Great reaction ... as a non musician, I was feeling quite emotional seeing your appreciation of it. Comic was done for the 40th Anniversary. I apply some David Lynch logic of why the protagonist kills himself in the song but later emerges from the cave in the comic. This song is a metaphor of their battle with the record label (at the time) that wanted them to do more commercial stuff rather than these epics and gave them one last chance to conform. They said FU, so they were essentially committing professional suicide with the production of this track (and hence the ambiguous ending) ... 40 years later, it's clear they didn't ... they survived and prospered.

Ah, man - brings me back to my first listen. Still has the power to raise the hairs on my arms... P.S. Almost everyone I know who's heard this the first time says it's life-changing. And to think: RUSH thought this was most likely their farewell...

Check out the “b” side of 2112 on vinyl record. Opens with Passage To Bangkok... I was 15 when I heard that. Was already a fan from pre-Neil days with Finding My Way and Working Man. Then Fly By Night and the Professor came along... it’s been a good ride ever since with Rush on the stereo!

This blew my head when I was 12! I used to listen to this in bed with a pair of cheap headphones on and now I'm 50 listening to RUSH in a Dolby Atmos 7.1 headphones! It still kicks ass! God, I love this track soooo much!!

Incredible. Wait till you hear LA VILLA STRANGIATO LIVE FROM EXIT STAGE LEFT. ONE OF THE GREATEST INSTRUMENTALS ON ONE IF THE GREATEST LIVE ALBUMS NO DOUBT 🔥

Awesome. Old guys rule :)

🇨🇦✌🏻🇨🇦

I still believe this was Neil's greatest work

RUSH never gets old.

Same here mate at 61 and the live 2112 tour at that... \m/

That's awesome

Ditto...first album bought with mow the grass money.

Absolute facts. Not a shred of BS here 🤘🏻

😂😁❤️

I guess when you're a genius it doesn't take long 😂

@@OutLoudReactions - You should react to Babymetal. They're really interesting for two main reasons. They mix cuteness with metal and they mix more genres of music in various songs than anyone. Their live performances are awesome. I recommend 'BxMxC' official if you insist on doing a music video. But my first suggestion would be 'Catch Me If You Can' live at Budokan. It's a great mix of cute and heavy.

😆😆😂

Gotta love a well placed word play pun. :P

Always loved that line!

When "2112" is your answer to "Can you sound more like Bad Company?" you have truly ascended to a higher plane of existence.

The record company were the priests! I love how art and life were perfectly synced here. Makes it all the more beautiful.

A beautifully ,written, scripted, fantasy, f.u. to the record label.

Trees is my second favorite of their political style songs then subdivisions

Radio friendly ..here you go. I saw this tour they were 👍

Me too. Alex sets the mood and Geddys voice just hits in all the right places. Perfection.

yea for me that moment is the big payoff for the whole song.

Agreed and I choose to live my life in the chapter of Discovery!

Awesome story...it's a terrible thing that those type of experiences have drastically dwindled because kids today spend almost all of their time looking at a smartphone...(as I am doing right now, lol)

Great story. The first time I heard this song, I was just digging the music. Then the Hero discovers the guitar and I went into bliss, realizing what this song was about. I still cry and get goosebumps listening to this album.

BAMMMM! WOW. Perfect way to put it.

Small adjustment: you either love Rush, or you hate Geddy's voice. This is the ONLY reason I have ever heard from someone who actively dislikes Rush or couldn't get into them. I still think they crazy; I love his voice.

I had a new co-worker say last week, you like Rush? I have a friend who is a die hard Rush fan and i laughed because there aren't many fans out there that are like, "oh Rush? Yeah they are okay, i saw them once on the RTB tour.. " I told him most fans will tell you they are their number 1 fan (lol), and we all are. Weird and cool to share something so special with such a unique group of people. Bunch of weirdos, lol. If I meet someone and they are a fan, I instantly trust them (maybe not the smartest), but I've met a lot of fans over the years and not one isn't someone i wouldn't trust to watch my dog. True

@@lvgelfling72 When I married my foreign wife back in 2005 we had to go through the standard interview process with immigration officials to make sure you had a legit marriage. As soon as the interviewer saw my Rush concert t-shirt and found out that I was a Rush fan we were in like Flynn! Brothers for life!

Out of body experience

❤ your comment! 1 TO RUSH. 👍🙌

Ahead of our time!!!!

Totally agree...love the "1 to RUSH" comment

He also just seemed to get better with age. If Alex were with another band, he would be the first band member mentioned. But he happened to be in a band that has arguably the best rock drummer and bassist of all time.

