In late 1975, on a seemingly endless and horrible tour, the band Rush faced a dilemma. Their third album, Caress of Steel, was experiencing pretty poor sales. To make matters worse, their record company, Mercury, was disappointed and really didn’t like the long, conceptual songs like “The Necromancer” or “The Fountain of Lamenth,” which was broken into six parts and took up an entire side of the LP. Mercury wanted singles. They demanded hits and said no to any more concept albums.
The Canadian trio, with their backs against the wall, said the heck with it. Rather than satisfy the record company, they came out with another concept album, one that had a single conceptual song (in seven parts this time) that took up the entire first side of the LP. Faced with long odds, Rush doubled down on their convictions … and won big.
The album, 2112, raced up the charts. Fans loved it and the album was recognized as their first major commercial success. It was the first in a string of platinum albums and one that was released again this week, remixed in 5.1 surround sound on CD, DVD Audio, and Blu-ray Audio. Some versions include a comic book with art depicting themes of all of 2112‘s songs by Tom Hodges (Star Wars – The Clone Wars). The release was timed to coincide with the week of the 21st day of the 12th month, a day Rush fans recognize as an international day of celebration of the band.
So whether you pop in a remixed copy of 2112, play “The Temples of Syrinx” on Rock Band, or just pick out another song from the archives, crank it up and enjoy Rush Day!
