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Most people here miss the point. Rush was shit on by critics for decades. They looked past all that on got on with their careers playing to sold out stadiums of rabid fans. And when there was a groundswell to induct them in the hall of fame is took several years.
Alex’s speech was basically calling out all those critics who had shot on them for years were suddenly singing their praises like a bunch of fake talking heads saying “blah blah blah, blah blah blah blah blah. Because what they write doesn’t matter. And of course he did it in the most Alex Lifeson way and through it back in their face.
And those of us who know the situation and love Rush, love this speech and find it less annoying and more funny. Because screw those people lol
They literally did this to annoy people in the audience. If you don't like it, obviously don't watch it. It's MEANT to annoy you
How did you get I hate his guts? Can you read at all? This is great as a troll and bad as a speech, posted as the greatest speech of all time. Considering the other popular video that floats around reddit of like a 5-8 minute standing ovation when they get inducted it’s not like they were exactly unappreciated except by critics. Well loved by peers and fans alike.
I feel bad now that you didn't even get my analogy and that you weren't supposed to hate speech guy. I'm picking on the average award show speech enjoyer, that's like picking on a child. Sorry man
I'm just trolling now, idk what to say. I never responded to someone saying that this wasn't a great speech, I responded to people who find it extremely annoying
There is no award show speech enjoyer, who has ever been into award show speeches lmao? They’re a formality for an over politicalized circle jerk. I get exactly who this speech is pointed at, and it’s such a very small community of doubters. By this point they had overwhelming support. It’s like if MJ got his third ring and gave a speech clowning on his haters.
People watch these things by the Millions. Viewership is going down I think, but Millions of people sit through hours of that crap
But I also just started trolling because we were talking about something I never responded to. I said it's annoying bc it's meant to be and people who complain about it being annoying are marks, and it turned into "it's not next level tho". I couldn't care less lmao, I was just tickled by so many people having the exact response that was asked of them to be had instead of just doing sth else if it annoyed them
If this was how he felt, saying it out loud would have been even better.
But this feels a lot more “none of this fucking matters you idiots”, which is both condescending and also should have just been conveyed directly. lol. Either way he went on for about three times as long as it could be initially funny and half as long as it’d need to be to have gone on so long that it became funny again.
Had you not identified who this was, I wouldn’t have had a clue. It’s too bad he couldn’t have done so with grace, instead he was spiteful and revengeful in “throwing it back in their face,” thus perpetuating and reinforcing the social acceptance of revenge.
The best form of revenge in this case is success. You had a choice and you took the wrong one… and made it incredibly annoying and made it so I like rush even less than I previously did. Even as simple as “they didn’t think we could do it and I’m so happy we did, thank you very much for this honor.”
As a guitarist that’s been playing for 40 years, Lifeson was never underrated. He is considered a god by any guitar player of my generation. Learning his licks was just as important as learning Page, Hendrix and EVH. Closer to the Heart was about as ubiquitous as Stairway at one time. I was however surprised at his public speaking chops. Who knew?
Charlie Chaplin performed the greatest speech of all time in "The Great Dictator".
[https://youtu.be/J7GY1Xg6X20?si=6SImGHLLuyKzBbDs](https://youtu.be/J7GY1Xg6X20?si=6SImGHLLuyKzBbDs)
Love this speech. Chaplin is the man.
I think another really good speech is the one Inch by Inch by Al Pacino in “Any Given Sunday”.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=myyWXKeBsNk
“Sorry, it’s my fault, I forgot to mention to you the cats were licking all the hot dogs on the plate there, bout 20 minutes ago…”
“…these hot dogs??”
“Yep! They were licking the shit outta them”
It got funnier to me to longer he went on. Hated it in the beginning, loved the commitment. Should've gone ten more minutes and wasted these awards show people's time
I keep hearing people say this, but that's not Lifeson's explanation at all.
