Hey, I remember when this piece from Rush came out, and I remember the snake-like tree in the video, but I don’t remember the ending … and it’s the ending that makes me laugh now.
Pharyngula
Evolution, development, and random biological ejaculations from a godless liberal
Wow.
Yes, quite nicely remembered. Thanks for the ongoing stream of rationality . . . I’ve only recently found you, via Richard Dawkins’ site, and I’m very glad . . . One of my greatest friends lives in Minnesota, a place in which I understand there is quite an ensemble of talent and intelligence . . . your talents, and my friend’s, confirm the hypothesis.
that was fun.
Suh-weet! Rush and Chuck D, not the one from the PE, does his Paul Bunyan immitation!
I may have to withhold my usual anti-Rush diatribe for this one. A job well done is a job well done.
new creationist tag-line: Charles Darwin, Axe Murderer
I don’t like Rush. But I like that.
Let’s don’t start a Rush flame war here. Any atheist worth his/her non-belief has to be a Rush fan. Otherwise, you’re just a poser.
Who’s starting the flame war Bruce? Are you saying that because you think that athiests must be into music as soulless as Rush?* Fun video, though. At least that track didn’t have Geddy Lee’s banshee-wail all over it.
*I consider Rush to be a polarizing force in musical taste, similar to how W. is polarizing politically. You can’t bring them up without 60% of the room saying they’re a buncha wankers and the other 40% vehemently defending them.
Hah, it’s Chuck D!
At first glance, I was wondering what Red Green (another fellow Canadian) was doing with an axe?
I especially like the words on the head of the axe “Axes of Good.” I am a Rush fan now. Have at those F*#@ing trees Chuck!
This is from their latest album – Snakes and Arrows!
Also check out the lyrics to “Faithless”…
I’ve got my own moral compass to steer by
A guiding star beats a spirit in the sky
And all the preaching voices –
Empty vessels ring so loud
As they move among the crowd
Fools and thieves are well disguised
In the temple and market place
Like a stone in the river
Against the floods of spring
I will quietly resist
Like the willows in the wind
Or the cliffs along the ocean
I will quietly resist
I don’t have faith in faith
I don’t believe in belief
You can call me faithless
I still cling to hope
And I believe in love
And that’s faith enough for me
I’ve got my own spirit level for balance
To tell if my choice is leaning up or down
And all the shouting voices
Try to throw me off my course
Some by sermons, some by force
Fools and thieves are dangerous
In the temple and marketplace
Like a forest bows to winter
Beneath the deep white silence
I will quietly resist
Like a flower in the desert
That only blooms at night
I will quietly resist
Actually I never listened to Rush, at least not knowing it was Rush. I like it. Great video. Is there a still of the big trees so we can see the details?
The usual “Long walk for a short drink” from Rush, with the typical delusions of profundity. This a way too long elaboration of the Darwin fish bumper ornament. Could have been worse – at least there were no obvious Ayn Raynd, I.C., references.
rand
For a good atheist band, try Echo and The Bunnymen:
From “Never Stop:”
“Deny that you were ever tempted by the lie
That there’s an answer in the sky.”
Deny, indeed.
That was fun, I’ve been enjoying RUSH for 30 years. If religious folk lived their beliefs quietly it would be far less annoying and far more compelling than the evangelical mess it’s largely become. It is in accordance with Sturgeon’s law, 9/10ths crap.
I know Rush isn’t for everyone, but I don’t care. Geek music rocks!
F&*king awesome… both, music and video.
Speaking of atheist songs, the best has got to be “Dear God’ by XTC
Dear God,
Hope you got the letter and
I pray you can make it better down here.
I don’t mean a big reduction in the price of beer
But all the people that you made in your image,
See them starving on their feet
‘Cause they don’t get enough to eat
From God
I can’t believe in you.
Dear God,
Sorry to disturb you, but
I feel that I should be heard loud and clear.
We all need a big reduction in the amount of tears
And all the people that you made in your image,
See them fighting in the street
‘Cause they can’t make opinions meet
About God,
I can’t believe in you.
Did you make disease, and the diamond blue?
Did you make mankind after we made you?
And the devil too?!
Dear God,
Don’t know if you noticed, but…
Your name is on a lot of quotes in this book,
Us crazy humans wrote it, you should take a look,
And all the people that you made in your image,
Still believing that junk is true
Well I know it ain’t, and so do you
Dear God,
I can’t believe in…
I don’t believe in…
I won’t believe in heaven and hell.
No saints, no sinners, no devil as well.
No pearly gates, no thorny crown.
