10 Albums That The Critics Got Wrong
4. 2112 - Rush
Every so often, a band comes along that is pretty much designed to piss off the critics. Whether it's because of some weird persona that they decide to take on or just a questionable approach to recording, some bands have been known to become punching bags for people who take music a bit more seriously. It happened to Styx....it happened to Nickelback today...but no one got it quite as bad as Rush.
Although not everything that these Canadian icons have touched has necessarily been golden, the worst offense that the critics ever made came with their masterpiece 2112. Despite containing one of the greatest tracks in prog rock with the title track, this is Rush playing to their strengths and creating a tribe of fans in the process. But all it took was one mention of Ayn Rand to screw everything up.
When doing an interview for NME, Rush was written up as not only less than competent musicians, but going so far as to be accused of sympathizing with Nazis based on the philosophies they discussed in their music. No matter what kind of thick skin you have, you're not struggling that off if your mother lived in Nazi concentration camps like Geddy Lee's did. Even for as pedantic as music critics can be, this kind of blow was far too below the belt to be in good taste.