I thought Alex's bit was fine...for the first ten seconds. It became a little bit much after that. He made his point well before it got ridiculous.
Enjoy the benefits of a premium membership!
Upgrade Account
-
TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
Join free Log in
Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.
Rush's RRHOF Acceptance Speech
- Thread starter Ironbar
- Start date
I was there. I met some high school buddies in LA for a weekend, highlighted by seeing our favorite band finally get inducted.
Lifeson's "speech" made me uncomfortable. It was funny for a minute or two, but eventually the joke wore thin and it just started to feel disrespectful. I get the angle on how the RRHOF was a joke and that was Lifeson's answer. But I guess I was BU2B that when someone is doing something nice for you (albeit late), you don't piss in their face. Disrespect is not the right response to disrespect.
Heart rocked, by the way. Flava Flav was just annoying; they cut almost all of his crap from the HBO special. Randy Newman was a hoot. Quincy Jones talked _forever_. John Mayer did a nice job for Albert King, but half the audience still thinks he's a butthead, no matter what he says or does.
Lifeson's "speech" made me uncomfortable. It was funny for a minute or two, but eventually the joke wore thin and it just started to feel disrespectful. I get the angle on how the RRHOF was a joke and that was Lifeson's answer. But I guess I was BU2B that when someone is doing something nice for you (albeit late), you don't piss in their face. Disrespect is not the right response to disrespect.
Heart rocked, by the way. Flava Flav was just annoying; they cut almost all of his crap from the HBO special. Randy Newman was a hoot. Quincy Jones talked _forever_. John Mayer did a nice job for Albert King, but half the audience still thinks he's a butthead, no matter what he says or does.
If they were amused, they did a heck of a good job fooling me into thinking they were uncomfortable and a little embarrassed.
Watch it again, and watch them the whole time instead of Alex. You tell me. Maybe I'm wrong.
I can imagine how all three of them were in on it, and the whole thing seemed like a good idea until Alex was 5 minutes in. At that point, only the three of them could see the faces and the reaction of the audience. Maybe Geddy and Neil decided in their minds that it wasn't the coolest idea after all, but Alex was all in and plowed onward.
To me, it seemed banal. Like something Sid Vicious would have done, not the cerebral geeky approach I would expect from Rush.
Alex is a great guitar player and a rubbish comedian. He should stick to what he knows best. I did not find it insulting in the least, but on occasions he makes an idiot out of himself and this is one of them
Alex told a story, and he told it very well without using words. To anyone who doesn't speak English, they would've understood the entire story, and that people is successful communication.
A friend and myself took a break from touring Crete and spent an entire afternoon conversing with a local man we learned he had a daughter in Toronto; he'd been in WWII; opposed the communists; was shot; put in prison... He asked us a lot of questions so I imagine he learned a lot about us, too. He didn't speak a lick of English and our Greek was limited to "Παρακαλούμε" and "σας ευχαριστώ". We had a great time conversing with the gent.
Lifeson said more than words could convey, words would have failed him. He's not only a great musician, but as it turns out a great actor and funny as hell.
*If you listen to what Alex is communicating, and not what he's saying (blah blah blah), his speech doesn't get boring at all.
I like Rush though I'm not a fan, but this took me another step in that direction.
So, Blah!
A friend and myself took a break from touring Crete and spent an entire afternoon conversing with a local man we learned he had a daughter in Toronto; he'd been in WWII; opposed the communists; was shot; put in prison... He asked us a lot of questions so I imagine he learned a lot about us, too. He didn't speak a lick of English and our Greek was limited to "Παρακαλούμε" and "σας ευχαριστώ". We had a great time conversing with the gent.
Lifeson said more than words could convey, words would have failed him. He's not only a great musician, but as it turns out a great actor and funny as hell.
*If you listen to what Alex is communicating, and not what he's saying (blah blah blah), his speech doesn't get boring at all.
I like Rush though I'm not a fan, but this took me another step in that direction.
