Rush - countdown | Reaction 

This song is about RUSH witnessing the very first space shuttle launch as NASA vip’s. They gave the band front row and exclusive video footage to use in their official music video for this song. It’s a very cool song that doesn’t get that much attention. I recommend the video.

OHH, no! You are not watching the Official video for "Countdown"! You should be! You should see what a cool video they made for that song. Aww, darn.

The Challenger exploded in 1986. It had the first civilian on it, a teacher from New Hampshire named Christa McAuliffe. The Columbia shuttle, which is the one Rush watched and is singing about, burned up on re-entry in 2003.

What I love most about this song is how Neil captures this monumental moment of the first shuttle launch. From what I understand, NASA invited the band to watch the launch. The band was moved by the moment, they had to write about it. Another tid bit about the song is that NASA would use the song to wake up the astronauts on the space station. BTW, if you are from Florida, you might be interested in hearing the song "Red Tide".

Aw man, should have done the official music video, it's epic! Make sure you check it out too. You'll dig it.

Something about how the instrumentals also tell the story. The synth solos felt like they were taking you through the experience of the countdown and takeoff. The second solo really grabbed you and took you to space with the astronauts. Fantastic work.

We watched the first launch of Columbia in middle school. And I was in high school when the Challenger had its explosion. The shuttle launches were always cool to watch. The official video matched the song perfect. Definitely worth going back to watch.

If I’m not mistaken, the last time they performed that song live was the night that the challenger exploded on takeoff. They were unaware that had happened, and after they found out, said they would never play it live again.

My favorite song from my favorite band! “Like a pillar of cloud, the smoke lingers High in the air In fascination with the eyes of the world We stare...”

Such an underrated rush song,the album it closes signals is stunning.

They're such masters at this, among other things lol. They capture the mood so well on these "historical" songs: musically AND lyrically....from the buildup, the ride, and the climax. There's never been a band like them, nor will there ever be again.

First song I heard, the rest is a lifetime of love for Rush.

One of my favourite Rush songs.

Before I was a Rush fan, I 1st heard this song at Space Academy. NASA put together a trippy video on their curved ceiling theater. Had no clue who it was until I became a Rush fan and exploring Signals, and there it is!

I highly recommend the rare and very special 2015 live performance of Losing It. featuring Ben Mink. Please react to that video.

If you really want to experience a masterpiece about a true historic event than I encourage you to give Red Sector A a try.. It's Epic!!! LONG LIVE RUSH WEEK

From "Far Out" Magazine: Countdown’: The Rush song inspired by space travel Tom Leatham @leafcine Sat 25 February 2023 15:00, UK The music of Rush always toyed with the conventions of science fiction, but a song on their 1982 album Signals made that fictional hope a reality. ‘Countdown’ is a track that employs all the instrumentation expected of a tune that explores the limitless potential of space travel. The song was inspired by the fortune that Rush had in being guests at the launch of the first reusable manned spacecraft, the Columbia Space Shuttle. It was launched on April 12th, 1981, at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. In the Signals tour book, Neil Peart explained what it was like watching the spacecraft take off. “We met our liaison man in the pre-dawn hours [but] they announced that the launch would be scrubbed for that day, he said. “The next night we had a show in San Antonio, after which we drove off immediately, clambered into a hired jet, and flew straight back to Florida. This time the launch took place on schedule, and it was SOMETHING!” Peart added, explaining the process of wanting to write the song: “I remember thinking to myself as we flew back to Fort Worth after a couple days without sleep: ‘We’ve got to write a song about this!’ It was an incredible thing to witness, truly a once-in-a-lifetime experience. I can only hope that the song comes even close to capturing the excitement and awe that we felt that morning.” The song’s lyrics explore the feeling of anticipation when watching the preparation for takeoff, and wondering at the possibilities that might come from the mission’s success. Rush always had one eye on the human potential as aligned with technological innovation, and the ‘Countdown’ song proved no otherwise. In 1984, Alex Lifeson told Guitar Magazine about the technical intricacies of the song. He said: “A song like ‘Countdown’ has a bar of 4/4 followed by a bar of 11/8. It’s more of a feel thing than a conscious effort. The way we write, we have the lyric or an idea of what the song is going to be. That idea sets a mood. By changing the time signature you can change the whole effect of the song. I guess in that respect we do go off into those changes without making a conscious effort. Yet it does make the song more complex.” He added, noting the kind of bands that inspired Rush around that time: “That influence came from the British progressive movement and bands like Yes and Genesis. They had a big influence on us. I guess you’re always picking something that is around that has an effect on the way you hear music. As long as you can hear those things and apply them, you’re growing. A lot of times bands lock into something and stay there and that’s the end. They make two or three records of the same thing, which happen to be their most popular, and that’s it for them.” Interestingly, their time at the Columbia Space Shuttle spawned another song, ‘Red Sector A’ from 1984’s Grace Under Pressure. The area they had watched the launch from was called Red Sector A, so Peart and Lifeson directly nicked the title for their own song.

