menu Home chevron_right
MUSIC VIDEOS

Rush: Prog or Not Prog? That is the Question

Classic Album Review | August 27, 2025



In this video I discuss the thorny issue of Rush and their progginess credentials. Looking at arguments for and against this band occupying the same space as the hallowed prog giants of the 1970s.

If you like my channel and appreciate the work that goes into my videos, please support my channel. You can –

Become a Patron! – Be part of a Classic Rock Community!
There is a fine body of work on there now. https://www.patreon.com/classicrock

Make a one-time donation!
Help me to make more videos or buy stuff to annoy my wife with and unbox on my channel: https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=46G7795CU9VBA&source=url

Gift me something to unbox from my Amazon Wish List: https://www.amazon.co.uk/hz/wishlist/ls/1T8FFB9GS4H25?ref_=wl_share

Buy me a coffee. All that talk is thirsty work: https://ko-fi.com/classicalbum
Join Amazon Music: https://www.amazon.co.uk/music/unlimited/?tag=classicalbumr-21&ref_=dmm_acq_asc_inf_uk_classicalbumr-21

Like the Facebook page:
I add stuff on a daily basis: https://www.facebook.com/1968rock#

All music used in my videos come from the Free Music Archive: http://freemusicarchive.org/

#rush #ranking #classicalbum

Tagged as , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , .

Written by Classic Album Review

Comments

This post currently has 47 comments.

  4. @DAGDRUM53

    August 27, 2025 at 3:44 am

    Bands like Rush and Pink Floyd put a unique stamp on their music. They never get mixed up with
    AC/DC or Aerosmith or make you want to dance. That should be celebrated not categorized.

  6. @zd4v1d

    August 27, 2025 at 3:44 am

    Most fans of Rush are inclined, I believe, tend to think that the 2112 album was their "flowering" stage. But I tend to agree with you that A Farewell to Kings was where it really all began to solidify Rush as a force to be reckoned with. A Farewell to Kings will always stand out to me as the beginning of something magical that spanned the rest of the band's career.

    Thank you for the honest discussions in your videos from a new subscriber.

  7. @philchelmsford5748

    August 27, 2025 at 3:44 am

    Should anyone really care what they are labelled as??? It's surely not the defining factor as to whether a fan, or prospective fan, likes Rush or not?
    The ever defining factor of being a fan of any band/artsist is if you like what you hear, like their material etc… in which case what they are labelled as matters not.
    On the opposite hand, if you don't like them or what they do, their label is irrelevant.
    Genres are for guidance only, they are a rough guide, they do not ultimately define any band/artist… so if they are classed as Prog, or not, is an irrelevant question…imo

  9. @willyupshaw

    August 27, 2025 at 3:44 am

    I wonder how much of the "Rush is not prog" idea stems from Moving Pictures being their most popular and well-known album. MP has more mainstream sounds and arrangements, and I feel the first side, from which every song is played on classic rock radio, (at least in Canada) really sounds more like classic rock than prog. But those songs are somewhat an aberration, a bit like Owner of a Lonely Heart was for Yes, but for some reason, people define Yes more by their progier stuff, while Rush is often defined by Tom Sawyer and Limelight.

  10. @tomhenninger4153

    August 27, 2025 at 3:44 am

    I LOVE RUSH! However, their main issue with not being real prog is… "Extended Chords". The harmonic development is not up to YES or Genesis or ELP or many of the others.

    That's why RUSH isn't a "real" prog-rock band, in my opinion. They don't ever expand the chords. They don't push the boundaries of music. I love them. Especially "A Farewell to Kings".

    And yes, I am spitting my kidneys out on my screen. Oh my. The melodies after the 70's are not good enough. haha! I think Rush is like Pink Floyd… amazing, a little more blues based than classical or jazz based.

  12. @streamofconsciousness5826

    August 27, 2025 at 3:44 am

    Is RUSH prog, well, who did YES ask to play Bass on their RnRHoF induction… Geddy Lee is the only one who could stand in for Chris † chops and stature wise.

