only had two weeks to learn the songs before they were going on tour after he replaced John Rutsy. Quite amazing.
If you want to see them even younger check out Bad Boy live at Bandstand 1974 Laura Secord Secondary school.
John Rutsy was still with the band and they had just released their first album.
Cheers ❤
@@debbieplato5107 morning Rushister💓
I'm so glad these guys didn't let the fame go to their heads 🤗🤟
@WhimsyMeadows I highly recommend reacting to Beyond the Lighted Stage. It is a little long but if you break it up in sections that would work.
All three of them came from working class families. Geddy's parents were Holocaust survivors and Alex's dad was in prison camps in Yugoslavia during the war. Neil's parents worked in farming. They all had down to earth upbringings.
As some one else mentioned Alex became a dad at 17 with his then girlfriend Charlene who he later married. Both Alex and Geddy have been married to their respective wives for over 50 years.
Also, because they wouldn't comply to the music industries wishes they were seen as outcasts and were scorned by the music media at the time. They had to build their fan base by constantly touring. It was a hard grind for them at first.
I think though it was because fame wasn't their main goal music was. As Neil once said. I wanted to be good not famous.
Oh, their whole Induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is a must to see. Right from when they were introduced to their speeches.
Alex's speak is something to behold. LOL
Cheers from the frozen Canadian prairies. 🥶 💖
Prince Valiant haircut- LMAO Debbie. I will never be able to unsee that now, lol.
@@matthewhoag2609 🤣🤣🤣
Love this song!
I was 14 years old, flirting with various different bands and styles of music, trying to discover what I liked. This was the very first Rush track I ever heard. I was an instant fan, and 43 years later, I still am.
@@caryd67 i heard them when I was younger but only what they played on the radio. I wish I would have had the opportunity to have seen them live
@ Rush Grace Under Pressure tour was my very first concert ever. I saw them 4 more times over the years…
Old Rush my fav
Yes not only was their music progressive but over the years so was their look. Most of the time anyway, Lol 2112?? 🤭
Awww, I forgot to vote! Doesn't much matter - they're all great songs. So young - Love Alex's hair! I first saw them live in 1978, they all still had their long hair and Neil was sporting his famous killer mustache. Fond memories!
@@scottdpublic which one would you have voted for?
@@WhimsyMeadows Hard to say, maybe Finding My Way because it's from the first album, or Anthem from the first album featuring Neil, or Bastille Day from the underappreciated yet badass album their record label couldn't abide, or Passage To Bangkok from their triumphant answer to the record execs. Hopefully you'll eventually get to them all, but Anthem was great fun watching you react as always!
That first RUSH concert I went to, Hemispheres, they performed all of these except Finding My Way, and the next tour Permanent Waves they played them all!
As good an album as their debut was with John Rutsey on drums, this album was really the beginning for Rush as the band that they became. You can hear the seeds of ambition all over this record with odd time signatures & an attempt at their first story ( By-Tor & the Snow Dog). And a pretty good attempt it was too. Love your face as you watch them. You are genuinely digging what you see & hear. Looking forward to your animation video my lovely xx
I swear non of their songs sound the same or like anyone I've ever heard.
I started my animation today. This gona take a while lol
@@WhimsyMeadows Well you are clearly a very talented girl. Genius takes time 😁😘xx
Whimsy, you should check out the song “ Fly by Night” on the same video shoot! You will love it! It was there first song that was “Radio friendly “ and it’s so much fun to see the boys rocking in their early 20’s! Also, you are so cute!!
You need to watch Beyond The Lighted Stage it takes you all the way back to when Geddy and Alex were kids, as young as they are here by the time Fly By Night was released they were seasoned pros. This is one of the first songs Neil ever wrote and is one of the songs inspired by his affinity for Ayn Rands writings.
@@Fred-vy1hm i will add this to my list. Perhaps I will react to them 🤗
WHAT!!?? A Woman who likes (Ooops) A seemingly natural born femaley person who is seemingly comfortable with her natural assignment as being a female,,,,,,,, Likes RUSH⁉️⁉️ Is into ROCK and into Rocks!! That's freaking Awesome! I was lucky enough to see them 4 times. Geddy is my favorite Bass player. I see a Carpenters reaction. That's next. Great Reaction Mis Meadows! Peace 🕊️☮️♾️😎🎸🤟🏼
@@allengray5748 lol yes I know I know, a woman who loves Rush, rocks and rock n roll 🤣🎸 🤟 these guys fricken ROCK! 🤗
And Neil has baby drums 😅 Thanks Whimsy.
