35 Years Ago Today Rush Released "Signals."

I had it when it came out and really liked it. But these days I don't care for it much.

From wikipedia
"Countdown" is a song by Rush from their 1982 album Signals. Its lyrics are about the first launch of the Space Shuttle Columbia,^[1] which the band members watched from a VIP area called "Red Sector A" (the name was later used for a song on the band's next album, Grace Under Pressure). The song incorporates audio from voice communications between astronauts John W. Young and Robert Crippen and ground control along with commentary from the Kennedy Space Center Public Affairs Officer leading up to the launch.^[2]
The song incorporates a driving rhythm and heavy use of synthesizers, with Geddy Lee switching between his synthesizer on the verses and his Rickenbacker 4001 bass on the song's chorus. The lyrics paint a vivid account of the group's experiences witnessing the launch. The song closes the album, with its cautionary tales of man's reliance on technology, on a more positive, celebratory note.^[3]
The song was used as a wakeup song for astronauts during STS-109, which was the last successful flight of Space Shuttle Columbia. It was used again for astronaut Mike Fincke during STS-134, flown by Space Shuttle Endeavour on its final mission before retirement. Fincke described how his friends Greg Shurtz and NASA employee Ken Fisher chose the song because the band was inspired to write it after viewing the launch of STS-1. Fincke went on to say the song was played as a tribute to the space shuttle program, which has inspired people around the world.^[4]
This song, as printed in the liner notes of the Signals album, is dedicated to "the astronauts Young & Crippen and all the people of NASA for their inspiration and cooperation."

Rush is one of those bands that had some highly gifted musicians that I just never could get into.  I didn't care for them way back when.  Even now when they come on Ozzy's Boneyard, I will flip back over to Hair Nation.

"Grace Under Pressure" was the first album that I had heard of RUSH. Still love it to this day. After that I got into their whole older catalog. This album has some great songs such as "Subdivisions", but doesn't get as much play from me as other albums.

deathisgain wrote: This album has some great songs such as "Subdivisions", but doesn't get as much play from me as other albums.

Can't disagree with this. A couple solid songs, but overall kinda meh.

Strangely as a Rush fan who has most of their albums I don't have this one and have never heard it all the way thru. Maybe I need to pick it up.

I had never heard Hemispheres until it was reissued on vinyl a couple of years ago and I bought it on a whim. Love Hemispheres! Might be the same case if I bought this but this was the start of the heavy keyboard era which I don't care for at all. I will say those albums have outstanding tracks which is why I prefer Show Of Hands from this era. It has the best cuts of the keyboard-era Rush without having the filler.

The back catalog for Rush is pretty cheap on Amazon, usually 5 bucks a disc. I should prob pick this one up.