Every New Year’s Eve my wife and I have our set of oldtime friends and their kids over for dinner and chatter. A few of my oldtime friends are your fellow Townspeople, including andyr, E. Pluribus Gergely, machinery, chickenfrank, and Sethro. Another longtime lurker and confidante and his lovely family also joined us this year. The same women who give us the spousal eye roll as we proudly wander the Halls of Rock can talk rock smack with the best of them in a live setting. Somehow a discussion of Rush broke out, led by machinery’s better half. It turns out she was a teenage Rush fan. A few questions arose from this discussion that require your gut responses. Let’s get it on, shall we?

Is Rush a “chick’s band” among prog bands?

Beside “Tom Sawyer,” can you confidently identify the title of any Rush song within 8 measures when it comes on the radio, and are you constantly anticipating Geddy Lee to yell “Salesmen!”

What is “Geddy” short for, anyhow?

QUICK: What’s the title of the Rush song with the reggae breakdown?

I propose that Rush is rock’s greatest modular band: any one of the half dozen movements within one of their songs can be swapped into the middle of another Rush song without interrupting the listener’s experience of listening to the song. Who is rock’s first modular band or artist: James Brown, King Crimson, someone else?

After the point in the song at which Geddy Lee yells “Salesman!” what’s your next-most anticipated moment in a Rush song? If you’re actually a Rush fan, is the “lighter-raising moment” the point in the song at which Geddy yells “Salesman!”?

In 25 words or less, help us envision the moment at which Rush decided to make records that sounded like The Police.

What’s made a greater impression on you through the years, the music of 2112 or the tight butt cheeks of the guy on the cover?

I look forward to your comments.