Farewell to rock's greatest drummer

Remembering Rush Drummer Neil Peart: Rock's Greatest Drummer (and Randian) | National Review - Kyle Smith:

January 10, 2020 - "Neil Peart, the Canadian drummer and leader of the Seventies hard-rock band Rush, has died. Peart had battled brain cancer for three years.

"Fan polls routinely agreed he was the greatest rock drummer of his time (or indeed of all time, I would argue, though some would go with Keith Moon). I’m not sure any rock track boasts drumming that can match Peart’s breathtaking work on the 1981 song “Tom Sawyer”.... Peart also wrote the big majority of his band’s lyrics, which were among the most ambitious ever attempted in the hard-rock space.... Peart was a genius at tapping into the restless alienation of late-teen boys who think they’re smarter than everyone around them.... Peart told Rolling Stone four years ago, 'I set out to never betray the values that 16-year-old had, to never sell out, to never bow to the man. A compromise is what I can never accept'....

"He also labeled himself a libertarian and in youth dabbled in Ayn Randism, naming Rush’s 1975 song 'Anthem' for her 1937 novel Anthem, which was among George Orwell’s influences for 1984, and crediting Rand in the liner notes for her influence on the 1976 Rush album 2112. What teen boy didn’t also flirt with Rand? To persist with a Rand fixation is not the mark of a healthy mind, though. When asked in 2012 (again in Rolling Stone) if Rand’s words still spoke to him, he said, 'Oh, no. That was 40 years ago.' Peart did retain his libertarianism, after a fashion. He explained:

In that 2112 album, again, I was in my early twenties. I was a kid. Now I call myself a bleeding heart libertarian. Because I do believe in the principles of Libertarianism as an ideal – because I’m an idealist. Paul Theroux’s definition of a cynic is a disappointed idealist. So as you go through past your twenties, your idealism is going to be disappointed many many times. And so, I’ve brought my view and also – I’ve just realized this – Libertarianism as I understood it was very good and pure and we’re all going to be successful and generous to the less fortunate and it was, to me, not dark or cynical. But then I soon saw, of course, the way that it gets twisted by the flaws of humanity. And that’s when I evolve now into  ... a bleeding heart Libertarian. That’ll do.

"Peart died in Santa Monica on January 7. R.I.P."

Read more: https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/remembering-rush-drummer-neil-peart-rocks-greatest-drummer-and-randian/
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Bob Marley sang of and for freedom (video)

Songs of Freedom: The Music of Bob Marley - Peter Saint-Andre, Full Context:

September 1993 - "The rock group Rush is the most famous libertarian band in the world, and justifiably so.... But there are other popular musicians who sing songs of freedom, one of the best of whom was the Jamaican reggae singer Bob Marley, who died in 1981. He was the most famous popular artist to come out of the Third World, and the most consistent in his celebration of freedom....

"Marley's music and thought is bound up with the religion of Rastafari. However, the essence of Rasta (which Marley once said means 'righteousness') is substantially political, so that the themes of Rasta and politics are often intertwined in Marley's music.

"Marley's earlier political songs are mostly protests against the system. Consider these lines from the song 'Slave Driver': 'Every time I hear the crack of a whip my blood runs cold / I remember on the slave ship how they brutalized the very souls / Today they say that we are free / Only to be chained in poverty'. Or these from 'Concrete Jungle', a song about life in a government housing project: 'Concrete jungle, where the living is hardest / Man, you've got to do your best / No chains around my feet but I'm not free / I know I am bound here in captivity'. Or these from 'Rebel Music (Three O'Clock Road Block)': 'Why can't we roam this open country / Why can't we be what we want to be / We want to be free'.

"Later in his career, Marley's songs became more than mere protest songs, and even evidenced an understanding of the causes of political problems. In 'Revolution', he sings: 'Never make a politician grant you a favor / They will always want to control you forever'. In 'War', he expounds on why the world is filled with conflict: 'Until the philosophy which holds one race superior and another inferior is finally and permanently discredited and abandoned / Until there are no longer first class and second class citizens of any nation / Until the color of a man's skin is of no more significance than the color of his eyes / Until the basic human rights are equally guaranteed to all without regard to race / There's war'. Yet Marley is not anti-Western in his denunciation of injustice – he explicitly mentions 'the ignoble and unhappy regimes that hold our brothers in Angola, in Mozambique, South Africa', which must be 'toppled' and 'utterly destroyed' if war is to vanish.

"One of my favorite Marley songs, and one expressing his belief in human rights for all, is 'Get Up Stand Up' (which Amnesty International uses as its unofficial anthem). What I like about it is its secularism, and at the same time its insistence that you demand your rights. Here are some representative lines: 'Most people think great god will come from the sky, take away everything and make everybody feel high / But if you know what life is worth you will look for yours on earth / And now when you see the light, stand up for your right / Get up stand up, stand up for your right / Get up stand up, don't give up the fight / Life is your right, so don't give up the fight'."

Read more: https://stpeter.im/writings/essays/marley.html
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'Libertarian icons' Rush announce final major tour

Canadian progressive rock legend Rush to mark 40 years with last tour | Showbiz | Malay Mail Online:

January 23, 2015 - "Canadian progressive rock giants and libertarian icons Rush today announced concerts across North America in what the band said would be its last major tour.

"The tour, which comes 41 years after Rush released its self-titled debut album, will start May 8 in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and close on August 1 at the Los Angeles-area Forum.

"Rush’s three members in a statement said they wanted to 'celebrate with the most loyal fans in the world' by playing four decades worth of material on what 'will most likely be their last major tour of this magnitude.'

"Rush had its start in Toronto playing the hard guitar-driven sound that was then becoming popular but eventually became a major force in so-called progressive rock, which employed synthesizers and explored more complex song structures.

"The band’s lyrics, written by drummer Neil Peart, often examine the responsibility of the individual in society in songs inspired by science fiction and ancient mythology.

"The lyricism has made Rush the favorite band for many in the libertarian movement, which opposes a large role for government, although Peart and lead vocalist Geddy Lee have steered clear of identifying themselves directly with political groups.

"Peart, Lee and guitarist Alex Lifeson were the first rockers to be decorated with the Order of Canada, and Rush was inducted in 2013 into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame."

http://www.themalaymailonline.com/showbiz/article/canadian-progressive-rock-legend-rush-to-mark-40-years-with-last-final-tour
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For more information, go to: http://www.rush.com/

NPR interviews Matt Kibbe of FreedomWorks

A Libertarian With Roots In Rock Music : NPR - Weekend edition, Sunday:

March 30, 2014 - "RACHEL MARTIN, HOST: We're going to hear now how a prominent libertarian found his political voice.... Matt Kibbe was just 13 when he fell under the spell of a certain rock band.

MATT KIBBE: Well, I was listening to a lot of Led Zeppelin, but it was the band Rush really got me starting to read and pay attention to ideas.

MARTIN: On the Rush album, 2112, the band sings of a futuristic society, in which thought and expression are controlled by a top-down autocracy.... Now, many years later, you could say Matt Kibbe has turned those early teenage notions into a career. He's the head of FreedomWorks, the grassroots organization that helped launch the Tea Party. His latest book is called Don't Hurt People and Don't Take Their Stuff: A Libertarian Manifesto.

"I asked him to talk more generally about America at this moment and whether he thinks our society already resembles the dystopia imagined by Rush."

Read more: http://www.npr.org/2014/03/30/296673083/a-libertarian-with-roots-in-rock-music
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