At the very end of this, there was a cheeky reference to music that you missed by stopping it before the very very end.

Listen to the overlay..."Young and Crippen really moving out now...velocity reading 6200 ft per second." Holy crap! Do the math on that velocity. It's something in the vicinity of 18000 mph.

I was 8 year old and watched it on TV with the rest of county..I was already an avid sci-fi and Marvel comics reader, so seeing it was really the stuff of fantasy come to life. ( Folks from 100 miles away said they felt the ground shake upon lift-off).

One of Rush’s best music videos is for 1984’s Distant Early Warning. Consider reacting to the song & their official music video on their YT channel at ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-wrDj5XvZXX4.htmlsi=20DgQHpnlOpK_Dpt

I was pondering your request for songs like Countdown or the Manhattan Project that take real world or events that Rush turned into song. I don't recall anything as mundane as a pencil having a Rush song for it either. But there is a song about a train ride and an everyday plant called 'A Passage to Bangkok,' but you might have already reacted to that one along with the rest of the 2112 album that I see above your head.

Listen to those lyrics, this magic day when super scientist mingles with the bright stuff of dreams!!! NO ON WRITES LIKE NEIL,

Well …they were there ..the three of them got invited and they saw the whole show….front row and Neil wrote a song about it

Rush-Mission-STS-107-Tribute

Still Kickin has a great video for this song,and other Rush songs ...

The Camera Eye is another very visual song by Rush. Also Red Barchetta which I think you may have listened to live, but is also well worth listening to the studio version.

Based on the first Space Shuttle flight, The Columbia with John Young as the Captain. I remember watching the landing live, as it came in like a plane, but it didn't have any propulsion, so it was like a flying brick. Young placed it on the crosshairs of a runway and a cross path ... perfect landing. One of the greatest moments in space history. Thank you so much for listening to the two I suggested. There's so much more with ths genius band, you could go for a month and still be amazed by the brilliance. There are live versions of this and Manhatten, but they didn't play either of them very often. Both the Challenger and Columbia were destroyed in sad and horrific accidents. The Challenger taking off and Columbia re-entry. Well done, Damon! Yoou might want to try "Something For Nothing" from the 2112 album, so it's a hidden gem. The live version I've seen is good, but to get a better idea of how genius the song is, the studio version is best to hear first.

You should check out Cygnus X1 book 2. The music and the story, mindf....blowing. To me, their best song. Almost 20 minutes of greatness.

Need to watch video of Red sector A - sync to a band of brothers clip . Very moving and telling the story about the concentration camps in World War II.

I learned to like this song, didn't like it at first. Of course seeing it live helped.

Ooops...you stopped the song early. You missed something, Dame! It's a little thing but fun and cool (in a geeky way)!

Great. Mission is a song used by others with the spaceshuttle Columbia crash.Some videos out there. A really,really good live version,, Mission live Snakes and Arrows.👍

Underrated song. 10000x better than the Rush Fan #1 song Time Stand Still.

Have you checked out red sector a yet?

Dame.....No you didn't....Todd from Ohio....

What @philstone3859 said.