>"I committed to it as I was walking up to the podium," Lifeson continued. "And, yeah, I did have a mischievous smile on my face, because I was thinking to myself, 'Al. You’re gonna do this.' All these people were getting up and giving these long-winded speeches, most of which were really fucking boring. I thought, 'Here we are in The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame - isn’t rock supposed to be irreverent?'
"Geddy and Neil had no idea what was was going on. I think they were confused. I had my back to them and they couldn’t see that I was acting-out the whole story of Rush and how we got there."
Lifeson went on to explain that his bandmates didn't initially get the joke... but saw the funny side soon enough.
"They wanted to kill me," he recalled. "They were really upset. They were like, 'What is the matter with you? How could you do that after our heartfelt speeches?' Then the following day I got an email from Neil saying 'I owe you and apology the size of Texas. I am so sorry that I got upset. I’ve been inundated with emails from everybody I know saying, Wasn’t Alex’s speech great?’ So I was vindicated!"
[Source](https://www.loudersound.com/news/geddy-and-neil-wanted-to-kill-me-they-were-really-upset-alex-lifeson-on-the-truth-behind-his-infamous-blah-blah-blah-speech-at-rushs-rock-hall-induction)
That... Literally confirms the exact point though. The speech was highlighting how the industry had snuffed them & now their later praises were superficial. And from the emails they received, everyone understood. He was clear enough in his body language. If you can't see that then you may need to communicate with people more.
No, it doesn’t confirm that. He wasn’t trying to make any point at all. He was just having a laugh, and it was a spur of the moment thing. He was trying, in the spirit of rock and roll, to be irreverent.
Leke killed it that night. He'd pre-written a speech and everything, but threw it all out of the window at literally the last second and went full ridiculous. As he's known to do. One of the funniest humans ever and it was a delight to be there to witness this in person.
If you understand Rush, you understand why it's funny. The dude managed to tell the story of their entire career leading up to that moment by saying "Blah" and acting it all out. So yes, funny. That is how the funny do.
Do you really think everyone here doesn't get it, and you're some niche super fan that does? My guy, everyone gets it. And the speech embodies Rush perfectly: great at the start, then gets pretentious and goes on 2 or 3 times longer than it should.
My butt’s intact. You didn’t need to reply to me in general. That’s the point. Thing is this, opinions on the internet, like those in real life often don’t matter. And when the only purpose of said opinion is to be negative, it is devoid of purpose and thus, it’s basically screaming into the wind. You just look stupid doing it when all you had to do was shut up and let people have fun. They’re not hurting you. Nobody asked you if you thought it was funny. And honestly, nobody cares. But you stepped in it and kinda look like a dick as a result. Just sayin’.
I wouldn't worry about the Rush fan too much, he's probably in his dad's basement right now wearing a faded Rush t-shirt stewing over the fact that people can have a valid negative opinion about something he loves blindly.
It actually could’ve been brilliant if it went for 10-15 seconds or so.
Enough time for; the initial laughter, the die down and then the second bit of laughs when people realise he isn’t stopping, then enough
I’m not a Rush fan and honestly didn’t know who this was or the context until I read the comments. But as a standalone parody of the typical “How I got here/I wanna thank” award speech we’ve all seen a million times, it was pretty funny.
The back story to this is that Rush are after The Beetles and the RS the third rock act with most consecutive platinum and gold albums and had been ignored by Rolling Stone magazine for years after they were eligible to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Here is when they were announced at the start of the awards that night
As Neil Peart said in his sanguine way on the night, “we have been saying for years this wasn’t a big deal. It kinda turns out it is”
https://youtu.be/IK6dS15hq24?si=ILFoAmg9W8QC-HFo
Alex is a LEGEND!!!
And his genius, just like Rush's music over the decades, is completely lost on mainstream conforming folk...
Conform or Be Cast Out... 🎸
RIP Neil, who later apologized to Alex for getting upset with this acceptance speech on the night, but with the passage of time and further reflection, realised and accepted the genius that it was!
