Rush fails Rush on Colbert Report
by Justin McElroy 
{ Jul 23rd 2008 at 10:30PM }
But in this backstage footage from The Colbert Report, we're happy to report that Rush does not completely embarrass themselves on "Tom Sawyer," aside from only making it 31 percent through their song. But hey, back in the drug years, we bet Clapton was lucky if he made it through 31 percent of a verse. Nothing to be ashamed of Rush, hold your heads high. Your old, old heads.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Sora @ Jul 23rd 2008 10:36PM
I lol'd.
DarkNessBear @ Jul 23rd 2008 11:38PM
They weren't all playing on expert. They showed the screen for a second and you can tell that the drums is on either easy or medium. I'm guessing medium.
Vol @ Jul 23rd 2008 10:36PM
Rush is tough to play. But, when the game makes you play your own song to different beats and strums than you're used to playing for your OWN damn song, no wonder you'd fail.
motorer @ Jul 24th 2008 2:42AM
yep. like i've always said about those blasted guitar-games - if you actually know how to play the song, you will fail at it.
Thatoneguy64 @ Jul 23rd 2008 10:49PM
At least they didn't take it too hard. Wasn't Jon Coulton mad when he didn't do 100% on Still Alive?
ballistic3188 @ Jul 23rd 2008 10:51PM
technically it was someone else that failed on it not him. also the still alive is done in the glados voice not his
Jhongerkong @ Jul 23rd 2008 10:50PM
Still nowhere near as bad as the Konami conference one.
mike_p @ Jul 25th 2008 2:38PM
Ahhhhahahaha
She wrapped it up so quickly afterward too. *chuckle*
Gavin @ Jul 23rd 2008 10:50PM
I'm waiting to LOL but their servers are S....... L......... O....................
Vegnagun bwf @ Jul 23rd 2008 10:51PM
It's so funny seeing Geddy Lee do vocals on Rock Band. They should have had him play bass as well.
Gavin @ Jul 23rd 2008 10:51PM
And it looks like they've taken it down or the servers crashed.
The Rabbid @ Jul 23rd 2008 11:02PM
Didn't load for me. Could be because I'm in Canada. God knows Colbert is a major nationalist.
BPM [MSN: BPMdotEXE @ hotmail.com] @ Jul 23rd 2008 11:36PM
Viacom won't allow any of their video services play outside of the US.
It's a shame how companies act so segregated on the Internet. :/
Mr.ESC @ Jul 24th 2008 12:21AM
I'm in México and I can see it.
I really sucks when a content is just avalible in certain areas.I used to watch the Boondocks and Robot Chicken in AdultSwim before they had to lock it everywhere except for Canada and the U.S.
The sad part is that neither Robot Chicken or the Boondocks DVDs are in stores here(Familiy guy by the other hand).
Mr.ESC @ Jul 24th 2008 12:22AM
*Family guy.
I really hate when I notice a mistake at the same time I hit the Reply button.
Viridium @ Jul 24th 2008 7:17PM
Doesn't load for me either. Us poor Canadians!
Mariofreak64 @ Jul 23rd 2008 11:07PM
Well it makes sense that guitar would fail (like it showed) because it is farthest n from the real thing of any of the instruments.
Ass Masterson @ Jul 24th 2008 1:48PM
The drums are way, way off too. Harmonix have always said that they want to make a fun game first and a 'music simulator' second.
robothouse @ Jul 23rd 2008 11:11PM
Neil Peart looks pissed.
Phillip @ Jul 23rd 2008 11:20PM
I didn't see Rush Limbaugh anywhere in the video. What "Rush" are you talking about?
Phillip @ Jul 23rd 2008 11:20PM
(apparently I need to use lt and gt)
</sarcasm>
BPM [MSN: BPMdotEXE @ hotmail.com] @ Jul 23rd 2008 11:37PM
I also didn't see Megaman's dog in the video.
Phillip @ Jul 24th 2008 9:22AM
I also didn't see anything about an arcade racing game series set in San Francisco.
s @ Jul 23rd 2008 11:32PM
Rush is better than a medicore game like Rock Band and
Guitar Hero, at least they can really play. Learn to play real instruments,people!The click from the game contollers(because thats what they are, they're not instruments) is the most annoying sound in recent memory.
DarkNessBear @ Jul 23rd 2008 11:36PM
I've played drums for over 4 years and I play Rock Band and Guitar Hero. Does that mean I have broken the universe?
I also know a lot of football players that play madden. Should I tell them to stop?
eldee @ Jul 23rd 2008 11:40PM
people like you need to play in traffic.