You’re always letting us humans down.
The wars you bring, the babes you drown.
Those lost at sea and never found,
And it’s the same the whole world ’round.
The hurt I see helps to compound
That Father, Son and Holy Ghost
Is just somebody’s unholy hoax
And if you’re up there you’d perceive
That my heart’s here upon my sleeve.
If there’s one thing I don’t believe in…..
It’s you…..
Dear God.
Wow. Darwin made it possible to be an intellectually fulfilled math-rocker?
Hey, pretentious bands have their place in the tree of rock. Diversity is strength! Without Rush, maybe there’d be no Dream Theatre, no Tool, no Mars Volta… I don’t love those bands, but they’re interesting (particularly the last two.) Volta’s from some other universe. I mean that in the best possible way.
Some Rush I like, and some Rush I don’t. As far as songs go, I don’t like this one. Love the video though, and the message is a great one.
The video is more meaningful at higher res. It kinda tells a story as it dwells on the labels in the trees. Hard to make out the text in this fuzzy Youtube video. The original is here.
Quicktime: http://bobbysbrane.com/animation-fun/animations/MaLnAr-BobbysBrane.mov
I like Rush, but I’m not a fanatic.
But some of the Rush haters here need to get over their little tiny selves. I mean… sheesh, what a bunch of music critic wannabees.
Soulless? Delusions of profundity? You sound like the wanker coworker character in a bad romantic comedy. Sane people don’t talk like that about rock music. It’s all good. Just fucking relax already and stop pretending you’re relevant.
Rush? Yuck. How about Crass instead? “…This Christ / sterile, impotent, f**klove prophet of death / you are the ultimate in pornography…”
Would that be a Monastomemetic Tree? … vs. Science b-loggers Axes?
FYI: If I coined a bitchin’ new term, I want credit dammit! ;-)
Religions are a bit more like animals than trees, they meet up and have sex, then we are left with nothing but monkey-fish-frogs
Special Rush song dedication to all the religious fundamentalists out there:
Witch Hunt (Part III of Fear)
The night is black
Without a moon
The air is thick and still
The vigilantes gather on
The lonely torchlit hill.
Features distorted in the flickering light
Faces are twisted and grotesque
Silent and stern in the sweltering night
Mob moves like demons possessed
Quiet in conscience, calm in their right
Confident their ways are best
The righteous rise
With burning eyes
Of hatred and ill-will
Madmen fed on fear and lies
To beat and burn and kill
They say there are strangers who threaten us
Our immigrants and infidels
They say there is strangeness too dangerous
In our theaters and bookstore shelves
That those who know what’s best for us
Must rise and save us from ourselves
Quick to judge
Quick to anger
Slow to understand
Ignorance and prejudice
And fear walk hand in hand…
I don’t really know Rush, but I found the video amazing. Thanks SMgr for linking to the better version.
Hide, witch, hide
The good folk come to burn thee
Their keen enjoyment hid behind
A gothic mask of duty
(Jefferson Starship)
Actually, I recall an interview with Geddy Lee where he said pretty much the same thing: “People either love or hate Rush.”
I have to love them, both out of a sense of Canadian patriotism and because all rock bassists must at some point bow before the tabernacle of Geddy Lee.
Blasphemy! All three of those bands are interesting! I’ve been a fan of Dream Theater and Tool for over 15 years, and more recently discovered and embraced Mars Volta (you could also include the Dillinger Escape Plan as the heavy nu-metal version of Mars Volta).
But it brings up an interesting question: is pretentiousness based on musical skill and ability somehow worse than pretentiousness based on theatrics or ego? (I’m talking to you, Bono! You too, Axl Rose!)
Yikes! Ummmm… That’s what I said. Take me to the confounded bridge – but please don’t throw me off it! I might not float. But I’m not a witch or blasphemer. Really.
D’oh.. I misread that as “Axes of God”, probably due to the context. It makes more sense that way.
It must just be a prog-rock thing for me, I’m not into any of those bands. However (and this is where I contradict myself) I love the Primus, particularly their early stuff, which has a heavy Rush influence. People who talk up Neal Peart can’t come to grips w/ the fact that Herb outdid him at his own game.
Zoom @ #24:
Uh huh.. could’ve fooled me.
Since I’m being called out directly here, I’ll just say that I stand behind my “soulless” comment. Emphatically. One-hundred percent. I feel the word is a concise description of why I don’t like them: The music is very well done technically, but just doesn’t resonate with me.
I enjoy throwing good-natured jabs of this sort at my Rush listening friends because it tends to be a sensitive topic, and sometimes it’s fun to push buttons. If that gets your knickers in a knot then you should listen to your own advice and relax.