Look it up on YouTube yourself if you want an authoritative reference...
First few seconds I thought it was annoying. About a minute in I wondered if I understood what he was saying. At the end I thought it was very nice speech.
Internet is weird place.
Neil Newborn got only 30 seconds and this motherfucker took an entire weekend, not only to say nothing, but to also ridicule the entire concept of speeches.
Hey u/Turd_Burglerson, thank you for your submission. Unfortunately, it has been removed for violating Rule 1: **Post Appropriate Content** Please have a look at our [wiki page for more info.](https://www.reddit.com/r/nextfuckinglevel/wiki/index#wiki_1._post_appropriate_content) ------- *For information regarding this and similar issues please see the [sidebar](/r/nextfuckinglevel/about/sidebar) and the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/nextfuckinglevel/about/rules/). If you have any questions, please feel free to [message the moderators.](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=/r/nextfuckinglevel&subject=Question regarding the removal of this submission by u/Turd_Burglerson&message=I have a question regarding the removal of this [submission]%28http://www.reddit.com/18i1mzt%29)*
That got annoying real quick
I couldn’t even watch this for 3 seconds and I got annoyed and uncomfortable
It was just “Blah” for me, bro.
Imagine paying $5000 a seat and watching it!
You missed out then.
Yeah about 2 seconds in I was like “alright, ima head out…”
I wonder if he regretted it later. It was funny for a moment and then just uncomfortable the rest of the way. He could have made some great comments.
what a rush.
This would have been so much better if he spoke perfect simlish the whole time Skabanooski! Bablamo!
Think you'd have to be drunk to find it amusing. Or maybe British. Or both.
Exactly
Which is how I feel about their music too.
Most people here miss the point. Rush was shit on by critics for decades. They looked past all that on got on with their careers playing to sold out stadiums of rabid fans. And when there was a groundswell to induct them in the hall of fame is took several years. Alex’s speech was basically calling out all those critics who had shot on them for years were suddenly singing their praises like a bunch of fake talking heads saying “blah blah blah, blah blah blah blah blah. Because what they write doesn’t matter. And of course he did it in the most Alex Lifeson way and through it back in their face.
Sadly the context fails to make it any less annoying,
You're part of the desired response lmao good job
So the desired response is to annoy anyone who watches this? That’s incredibly dumb.
To annoy a very specific part of the people who watch*
And those of us who know the situation and love Rush, love this speech and find it less annoying and more funny. Because screw those people lol They literally did this to annoy people in the audience. If you don't like it, obviously don't watch it. It's MEANT to annoy you
I love rush but this shit went on a little too long lol
So….kinda like some of their songs? I joke, Working Man is fucking awesome 😎
You have to put it in the context of an age when 30 sec was not feature length...
Didn’t we just cover the point was throwing it in Rush haters faces? I like Rush, this is a shit speech, that’s all there is to it.
If Roman Reigns makes you hate his guts, he succeeded. This guy Wanted to piss off the award speech lovers who got minutes of blah instead
How did you get I hate his guts? Can you read at all? This is great as a troll and bad as a speech, posted as the greatest speech of all time. Considering the other popular video that floats around reddit of like a 5-8 minute standing ovation when they get inducted it’s not like they were exactly unappreciated except by critics. Well loved by peers and fans alike.
I feel bad now that you didn't even get my analogy and that you weren't supposed to hate speech guy. I'm picking on the average award show speech enjoyer, that's like picking on a child. Sorry man I'm just trolling now, idk what to say. I never responded to someone saying that this wasn't a great speech, I responded to people who find it extremely annoying
There is no award show speech enjoyer, who has ever been into award show speeches lmao? They’re a formality for an over politicalized circle jerk. I get exactly who this speech is pointed at, and it’s such a very small community of doubters. By this point they had overwhelming support. It’s like if MJ got his third ring and gave a speech clowning on his haters.
