Paul:
Well, the numbers were a little stacked to begin with. At the start of the night, Dave and Mardy were Queen diehards, Wok was a Rush diehard, and Brett and I were undecided. I don't know what decided Brett's vote, but for me the night was won with the early Queen live tracks. They really rocked - they didn't have the cool clinical microsecond-precision of Rush, but they *really* rocked. They weren't as prog as Rush, obviously, but Floyd weren't as prog as Genesis either, and Queen did have enough multi-track noodling, time-signature trickery and operatic bombast to qualify. Not to mention those songs about ogres and fairies.Brett:
Why I voted for Queen: I think early Queen rocks partly because of the fact that they don't play with the extreme precision of Rush. Their fast and loose style gives their songs a real "out-of-control" quality which is very rock'n'roll. (even when juxtaposed with the progness of glam outfits and operatic vocals...) I think Queen got my vote because they have a better singer (or at least one that doesn't sound like a eunuch on helium), and consistently wrote better (or perhaps simply catchier) songs than Rush. Conversely though, I find '80s Queen to be more unbearable than '80s Rush, and in reality I listen to Rush more often, and have more Rush albums (and my Floyd collection is far bigger than my Rush/Queen collection put together..) which goes to show that... well actually I don't know what that illustrates, but I guess good singing and catchy songs do not always a great band make (as Yoda might say...)Wok:
Though I voted for Rush (well, someone had to - actually I changed my vote to Floyd by the end...) I fully agree with everything Paul and Brett said - and indeed David's argument that by playing the 80s vid version of 'YYZ', Geddy's ponytail and hammy face of Alex Lifeson did not do us any favours. As I wondered whether to keep playing it as it went into the drum solo he pointed out that we didn't have to watch the other two.There's no place like home, there's no place like...