Why is Pink Floyd more popular and appealing than Rush?

[5StringBlues]

There's a school of thought that would say the police might have influenced Rush a little bit. The reggae breakdown in spirit of the radio, the more atmospheric guitar textures and such. Fully agree with your statements about the police bringing reggae into rock

The Police changed the way drummers played, they also brought reggae in to the rock blood stream. The Police were more influential on popular music than Rush for sure. IMHO

 

[Gluvhand]

There's a school of thought that would say the police might have influenced Rush a little bit. The reggae breakdown in spirit of the radio, the more atmospheric guitar textures and such. Fully agree with your statements about the police bringing reggae into rock

I think that was more of an Ultravox influence, which Rush has acknowledged more than once. Particularly the song All Stood Still. Or not. I think they were influenced by both, a lot.

 

[5StringBlues]

Either way, there was certainly an attempt to modernize the sound.

I think that was more of an Ultravox influence, which Rush has acknowledged more than once. Particularly the song All Stood Still. Or not. I think they were influenced by both, a lot.

 

[51PRI]

In general Pink Floyd has a much wider appeal to rock fans than Rush. It seems their music is also more appealing to women.
What do you think, why?

You nailed it in the first sentence of your first post: "In general Pink Floyd has a much wider appeal to rock fans than Rush"

 

[dougjwray]

I agree that it's quite an extreme "apples and oranges" comparison. I hear them as being on two opposite ends of a spectrum-- qualities that happen to turn me off to both of them.
Rush: too frenetic
Pink Floyd: too inert
I know that I'm being superficial, and I've never bothered to really explore either band. But that's my bird's eye view.