Feelings on Prog Rock and Rush

If we take all the so-called "problems" with Progressive Rock, that much maligned musical genre, and condense them into a single problem, it might be Prog Rock's complete lack of irony. From the song lyrics to the stage presentation, the artists (and the genre itself) often take themselves too seriously. Even the most ridiculously pseudo-intellectual, mystical, fantastical songs are delivered with the utmost earnestness. At least my favorite of these bands, Rush, matured from making these grandiose all-out Prog Rock songs with Sci-Fi/Fantasy themes and still later revealed a terrific sense of humor – and thus partially escaped the trap of being seen as too serious. These days, when Rush drag out old Prog Rock chestnuts like “Red Barchetta” in concert and bassist/vocalist Geddy Lee gets to the part about the futuristic “gleaming alloy air car,” I sometimes cringe a little. Here’s this nerdy Science Fiction story being sung without irony to an appreciative audience of fellow nerds, all of us singing along to the lyrics with the same sober sincerity as Lee. It makes me briefly think that all those criticisms we’ve heard about Prog cannot be denied as untrue, and I’m temporarily ashamed of liking the genre so much. Such is the power of the critics: that they can bleat about a musical style’s (and a band’s) alleged foibles for so long that even one of its most devout followers might begin to question his tastes and Coolness Factor. But why give the critics’ words free rental space in your mind, even temporarily? Remember what the late Spalding Gray said about critics: “Why empower those assholes?” Beyond what a group of magazine snobs says is “cool” or isn’t, you should like whatever it is you like. So when that shameful feeling about Progressive Rock and Rush comes, I remember what they’ve meant to me for the past twenty-five years – still mean to me today – and I then feel shame at being ashamed, guilty for denying them and our long relationship with each other. And I get back into their tunes…