10 Rock Songs That Artists Didn't Want To Record
4. Tai Shan - Rush
At the end of the '80s, it was pretty clear that the golden age of prog rock was officially dead. With Pink Floyd finding themselves without Roger Waters and Yes going on to pop success with Owner of a Lonely Heart, the era of 9 minute musical pastiches was all but dead. In the middle of everything was Rush, who were getting ready for one of their poppiest releases yet on Hold Your Fire.
Though there is some amazing material on this record like Time Stand Still, most of the band has admitted that the album was the straw that broke the camel's back in terms of synth-driven songs. Ironically enough, the one song that everyone agrees was a misfire wasn't because of the synths. For years, Tai Shan has been labelled as one of the worst songs that Rush has ever made.
Written around Neil Peart's visit to China, most of the Eastern instrumentation has really not aged well over the years. Compared to something like Tom Sawyer or Limelight, this feels like a sonic experiment that seemed to just take every wrong step from the beginning. Over time, the entire band has called this song a mistake, with guitarist Alex Lifeson always dreading when they played it live. While prog may be about expanding your musical palette, that doesn't mean that every single experiment is necessarily a success.