    RUSH were a Rock band that had aspirations of Prog in the Zeppelin vein or Acoustic parts and Dynamics, but only went full Prog when Neil Joined and evolved into a Unique Band with their own sound in 7 years. & years between RUSH and Signals. Caress, 2112 Farewell to Kings Hemispheres are the Prog Phase. (Alex has his best Tone on Caress of steel, so woody). Hemispheres is the most Concise and Focused 20 minutes on vinyl, a actual 20 minute song like a Classical piece with all the themes introduced in the intro and it turns back on itself at the end. It's not 20 minutes of Music stitched together with lyrics.

    I can see what they stopped after that, fatigue and how do you top it.

    Little off topic but if you watch the St Catherines show with John Rutsey on Drums still there is only one song that carries into the new RUSH (Best I Can) with Neil. Not even the riffs are buried in the new songs on Fly By Night, they became a new band with that change over. The riff in "Junior be good" (? might have the name wrong they introduce it as a Beatles song and never give it a title) is a great one. Without Neil they are probably not Prog lyricly or Musically. Even Kim Mitchell (Max Webster) says that.

  13. @davidsimon2096

    August 27, 2025 at 3:44 am

    I think Rush could probably lay claim to inventing Prog-Metal with albums like 2112.I personally think Farewell to Kings and Hemispheres are the only albums I would label "Prog" and they are also my favourites. That's not to say their later albums like Moving Pictures and Grace Under Pressure didn't have Proggy touches and inventive playing.

  14. @jdhill9730

    August 27, 2025 at 3:44 am

    As a young buck I thought of them as Hard Rock until I looked at their songs and how they where structured. 2112 parts A,B,C. Only Prog bands did that and songs about Greek Mythology and space themes.

  17. @coachplyoguy2637

    August 27, 2025 at 3:44 am

    Excellent video. Agree that Rush is prog. Progressive rock, prog, proggy, prog-metal, heavy prog, hard prog. Most of Rush falls in one of those categories. Let the real scientists argue over which albums are what.

  18. @bobthebear1246

    August 27, 2025 at 3:44 am

    Of course they were Prog. Rush went-through different eras, styles and sounds in their long, storied, legendary career. They started-out as pure Heavy Metal, inspired equally by Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath, But then once they got Neil Peart to replace their original drummer John Rutsey (both of them R.I.P.), they quickly adapted and became the first Prog-Metal band, and they were that from the great Fly By Night album up through Moving Pictures, which, along with its predecessor Permanent Waves, began to show significant elements of New Wave along with their continued Progginess. But beginning with Signals, all traces of Metal were gone from their sound, and wouldn't return for a very long time afterwards. Throughout most of their career, they were just simply an amazing Progressive Rock band, right up there with Yes, Genesis, Kansas and Pink Floyd.

  19. @mtp4430

    August 27, 2025 at 3:44 am

    I saw the title but didn't watch the video. Simply because Prog is a category created by the industry because you have to give everybody a label and put them in a box. Rush was a great band who I've seen live a dozen times. I Don't Care what They're classified as I don't need to stick them inside a box or to label them. I'm not a marketing director, I'm a musician.

  23. @briancox8518

    August 27, 2025 at 3:44 am

    Any band that started as a heavy rock band then experiential rock prog to electronic rock is exactly what progressive rock is
    I see similarities between rush and porcupine tree who were big fans of porcupine tree

  25. @kingkillah101

    August 27, 2025 at 3:44 am

    I've always considered 'prog' to be the same attributed label as 'grunge': not necessarily labeled by the artists that made the music. That said, I've always though two factors make a prog album / band : 1) that they are influenced and explore classical music in a rock setting and 2) that the personality of the players are specifically more important than the sum of the sound. That said, in the essence of music being 'progressive' meaning 'moving the medium forward,' then yes, Rush were indeed progressive. I do not resonate however with their 82-87 productions, but there is no doubt that Rush are indeed a deep, introspective, very personally searching band. Peart's lyrics truly helped them step forward into an almost literature-esque discography. It all reflects Mr. Neal's intellect and obvious yearning — asking all the right questions that a young man with no date on a Friday would ask of himself. Regardless of all labels, Rush are a very enjoyable band and will always be one of my favorite groups. I admire their unwillingness to kow-tow to any expectations. Losing Mr. Peart so early is a great loss. Though they were finished live, I was always hoping for one or two more studio albums. CLOCKWORK ANGELS is a fine coda to an amazing and committed career.

