Here are some rock superstars that I can identify with: intricate musical arrangements and cerebral lyrics covering a range of sci-fi and philosophical themes. No drugs and groupies for these guys: as we see in the film, when they board their private jet they're much more at home whipping out a book and catching up on some reading.
Worth noting are the brief interviews/soundbites from the likes of Billy Corgan, Kirk Hammett, Les Claypool, Trent Reznor, Jack Black, as well as members of Dream Theater, Rage Against The Machine, Pantera, and Foo Fighters -- all of whom claim Rush as a major influence.
Billy Corgan's comment was quite interesting and resonated with how I have (or rather haven't, until recently) perceived the band:
I believe that when people step back and actually really look at who the great bands were, [Rush] are one of those bands. But somehow they were never popular enough that they get commonly name-checked as one of the great bands of all time. A lot of the other stuff has been over-explained: Zeppelin has been over-explained, the Beatles have been over-explained. It doesn't tell the whole story. You can say "why was this band marginalized -- what was it?". It doesn't matter: at some point, they're there -- and somebody has to explain why they're there.
Jack Black's praise is more light-hearted, but no less gushing:
Rush is just one of those bands that has a deep reservoir of rocket sauce. A lot of bands have only got so much in the bottle, they use it up sometimes in one song. These guys were the real deal: their bottle was so big, and so filled to the brim, they were shaking it literally for decades ... and still there was sauce coming out.
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