So, Blah!
Alex has been very clear over the years that he couldn't give two sh*ts about the HOF, and the only pissing that happened was the HOF pissing in the faces of Rush fans, and non-fans who respect Rush, for years.
If Alex had gotten kicked out of the building for his antics I'd be even more proud of him.
The HOF is meaningless. Rush will be remembered for their music, their work ethic, their creativity, their ability to sell out stadiums in their 60s while playing like they are in their 30s.
Nobody is going to remember Rush because they got inducted into a club with Madonna.
Really?
There sure were a lot of Rush fans mad as hell every time an induction came and went without Rush being part of it.
If it's so meaningless to fans, what was that all about then?
I'm with you. They're better NOW than they ever have been in their live shows. Pretty cool to hit 60 and not be at your peak yet.
I've only seen Rush 3 times. You're practically a Rush virgin at that point. All 3 times, it was a pretty packed house. Props to them for such an "unpopular" band.
At risk of heresy and possibly derailing this thread, I disagree. Rush's music these days has too many tracks - particularly too many overdubbed Geddy vocal tracks, but also too many guitar layers. The only way to make those tracks happen live is to use recordings. It works, but to my ears the live show is less engaging than it once was because I'm hearing _exactly_ the same music that's on the record.
But I am glad people are still going, because it keeps them making music.
Meh. Not paying $120 for a nosebleed seat because Geddy wants to "give most of the ticket sales to charities". I'll go see Megadeth or Metallica for half that.
The speech was fine if he got the result from it he wanted, but I doubt it.
The speech was fine if he got the result from it he wanted, but I doubt it.
A bit off topic, but at the risk of losing my hipster card, I visited the R&R Hall of Fame in Cleveland and loved it. I thought it was great to see all the exquisite vintage instruments, great and unusual photos, and even clothes worn by by the heroes of my younger days. In particular I remember some of the lyrics of Hendrix' songs roughly pencilled onto notebook paper as he wrote them. Politics aside, I can't imagine why anyone with an interest in R&R music would not be impressed by it!
Geddy has explained how he feels in this Rolling Stone Interview. Conveniently, he and I seem to agree.
"I had no idea he was doing that. Let me go on the record to say he didn't tell us he was doing that. In fact, I know he had a whole other speech planned. Neil and I thought he had lost his marbles when he was talking. You can see the look on our faces behind him going, "What the **** is he doing?" And of course, we couldn't see him act it all out. We just kept hearing, "blah blah blah blah blah."
I don't know what his pure intent was, but I think it was more a knock on speeches, the whole process of the hall of fame induction thing.
He's a mental case. And he's genuinely one of the funniest people you would ever meet in your life. But I wanted to kill him at the three minute mark. Neil and I were threatening to knock him on the head and drag him offstage."
"I had no idea he was doing that. Let me go on the record to say he didn't tell us he was doing that. In fact, I know he had a whole other speech planned. Neil and I thought he had lost his marbles when he was talking. You can see the look on our faces behind him going, "What the **** is he doing?" And of course, we couldn't see him act it all out. We just kept hearing, "blah blah blah blah blah."
I don't know what his pure intent was, but I think it was more a knock on speeches, the whole process of the hall of fame induction thing.
He's a mental case. And he's genuinely one of the funniest people you would ever meet in your life. But I wanted to kill him at the three minute mark. Neil and I were threatening to knock him on the head and drag him offstage."
Um, yep. Sounds about right to me as well, and spoken like someone who has some brains, especially the bolded part. You'd think if this was some secret communication tactic that only the ultimate best-of-the-best insider Rush fans were privileged to, Geddy and Neil would have figured it out. Evidently, that ain't the case. So much for that line of crap.
Like Ged, I think if there was any shred of redeeming value to what Alex did, it was a (immature) knock on speeches, and if Alex was that much against the whole award/acceptance/RRHOF process, he could have protested it much more effectively by simply boycotting the ceremony and staying home.
Or at least off the stage.