In this video Alex was playing his prized 1968 Gibson ES-335 hollow body guitar.
Sadly, It would be broken a few years later when a stack of amplifiers fell over during set up.
It was the first expensive guitar he could afford to buy. He picked that guitar specifically because not many other rock stars played it. And he didn't want to sound like everyone else.
@@victorjohnson7512 awww thats sad. I would have been broken hearted
What an introduction of Rush's then-new drummer to their fans and to the World, with this being the album's opener! 🤩
By the way, they're not actually playing live here, just miming to the studio version 😉
@@mightyV444 really? They looked like they were having fun!
@WhimsyMeadows - They most likely did, too! 😊
There are things like the missing microphones on the drums and _two_ guitars playing during Alex' solo that give away that this wasn't live, though 🙂
Which isn't a biggie at all! I've always loooved this clip of 'Baby Rush'! 😄
Still, though: Maybe also check out the version of 'Anthem' on their '76 live album 'All The World's A Stage' some time, and you'll hear the difference between studio and live!
😉👍
🔥😎🇨🇦
Didn't matter what size kit he played on, always fantastic.
@@nodrush80 i bet he could play on toy drums and make them sound incredible
@WhimsyMeadows Damn straight he could 😂
First album with Neil. and you can still see how much of a big influence he was on the whole band from the 1st album to Fly by Night. Nothing against Rutsy, but Neil's addition really elevated everyone's playing. Great reaction. keeep 'em coming.
@@williamgrice4790 thank you so much! I'm so glad Neil joined this fabulous duo
Alex had a five year old son when this vid was shot.
So young, that's amazing!
I saw this TV show
@@scott4482 you did? I bet it was awesome to see!
Didn't go through everything to see if mentioned earlier, but IIRC. This was still mostly a John Rutsey song musically...but Neil did do the lyrics. A true transitional song. But seems to have worked out for them
1:23I also have a serious face when I play, probably because of the focus
You would like the live version better.
@@thatsnice99 really? Why is that?
@ because it’s not marketed, raw, it’s original, and gives a truer sound.
ua-cam.com/video/W6xhHRVoDqg/v-deo.htmlsi=VOKk0mfPnvGuMpqc
Theyre like 22 here. Wth kinda 22yo’s are doing shit like this lmao
Young? It was 1975 wtf? Of course they were young it's there 2nd album. Why are you so shocked?
@@dragonage2112 well...if you've been watching my other reaction videos, I usually see them older. So it was nice seeing them so young.
The song was directly inspired by Neil's recent encounters with the writer Ayn Rand. The title and the song are an exploration of her philosophy from her book Anthem. 2112 is also attributed along with a few other themes in Rush's early years to this philosophical perspective.
From Wikipedia
Anthem is a dystopian fiction novella by Ayn Rand, written in 1937 and published in 1938. The story takes place in the future, when humanity has entered another Dark Age. The novel explores Rand's philosophy of objectivism, which is the belief that individuals should pursue their own happiness. The story is about a society destroyed by collectivism, the philosophy that individuals exist only to contribute to the well-being of society.
Read the lyrics with that description in mind. This is one reason why the collectivists in the music industry hated them and gave them bad reviews early on. It's also why Rush has been refered to as a thinking man's band. They took on harder subjects that the collectivists at the Rolling Stones and other magazines couldn't control.
It's also why it took 14 years for them to make it into the Rock-n-Roll Hall of Fame. Nominations for thee RnRHF were controlled by the same people that hated Rush. They got in on the first ballot as the overwhelming majority vote the first year the RnRHF allowed fans to vote.
If you haven't seen their induction speeches, especially Alex's, you should watch them. It's hilarious and a complete slap in the face to the industry that hated them.
Blah, blah, blah... 😁
Special News Bulletin! Rush is...the best band ever. 😁
@@ChronicExcessiveManliness 😂