  26. @coreycrossman3447

    August 27, 2025 at 3:44 am

    Prog is a form of music that dates from about 1969 to 1973. Progressive music like Rush is any band that innovates beyond the confines of their genre. It's impossible to imitate the British prog scene as doing so no longer makes you progressive. So in conclusion to me their is no prog bands after 1973 but many bands have continued to expand their sounds and atmospheres in a way that those prog bands did.

  27. @Vampirebear13

    August 27, 2025 at 3:44 am

    Although perfection doesn't exist, I feel Rush were the near perfect mix of heavy rock & prog.
    Back when 2112 came out, I had an entire wall of my bedroom covered with nine 2112 concert posters.

  28. @MrTaitors

    August 27, 2025 at 3:44 am

    Could be your funniest intro ever. But leave those Kimonos alone. Of course Rush are prog. Why? With each album you never knew exactly what you were going to get! They were also Rush just not always the same one.

  31. @glensumner3425

    August 27, 2025 at 3:44 am

    Are Rush prog or not? Hmm well I don’t think king crimson is prog no 20 minute organ solos in wizard hats so not prog so is Rush prog no I don’t reckon. Is Rush great? Yes it was (a farewell to kings is my personal favourite)

  35. @MCC7113

    August 27, 2025 at 3:44 am

    I recall buying the 'All the worlds a stage' album based on the cover alone, having never previously heard them. It was ever- present on my turntable for many years after that. Lifesons guitar is much heavier than most prog (at least in the early days) so I would classify them as prog-metal around that time. When they were subsequently influenced by The Police and Ultravox the progness tapered off, but overall there's prog in there somewhere.

  40. @johnbell877

    August 27, 2025 at 3:44 am

    Another great video. Really appreciate the way you break apart the various elements of prog and how well Rush does or doesn't fit. Thinking even a song like Camera Eye, from what I think is their best album, is prog-gish, with its multiple changes, paired sets of lyrics, and so on.

  41. @haydnplus

    August 27, 2025 at 3:44 am

    There isn’t a more progressive rock thing you can do than tell your friends that their favorite progressive rock band isn’t progressive rock.

  42. @tawnieriekena7

    August 27, 2025 at 3:44 am

    Don't know. Don't care. Trying to pigeonhole music into some kind of specific genre is a fool's errand. But in my opinion, a Venn diagram of Rush and prog would overlap to some degree.

  45. @garystocker9450

    August 27, 2025 at 3:44 am

    When I am asked to describe my musical tastes I usually start with the bookends…Yes and Zeppelin. Then say that Rush is my favorite..as in my opinion they are a sweet combination of those 2 bands…

Comments are closed.

Related
Answering EVERY* Question | 300,000 Subscriber Q&A
Mic The Snare | April 19, 2026
Related
Francis Rossi (Interview) The Pink Floyd Sound | Progressive Rock | ...
Classic Album Review | April 19, 2026
Related
Khruangbin & Leon Bridges – Texas Moon – Lunar Fog ...
Poetic Wax | April 19, 2026

This area can contain widgets, menus, shortcodes and custom content. You can manage it from the Customizer, in the Second layer section.

 

 

 

Go to album
  • play_circle_filled

    92.9 : The Torch

  • play_circle_filled

    AGGRO
    'Til Deaf Do Us Part...

  • play_circle_filled

    SLACK!
    The Music That Made Gen-X

  • play_circle_filled

    KUDZU
    The Northwoods' Alt-Country & Americana

  • play_circle_filled

    BOOZHOO
    Indigenous Radio

  • play_circle_filled

    THE FLOW
    The Northwoods' Hip Hop and R&B

play_arrow skip_previous skip_next volume_down
playlist_play