Rush: Heavy Prog or Prog Metal?

^ That was my next choice -

Hi there
Now I know that what i am about to say may seem stupid to many. Anyway, I have my own way to categorize prog bands because I personally hear distinct influences in each band. For example, Yes would be Symphonic prog rock, Gentle Giant would be Medieval-Funk prog rock, Pink Floyd would be atmospheric prog rock, Gong would be space prog rock , KC would be Progressive jazz fusion or something, Genesis would be neo-classical prog rock etc... . All those bands are influenced by genres outside ''rock'' . So for me Rush is simply a hard rock prog band. Of course they have odd time signatures, they are influenced by other musical genres etc, but it's really one of the few well known prog bands that is closer to hard rock.
So i don't know if that term exists, but I would call them Progressive hard rock.
Now I guess you could even call them ''progressive heavy metal'', and by heavy metal I mean the music perceived as metal before the new wave of british heavy metal. (bands like zeppelin or sabbath were often categorized as heavy metal in the 70s) but I guess that would be confusing or even conflicting :P
Anyway, Rush are face melters, that they definitely are. 

Edited by Cristi - October 23 2016 at 12:42

  Boredom?   A constant flow of newbies?   Alcohol?

Cristi wrote: ProgMetaller2112 wrote: Rush is Prog Metal and Heavy Prog and much more. You want to hear examples of Prog Metal(early Prog Metal that is)listen to Anthem, Bytor and the Snow Dog, The Necromancer, Fountain of Lamneth,2112, the Cygnuses. Don't think that those are Metal?(especially for the 1970s). You better get your ears checked I would never call Rush pro metal, but you are right with one thing: for a while in the 70s, hard rock & heavy metal went hand in hand, meant the same thing, sometimes the music being also labeled "heavy rock". But with the coming of bands like Judas Priest and Motorhead and the NWOBHM, things changed. Heavy metal became a genre on his own if I may say so. Rush influenced a lot of metal bands but other than that, they are not a metal band in any way.

neither.... AOR/Arena Rock!!!.. ie.... prog-related

Black Sabbath are Heavy Metal, my friends

Rush are progressive rock because of NP and his words. They are progressive rock because of his drumming. They are progressive rock because Neil Peart unleashed the more extensive compositional talents of his backing band. They are progressive rock because they had varied approaches and used different ideas to conjure up suitable means to their ends.

Heavy because of the intense and dynamic rock approach that is the basis of the Rush sound. Metal is part of the Rush sound but not the be all. They have used other approaches such as folk and reggae. Their rock is heavier than most other progressive rock bands and used more so than other such approaches are used in other bands.

Classic rock is a sales format (rock that is for the 40 plus crowd whereas alt rock is for kids 39 and younger heaven help you if you stray from these constraints), AOR is a radio format (they want albums of singles), arena rock is where many bands play their various takes on what constitutes rock. Or would like to play. Rush may fit inot all formats but none are styles of music.

Progressive rock. Heavy.

Edited by Cristi - October 27 2016 at 05:57

They definitely had a huge influence on prog metal but ultimately I would put them more in the heavy prog/hard rock category.