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Profiles in Popular Music
Rush, Rock Music, and the Middle Class: Dreaming in Middletown
Canadian progressive rock band Rush was the voice of the suburban middle class. In this book, Chris McDonald assesses the band's impact on popular music and its legacy for legions of fans. McDonald explores the ways in which Rush's critique of suburban life―and its strategies for escape―reflected middle-class aspirations and anxieties, while its performances manifested the dialectic in prog rock between discipline and austerity, and the desire for spectacle and excess. The band's reception reflected the internal struggles of the middle class over cultural status. Critics cavalierly dismissed, or apologetically praised, Rush's music for its middlebrow leanings. McDonald's wide-ranging musical and cultural analysis sheds light on one of the most successful and enduring rock bands of the 1970s and 1980s.
272 pages, Paperback
First published October 1, 2009
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
October 9, 2020
This book will only be of interest if you are 1) an enormous Rush fan; 2) an enormous dork (though perhaps one follows the other in this case); 3) you can stomach a lot of high-falutin academic language; 4) you are intensely curious about the social class implications of middlebrow progressive rock; and 5) you have been listening to Subdivisions repeatedly and wrestling with repressed memories of suburban ennui and a dichotomous longing for the excitement of the city and the safety and familiarity of predictably placed environs.
If all those things happen to be true, this is worth a read, in particular because, despite being written more than a decade ago, it offers a lot of insight into why middle class white Americans might be swayed by certain ochre-hued demagogues.
If all those things happen to be true, this is worth a read, in particular because, despite being written more than a decade ago, it offers a lot of insight into why middle class white Americans might be swayed by certain ochre-hued demagogues.
September 25, 2016
Disclaimer: I have been a huge Rush fan for most of my life. I own all their albums (many in multiple formats) and videos, and have seen them live in concert on numerous occasions dating back to the 1980s. Alex Lifeson is the reason I learned to play guitar 30 years ago. Needless to say, my interest in and enjoyment of this book come with significant bias.
Although the book reveals little new information about Rush's music, it eloquently presents the band's career within a larger social context and offers fresh insights. As the title promises, this is a study of the relationship between rock music (specifically Rush, but including other relevant bands as well) and the middle class (specifically white, male, North American).
The author, who has a Ph.D. in ethnomusicology and is a university professor, exhibits considerable musical knowledge and facility of language in conveying such knowledge. He is able to intelligently discuss not only the lyrical content of songs but also their instrumental composition, e.g., use of time signatures, modes, quartal harmony, etc. This makes for a denser but more well-rounded read than is typically found in books about rock music, which often focus exclusively or predominantly on words.
Many Rush fans, myself included, have long felt a personal connection to the band. We discovered them at a particular time in life while searching for identity and meaning, and found that they spoke to us in a way that few other bands did. While this may have made each of us feel special on an individual basis, it's more than a little amusing to realize that so many shared the same "unique" experience.
What I learned more than anything from this book is that given my gender, cultural background, and socioeconomic status, my discovering and falling in love with Rush was not only predictable but also possibly inevitable. So much for freewill. (Sorry, couldn't resist a little Rush geek humor.)
The other thing I learned, which is arguably even more important, is that as a member of said gender, background, and status, I take certain things for granted as universal that are not in fact universal but are rather only agreed upon by a certain subset of the population. Being able to see outside one's own sphere is difficult if not impossible, but at least being aware that one is in a sphere alongside many others is a step in the right direction, especially in the current climate.
Overall, this book was well conceived, well researched, and well presented. It gave me much to think about, and I'm sure I'll read it again at some point to pick up any stray bits I may have missed the first time.
Although the book reveals little new information about Rush's music, it eloquently presents the band's career within a larger social context and offers fresh insights. As the title promises, this is a study of the relationship between rock music (specifically Rush, but including other relevant bands as well) and the middle class (specifically white, male, North American).
The author, who has a Ph.D. in ethnomusicology and is a university professor, exhibits considerable musical knowledge and facility of language in conveying such knowledge. He is able to intelligently discuss not only the lyrical content of songs but also their instrumental composition, e.g., use of time signatures, modes, quartal harmony, etc. This makes for a denser but more well-rounded read than is typically found in books about rock music, which often focus exclusively or predominantly on words.
Many Rush fans, myself included, have long felt a personal connection to the band. We discovered them at a particular time in life while searching for identity and meaning, and found that they spoke to us in a way that few other bands did. While this may have made each of us feel special on an individual basis, it's more than a little amusing to realize that so many shared the same "unique" experience.
What I learned more than anything from this book is that given my gender, cultural background, and socioeconomic status, my discovering and falling in love with Rush was not only predictable but also possibly inevitable. So much for freewill. (Sorry, couldn't resist a little Rush geek humor.)
The other thing I learned, which is arguably even more important, is that as a member of said gender, background, and status, I take certain things for granted as universal that are not in fact universal but are rather only agreed upon by a certain subset of the population. Being able to see outside one's own sphere is difficult if not impossible, but at least being aware that one is in a sphere alongside many others is a step in the right direction, especially in the current climate.
Overall, this book was well conceived, well researched, and well presented. It gave me much to think about, and I'm sure I'll read it again at some point to pick up any stray bits I may have missed the first time.
May 31, 2020
This is the first time reading a cultural and academic criticism of one of my favorite bands, Rush. Chris McDonald mainly ties and equates Rush, it’s music, and it’s fans to the idea of the “middle class.” In the book, McDonald explores several ideas that relate to the middle class and connects them to Rush’s music, including suburban desire for escape, individualism, professionalism and virtuosity, and discipline. There is also a discussion of the breakdown of representations of Rush fandom and the complicated relationship between Rush and rock critics. Overall, this is a very enjoyable read, and McDonald deserves credit for presenting an objective take on all issues and does not stray into defending Rush at all costs. Still, there is this slightly negative sense I’m left with that Rush doesn’t get all the credit it rightfully deserves....but that’s probably the fanboy in me.
August 31, 2012
It's an academic work, but for all that, I found parts of it very interesting. Not being a Rush fan, or a musician, I skipped over some parts (didn't care about the musical analysis, didn't care about the fan survey). I found the discussion of the lyrics interesting and his comments on critics interesting as well. Some of the book reminded me of my own academic efforts to stretch a thesis to cover my source material (I didn't buy some of the things he attributed to being middle class values as actually being specifically middle class), but there was enough here to keep me interested and reading. Of interest to even the casual Rush fan.
August 3, 2016
This Academic look at the mostly early career of Rush is for fans only, of which I count myself. My appreciation for their songs and their lyrics grew, but only moderately. I did however learn some new aspects to living a middle-class life. Reading this book did inspire me to listen to many of the albums that I had not gotten out in a very long time. Which is, most decidedly, a good thing.
April 3, 2017
This was interesting and had some fun parts. I grew up middle class and I am still middle class. Neil Peart and Rush aren't middle class even though they are humble enough about their wealth. Sadly the book acknowledges why so many of us like Rush - we're mostly middle class blokes and I buy it.
July 18, 2013
Interesting. Very academic.
August 16, 2010
A sociological look at the impact Rush has had on its fans and the hard rock/progressive genres.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews