4. The Big Money (Power Windows, 1985)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQgu0MpnKq8 Signals was just the tip of what would be Rushs full immersion in the sounds of the 1980sLifesons icy guitar leads and echoing chords, Pearts fascination with electric drums, and Lees continued heavy use of synthesizers. They also got into the hair aspects of the decade, with Lee sporting a particularly disgusting mullet and then what can only be described as a raccoon pelt. Fans of so-called classic Rush (1976-1981) look upon this period with disdain, since by the time of 1987s Hold Your Fire very little of Rushs hard rock roots or prog rock heyday was audible in their music. That said, the band continued to fill arenas and sell records, with Power Windows the most successful of their efforts in the so-called synthesizer era. The Big Money, the first track off Power Windows, is representative of the 1980s Rush sound: the intro features a bevy of electric toms, layered brash synth hits, and huge, whammy-barred chords from Lifeson. Lee hops in with a jaunty bass line and sings cynically about the power of wealth in the Reagan-Thatcher years, and Rush has a formula for a successful song that doesnt compromise the bands musical abilities, but rather uses them in a different way than theyd been used five years before.