"The Spirit of Radio"

The band Rush was formed in Canada in 1968. It wasn't until May of 1972, however, that the band had a stable line up. Although their first self-titled album Rush, was clearly influenced by Led Zeppelin, the band has devolved into what one would call modern rock. Their songs encompass many different topics; the themes range from science fiction to political concerns. Impressive instrumentals always accompany the lyrics, no matter the subject. The song "The Spirit of Radio" tells how a person feels about the radio, music, and the music industry.

Rush uses several different poetic devices to convey their message as well as capture the attention of the listeners. One device that is used a lot in the song is alliteration. Rush's use of this device is mainly to draw the listener's attention to particular lines. These lines are important to the person in the song's point of view and their opinion. The line, "And the magic music makes your morning mood," is important because it is describing how the person feels when listening to the radio. Another example of alliteration is, "All this machinery making modern music/Can still be open hearted". These lines are also an example of both a metaphor and personification. When they sing about the machinery that is making music, it is a metaphor for how insensitive the music industry has become. Rush personifies the music industry when they sing, "Can still be open hearted". It is giving the industry the human quality of being open heart to explain that it does not have to be all about the money as it has become, but it can remember the passion that goes into making music.

When looking more closely at the song, one might notice it has a shift from the person's happiness with the radio to their disapproval of it. In the second verse, the paradox, "Undemanding contact in your happy solitude," describes a content feeling the person has when driving in the car by yourself, but having the "contact", or company, of the radio. Also, the metaphor, "There is magic in your finger tips," describes an exciting feeling, like you have the power to chose the music. When the person begins to express his unhappiness with the industry, Rush uses hyperboles to describe music contracts when singing, "But glittering prizes and endless compromises/Shatter the illusion of integrity." Here, they exaggerate the "prizes", or money, that they receive by compromising and how artists lose the true reason why they create music, out of love for it. Another alliteration, "Concert hall/And echoes with the sounds of salesmen/Of salesmen/Of salesmen," is also symbolic of how the modern music industry is all about selling music, not necessarily because that's their passion.

Rush's "The Spirit of Radio" describes a feeling that many artists have. This song is about how truly wonderful music is, but also how bad the music industry has really become. In the song, the person who is talking is torn between these two things as well. Although not directly affected by these problems, he still understands them and is troubled by them. It is ironic how this song became very popular because of it being played on the radio. No matter the song's popularity, Rush still created a great poetic work when writing this song.