@@norwegianblue2017 Too true...Once he was on the Trailer Park Boys, I knew that he'd broken through...:D...Rush will always be in my top 5 groups; tied with Yes, Genesis, Tull, and Van der Graaf Generator...:) Oh, and Giant, and ELP, and Crimso; so like, an 8 way tie...:)

I think he smokes everybody personally. He can not only shred but also play with lots of feeling and emotion.

Decades later Tim will be watching others react to 2112.... 🤔 In other words 🤯 Tim will be us! 😂🐰 #ENRGYZRBunny

@@cityhonors1 LOL...No doubt

So true

Tim: I can't believe what I'm hearing right no w Rush: Hold my beer

@@BoltzNBrews They really are the epitome of the "oh, you don't think we can do that? Hold my beer" bands

They didn’t even believe. They thought that their music careers would be over if they made another concept album with a full side epic, but did it anyway. They said they had resigned themselves to going back to their day-jobs after the shit hit the fan and the record company dropped them for daring to go against the wisdom of the executives. They just went all in because they didn’t want to even play music if they couldn’t play the music they liked and be contractually obligated to write short radio-friendly songs they hated to play. They were as shocked as anyone when their popularity sky-rocketed with the release of 2112 and it went so high, that the executives left them alone from then on. The executives only care about cash and as long as Rush continued to bring in the green, they were happy to shut their mouths and let the boys alone.

My story exactly

@@williamarbogast349 ..... To be honest, I was a bit turned off by Geddy’s high, screechy voice.....at first. The jams and the lyrics thrilled me so much that I didn’t care about Geddy’s voice. Over time, though, I grew to respect it and then to love it. Geddy’s voice is unique, and therefore perfect for his unique band.

2112 came as back catalogue for me coming in at 82. A guy in High School who I wasn't even really friends with found out I was getting into them, gives me a copy of 2112 on vinyl. I take it home and start playing. I hear Overture. I have to hear it again before continuing. At least 10 times before continuing. By the time I did to Grand Finale (which got the needle moved back on that part a half dozen times) I went 50 or so minutes which was suppose to take 20 minutes for a song. Lol The next day he asked how I liked the album? Let me tell you... He definitely was a friend after this gift

Same 😂

born in '74 - my brother gave me a mixed tape with Tom Sawyer + YYZ on it in 1985. been listening ever since-

Tim is a good guy

@@lepantoslim7058 it definitely shows. 😊

Like the roller coaster analogy

Well put.

It was the anger in this song that drew me in. I was a 16 year old and like most 16 years old, feeling rebellion against the machine, so this song touched right on that sentiment, like it probably did for most 14-18 year old teens. It would be many years before I learned the back story of how this came to be and damn did that strike a cord? You can just feel all,of the frustration and anger the band members were feeling? In an interview this said that they had resided in the fact that they’d have to go back to their day-jobs, because only Rush would rather give up their musical career if they couldn’t write and play the music they wanted, the music they thought that their true fans wanted and would eventually find those fans if the song was communicated right. Instead of writing nice radio-friendly songs as the record executives suggested, if they wanted to keep their career, they went all in on the biggest epic, themed concept album ever! It really paid off for them, because it was the frustration felt in every note Geddy sang that drew in a whole new crowd of frustrated fans everywhere. The success of 2112 got them forever out from under the dictates of the record executives, cast I’m the role of the priest. It’s perfect, Rush are the man in the cave, trying to introduce those stupid executives that net everything has to be short, radio-friendly songs and they could find a smart crowd, one looking for something different that would challenge their beliefs. It’s such genius and stuck it to those priest, just like the elder race, being the new fans they acquired, who nailed those executives to the wall, making them powerless to stop this creative band form speaking it’s mind. I’ll never forget first hearing the line, “oh yes we know, it’s nothing new, it’s just a waste of time” for the first time and the way Geddy sings the parts of the priest are so angry and definitive as if they have all the answers.

Epic!

Look, I’m a huge Rush fan, there my favorite; saw them 11 times; but you have to put Zeppelin and Pink Floyd right up there, too, don’t you?

@@bobespirit2112 It's an opinion. Like my children I love them all equally. My favorite is who I am listening to at the time. Best or Greatest ? Who determines that ?

​@@bobespirit2112 I can see where you are coming from as LZ is fantastic and my 2nd favourite group .. But RUSH is on another level !!! Their complexity, precision ,uniqueness musicianship, ability to sound great at live concerts can be matched by NO ONE !!! RUSH, LEGENDS, THE HOLY TRINITY !!!!!