I’ve always liked this section from Queen’s Roger Taylor song The Key. From his solo album Happiness?:
Full lyric at:
http://www.oldielyrics.com/lyrics/roger_taylor/the_key.html
Ian
Or how about the Reel Big Fish song, ‘Imaginary Friend’?
“I couldn’t do it
So I asked for a helping hand
To get me through it
But I guess it wasn’t in your plan
Or maybe you were
Just too busy to make time for me
I always put you first
Expected me to figure out things
But they all kept getting worse
When I think about the way you let me down
I wonder if I’m supposed to count on you
How could you ignore me?
My imaginary friend didn’t come through in the end
So now I have to find a real one
Didn’t answer when I called
Well I guess it’s just because
He was never there at all
I can’t believe it
Now that I’m looking back
Why didn’t I see it
Well I guess I didn’t even ask
While you were never
Ever in the places I would go
You never showed yourself
All those heart-felt conversations
Were with me and no one else
When I called your name
You never answered am I insane?
If you saw my suffering
How could you ignore me?
My imaginary friend didn’t come through in the end
So now I have to find a real one
Didn’t answer when I called
Well I guess it’s just because
He was never there at all
It’s not hard to let him go
I don’t know know why I ever loved him so
Maybe there is something wrong with me
I don’t see what they see
Used to fold my hands and close my eyes
And think that you were with me
Now there’s something wrong
It doesn’t seem to make much sense
I just feel so stupid now
How could I believe it?
My imaginary friend didn’t come through in the end
So now I have to find a real one
Didn’t answer when I called
Well I guess it’s just because
He was never there at all”
I’d be very surprised if you could find any “obvious Ayn Rand references” in any Rush song from the past 30 years.
pcarini, I empathize with your position. I don’t know that I’d say “soulless,” but I understand where you’re coming from. I’m not a big Rush fan, but I do respect them (and really, who doesn’t like Tom Sawyer?). Pretentious or not, I give them credit for trying something different. Not bad for a guy who didn’t even make it through high school.
As for XTC, I remember seeing the video for Dear God in high school and thinking, “Holy crap! They can do that on Mtv?” I’ve been a fan ever since!
I like Dear God a lot, but it really is of the “atheist angry at God” school, which is not that convincing to me. I don’t usually get angry at fictional characters.
Primus Sucks!*
If you love the bass you must acknowledge Geddy Lee’s influence on Les Claypool. And if you can’t appreciate Claypool you suck in a way that Primus fans won’t chant at a concert.
*True Primus fans (like true Scottsmen) know that this is the greatest term of endearment.
And since were talking about song lyrics and I’m such a metalhead, here’s some wonderful Behemoth for you bitches.
Sometimes it’s fun to play with the fundies by giving them a little bit of their worst fear; play into the paranoid delusions.
Christgrinding Avenue, from The Apostasy
Reptile!
Spreading sickness and disease among the men
Grubby creed!
What are ye but the soulless meat?
Lunatic!
Cancer consuming Thy race from inside
Beware!
No grace awaits Thee in the crying skies above
I’m on my way
Destination hell
By the power ov will
I shall complete
The devil’s work
Vultures attack!
May hell unlock overpowering might
Mourn not, my comrades!
Thou art fateless in the blinding light
Soldiers!
On the altar ov liberation crucify the whore
Rejoice!
Drink to crucifixion
For oppression is no more!
Slay the whore!
Make it bleed,
Make it weep
Let it die forever more
Slit the throat!
Let them rot
Let them pay
Let em taste their own blood
Make em crawl!
Upon this corpse
I shall feast
‘Till no hope remains for the twisted mob!
Mithras!
Raise Thy sword of judgment, loose the iron rain
Beat the drum
No earthly power
May hinder nor stop Thee
Sekhmet!
Manifestation ov Mut
Protector ov Ma’at
I call upon the most divine
To spew forth this infecting dust ov life
I’m on my way
Destination hell
By the power ov will
I shall complete
The devil’s work
Well since it’s a music thread, and we’re discussing Les Claypool… I loved the bit in the special features of “Rising Low” (Mike Gordon’s documentary about the making of Gov’t Mule’s The Deep End) where Claypool gets all doe-eyed fanboy crazy about getting to meet Chris Squire. Which surprised me rather, although I then went back and listened to some old Yes, and yeah, I can see that.
Sorry, what were we talking about?
I’m quite the Rush fan (No! Really? With this screen handle?) but it’s fine with me if not everyone likes them — as above, diversity is strength. Me, I like pretentious.