Although maybe I'll take your advice.. instead of buying GTA I'll start stealing cars and shooting up pedestrians instead. Or maybe instead of buying Gears of War I'll rig a chainsaw on a machine gun and wait for an alien invasion.
you're a dipshit. the end.
Farseer (GDI) @ Jul 23rd 2008 11:46PM
As far as I'm concerned, the most annoying sound in recent memory is someone who is learning to play an instrument...
moominsean @ Jul 23rd 2008 11:36PM
rush sucks.
time @ Jul 23rd 2008 11:37PM
Thankfully they got through a little bit more than 31% of the song at the Rush show I went to a couple of weeks ago. They're perfect live.
J.Goodwin @ Jul 23rd 2008 11:50PM
Eric Clapton?
David @ Jul 23rd 2008 11:51PM
So...about Moving Pictures coming to DLC soon guys?
tacoman @ Jul 23rd 2008 11:54PM
All that's missing is a 2 liter Shasta.
Zippy5150 @ Jul 24th 2008 12:59AM
And Space Invaders.
BPM [MSN: BPMdotEXE @ hotmail.com] @ Jul 24th 2008 4:09AM
... And no date on a Friday night.
.... :(
rlm2112 @ Jul 23rd 2008 11:56PM
It's great to see any footage of my favorite band, and seeing them play their own song (well play to a crappy cover of their own song) is awesome!
However starting them on expert (if they did) was setting them up to fail. Well Alex at least...of course the drums must not be to realistic if the greatest drummer in the world can't play them...now I'm kinda questioning whether Rock Band will actually teach me to play drums, but that was just a nice side effect of an awesome game.
Shut your mouth Justin, Rush are ageless like Santa or Dick Clark. Remember,
If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice!
ToRo @ Jul 24th 2008 11:55AM
lol rlm2112, the drums were on medium. They cut the notes by half when you play on medium. I bet if Neil would of played on expert he would have done way better.
But i doubt he would do great when he usually plays with something like this :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NuOTkrEVeb4
Alex @ Jul 24th 2008 12:33AM
Geddy is the most cool with the situation. Props to him.
Also:
NEIL PERT DOESN'T APRROVE!
timesplitters2 @ Jul 24th 2008 11:30AM
Maybe if Pert had about 10 of those drum kits wired together it would be more at home with him
http://www.2112.net/powerwindows/wallpaper/R30neil.jpg
k04sm02 @ Jul 24th 2008 12:32AM
not an easy song to start off on. rock band (or more specifically guitar hero) can often be more difficult than real guitar...
Nick8708 @ Jul 24th 2008 12:35AM
I'd say most people fail at Rock Band their first time through, expert mode or not. Just as playing a videogame doesn't quite prepare you to be a rock star, being a rock star doesn't quite prepare you to play a videogame.
With that said, it was pretty cool seeing these guys play.
Monkeydog @ Jul 24th 2008 1:04AM
Isn't Tom Sawyer in Rock Band a cover anyways?
FOXHOUND @ Jul 24th 2008 8:14AM
Peart's failing at the song because he isn't using THE DRUMS OF LIFE.
DeshayZilla @ Jul 24th 2008 10:10AM
I showed this to my Music Theory teacher, who is a big Rush fan, He thought it was the funniest thing he's seen all year.
Neebs @ Jul 24th 2008 11:53AM
It looks like Neil was playing on medium and Alex was playing on expert.
Alex Lifeson or not, you aren't going to just start Rock Band playing on expert.
SuicideNinja @ Jul 24th 2008 3:28PM
Ugh, that song is a pain to play double duty (guitar+vocals). Not sure why.
Anyway, my drummer is amazing on his Tama, but he refuses to touch Rock Band drums after one try. He'll do any other instrument gladly though.
Personally, I think it's more fun to try to play the mainstream covers on Rock Band than to waste time learning them on guitar. For composition, the real thing is where it's at. I doubt GH4 will change that.
What gets me is when a song is more difficult on GH than it is to play for real. RB isn't so bad with that.
Llythe @ Jul 25th 2008 4:57AM
Well since viacom won't let non-Americans see there video can some one at least explain what the video was. I do remember seeing the episode where they played at the end of the show and they didn't have time to finish on air so if its just that then fine.
JRR @ Aug 5th 2008 9:57PM
It looks like they failed because Peart stopped playing the drums. That's because the crappy plastic drum set was walking away from him as he played. Eventually it scooted too far away and he couldn't reach it and stopped playing. They needed to put a sandbag on it to keep it in place.
Great video, I've been a Rush fan since I discovered them about when Caress of Steel came out.