10 Rock Bands That Saved Their Careers With One Album

Even when prog rock was starting to hit its stride in the '70s, Rush was one of the few acts that were almost too complex for their own good. As the album Fly By Night put them in the conversation of great up and coming bands, their habit of making long stretched out songs led to slow record sales and their label cracking down on writing more accessible material. It was time to compromise, and that was the word that Neil Peart couldn't deal with when going in to make 2112.

Almost as a response to the label wanting to water down their sound, Rush came through with another rock odyssey, with the first taste being just one song tackling the idea of a stern ruling class wanting to stifle creativity. Despite basically trash talking their label right to their faces on the first song, most fans managed to look past the drama and see the band underneath, almost being in awe at how many hooks could be fit into just one song.

Though there weren't many radio stations that were willing to play this record on the radio or anything, this was the moment where Rush started to get a huge boost in sales, as people started relating to the underdog story behind the lyrics and commending the band to sticking to their guns when everyone was telling them no. Compared to the usual grand epics that other prog rock bands were making at the time, hearing this kind of success story from Rush feels closer to punk in aesthetic than it does with progressive music.