What’s harder to believe is that three of the greatest musicians and arguably the best on their respective instrument would live within about 20 miles of each other? How is that possible? You’d think that you’d have to scour the globe to find that kind of talent, not three young lads living in Toronto, Canada of all places. Quite mind-boggling when you think about it?

@@RoarOfWolverine You are absolutly right about that. I feel really privaliged to have seen the guys live, and now enjoy watching reaction videos to see people being amazed about the music of Rush.

When people bash Neil's playing. I always ask now can you compose a song like him with that kind of detail.?

Beautifully and well said.

The thing is that these people who bash Neil and Alex could have *never* composed this epic music today, much less 40+ years ago.

Thing is, the hardest part of making a song is composing and arranging it in the first place. It’s coming up with the song, yeah you do have to have the chops, but all you gotta do is walk into any Guitar Center and find people a dime a dozen with chops that’ll never get anywhere other than maybe teaching music.

@@GT-mq1dx yep. That's were Rush not only learned their chops, they learned to become masters at songwriting. That to me is even more crucial than musicianship alone. They learned how to restrain and be patient, how to build up and when to just play fire at times. Make even the simple stuff in a song sound dynamic. Because all 3 were unselfish in terms of making music and writing songs you get a very rare chemistry in a band and Rush might be tops in that. Neil once said he didn't want to be famous he wanted to be good. That was all 3 of them strived for and succeeded. Rush's music to me has never been gifted musicianship of each ones talents but the 3 as a whole. Rush brought the attention to what 3 guys not limited by the amount of players could make a sound so rich and diverse. And their critics may not like their music or playing but they don't have much if any argument what they could play together. They will always be one of the most unique and talented bands of Rock music

😂😂😂😂😂 this comment is just everything bro'! 🤣🐰 #ENRGYZRBunny

I thought it was based on The Fountainhead? I'm sure Anthem has some influence though

@@mindfuzz2470 No, it was specially ANTHEM. Instead of guitar, the protagonist finds a lab and rediscovers electric light. Tries to share the gift of electric light with the council elders, but is rejected (the society has regressed to candlelight).

I can't tell you how relieved I was to hear Neil Peart, in a later-life interview, say that although Rand's philosophy appealed to him when he was in his teens and 20s (i.e. when he was a dumb, angsty, selfish kid, like most young men are), his life's experiences clearly demonstrated how mistaken he'd been. Until I heard him say this, I'd been struggling to separate the musical genius from the dubious lyrics in some early Rush songs; but now it's easier for me to think, "It was just a phase he grew out of," and I can enjoy the music for the awesome sonic experience without being haunted by that undercurrent of objectivist idiocy. In any case, the Neil Peart who wrote about "Ayn Rand's genius" isn't the same person who wrote "Time Stand Still" fifteen years later. He proved his intelligence by changing his mind as he learned, matured, and experienced more of life's triumphs and tragedies. As a guy who was a similar shade of dumb when I was young, I have a huge amount of respect for anyone who can calmly acknowledge past mistakes as they grow and change.

And I was there. GREAT WOODS MANSFIELD MASS

You know their best stuff. 2112, Farewell to Kings and Hemispheres was the top of their game.

I’m an amateur astronomer. Still can’t look up into the night sky without hearing in my head - “In the constellation of Cygnus - there lurks a mysterious, invisible force. The black hole of Cygnus X-1.” I’m on my ship the Rocinante, flying into the light of Deneb, and sailing across the Milky Way. Yeah, what you experienced hearing 2112 for the first time is normal, Bro! Welcome.

OMG! KISS played NJ and the opening band killed it. 🤯 Jeez, I totally forgot about that show but it would actually count as my 1st Rush Show! 🤯🤯🤯 Whoa! Never looked at it that way before because I forgot they opened for KISS and I saw them in JHS the year I graduated. Also the year they reopened Statue of Liberty for a huge 'Spirit of 1776-1976 Celebration'! 🙄😒 Man, I feel old but Tim's reactions keep me young! 😁🐰 #ENRGYZRBunny

Fantastic comment, and attitude Jeff. "One likes to believe in the freedom of music..."

You're not Jeff Johnson from Smithfield are you?

@@nealbarrus9140 Sorry no :)

Behhhhhh

Check out Thin Lizzy if you want to see an amazingly "tight" playing band...would definitely help a Metal band. Their influence certainly helped Metallica at the very least.