And really — I won’t spam with lyrics, but Rush has written dozens of atheist anthems — some of them are more objectivist, some are more humanist. Something for Nothing, Free Will, Roll The Bones, Witch Hunt, Totem, virtually everything on Snakes and Arrows (Faithless, Armor and Shield, The Way the Wind Blows, Far Cry).
I don’t care if they were into Rand in the 1970s. Lots of people did dumb things in the 1970s — hell, look at the picture of how they’re dressed on the 2112 album cover. :) As brighter Objectivists do, they’ve grown up since then and become much more humanist.
Or how about my new song entitled, “Quit Posting the Lyrics to Songs Because Nobody Cares”? It has no lyrics, so I can spare you the pain of having to scroll past them to see if anyone says anything interesting.
Songs critical of religion?, May I suggest the late Frank Zappa’s “Heavenly Bank Account”?, Perhaps Jethro Tull’s “My God”, or “Two Fingers”?
Are we talking about favorite bass players?
Hmmm… If it’s not Victor Wooten, it’s crrrraaap!
I don’t think that Armor and Sword is antreligion so much as decrying its use to bad ends. Lots of other things on Snakes and Arrows are definitely atheist, though, and the reference to God Delusion in the tour picture book is probably a good indication of that as well.
Rush is somewhat pretentious but I still like them.
Atheism is well within the Abrahamic religion and is nothing but an unwillingness to accept the big kahuna. So all you atheists remember you are on the same spectrum as believers, submitters, and the redeemed ones, somewhere beyond agnostics. This video too owes its theme to the Abrahamic myths. It is obviously inspired by the myth of the Tower of Babel, which was one of the many consequences of the original Fall. Just as the myth of Babel imagines humanity to have branched of into a thousand different communities none of whom understood any one else, this video too imagines the many tradition groups – here ancient, Abbrahamic and Taoic-Dharmic to be simply nbranches of some uber tree. The arttiste doesn’t understand that the one tree that undergirds his work is the tree with the Tower of Babel at its root – whence the other trees have supposedly branched out.
Tim @ #44: Did you mean Heavenly Bank Account? (sorry, that one requires a link to the vid.)
Also:
Or any big kahuna.. are you telling me I need to renounce my belief in each brand of foolishness specifically?
could you please not refer to Dillinger Escape Plan as “nu-metal?”
thank you.
“Rush is
somewhat pretentious butcompletely awesome and I still like them.”Fixed.
pcarini – Yes that’s the one, thanks for the link to the video! Here’s a weird thought, ever wonder how much the world could change if christians actually lived up to the socialism implicit in the gospels and the book of acts?, oh well, if they lived up to it they’d thank evolutionary biologists for revealing the glories of life.
Motorhead: Anti-Theism with Attitude.
Don’t Need Religion
No Voices in the Sky
God Was Never On Your Side
Religious Family Trees + (Chuck D + Axe) = Soda on keyboard by way of nasal conduit.
Wonderful set up for that simple yet brilliant finish.
Does any know any songs with lyrics that mentions PYGMIES + DWARFS???
From the Cowboy Junkies:
Someone
out there
kneeling.
No one
out there
listening.
But what I want to know
before you save my soul
is who gave this power to that f***er up there?
Someone
out there
crying.
Someone
out here
waiting.
But what I want to know
before I let you go
What I need to know
before I slowly lose control
is who gave this power to that f***er up there?
’cause there is someone
and she is out here
crying…
It’s a haunting song and oh so true.
Wow, Malignant Narcissism on Pharyngula – what an awesome treat!!!
And the video is cool as well.
I don’t really care what other people say about Rush, we all have the right to an opinion about art (unlike science!), however I must say that I am a little confused about the two words thrown around here “soulless” and “pretentious”. Mostly I am amazed that someone thinks Rushes music is soulless, but maybe it’s because the only meaning for me of that word is “enfused with emotion”. There are probably only about 10 Rush songs that fit that category (yes – in my opinion), which isn’t bad for such a large repertoire, and “Malignant Narcissism” is not one of them! at the least you must hear the humor in this song! Anyway… the other word…
Pretentious: wikipedia definitions..
1. Marked by an unwarranted claim to importance or distinction
2. Ostentatious; intended to impress others
Neither of these fit Rush, they haven’t made any claims (60% of everyone is willing to do it for them) so they can not be unwarranted. And I’m sorry but Rush doesn’t bother trying to impress others, they do their music for themselves.
It’s hard to be pretentious with a real sense of humor.
My $0.02