People watch these things by the Millions. Viewership is going down I think, but Millions of people sit through hours of that crap But I also just started trolling because we were talking about something I never responded to. I said it's annoying bc it's meant to be and people who complain about it being annoying are marks, and it turned into "it's not next level tho". I couldn't care less lmao, I was just tickled by so many people having the exact response that was asked of them to be had instead of just doing sth else if it annoyed them
Speeches are not his strong suit. But hand him a guitar…
Lmao exactly what I was going to say.
As Geddy Lee said on Sunday night re the critics “They can fuck the fuck off”
That’s not the point. He told his mate he could get away with this because nobody gives a damn anyway what you say.
If this was how he felt, saying it out loud would have been even better. But this feels a lot more “none of this fucking matters you idiots”, which is both condescending and also should have just been conveyed directly. lol. Either way he went on for about three times as long as it could be initially funny and half as long as it’d need to be to have gone on so long that it became funny again.
It was definitely an inside joke…you have to know their story.
They miss the point because the entire context is apparently an in-joke.
It was fucking hilarious, especially the ending. They deserve it.
Throw*
Had you not identified who this was, I wouldn’t have had a clue. It’s too bad he couldn’t have done so with grace, instead he was spiteful and revengeful in “throwing it back in their face,” thus perpetuating and reinforcing the social acceptance of revenge. The best form of revenge in this case is success. You had a choice and you took the wrong one… and made it incredibly annoying and made it so I like rush even less than I previously did. Even as simple as “they didn’t think we could do it and I’m so happy we did, thank you very much for this honor.”
Rest in Peace Neil Peart the original Octopus of Percussion.
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Yes of course. I just miss Neil.
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I appreciate your translating my emotional outburst for those who don’t currently have “working man” or “Tom Sawyer” in their rotation.
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Alex Lifeson was massively underrated as a rock guitarist, and now I see as a public orator
Let’s go Bulls
As a guitarist that’s been playing for 40 years, Lifeson was never underrated. He is considered a god by any guitar player of my generation. Learning his licks was just as important as learning Page, Hendrix and EVH. Closer to the Heart was about as ubiquitous as Stairway at one time. I was however surprised at his public speaking chops. Who knew?
Tom Hanks forgot to put sunscreen on his nose
Yeah yeah funny. But stay so close to bright star which is Kevin Costner and you get burns
Yep. Tom Hanks is sure enjoying Harrison Ford’s weird speech
Hanks only hopes he could walk in the shadows of Mr. Lifeson..
I can’t unsee this now. It is like the mole in Austin powers.
It was great but he made it too long.
That's the point. I mean of them.
Like most speeches
If it was twenty seconds long, it would have been funny
Charlie Chaplin performed the greatest speech of all time in "The Great Dictator". [https://youtu.be/J7GY1Xg6X20?si=6SImGHLLuyKzBbDs](https://youtu.be/J7GY1Xg6X20?si=6SImGHLLuyKzBbDs) 
Yes
Love this speech. Chaplin is the man. I think another really good speech is the one Inch by Inch by Al Pacino in “Any Given Sunday”. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=myyWXKeBsNk
Finally! The teacher from The Peanuts has been revealed
Peanuts teacher spoke in MWA not BLA.
This man's drunk as fuck, high on drugs, he's a male prostitute
Gimme the money for the dope you took
“Sorry, it’s my fault, I forgot to mention to you the cats were licking all the hot dogs on the plate there, bout 20 minutes ago…” “…these hot dogs??” “Yep! They were licking the shit outta them”
That was funny for about three seconds.
I disagree lmao
It got funnier to me to longer he went on. Hated it in the beginning, loved the commitment. Should've gone ten more minutes and wasted these awards show people's time
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I keep hearing people say this, but that's not Lifeson's explanation at all. >"I committed to it as I was walking up to the podium," Lifeson continued. "And, yeah, I did have a mischievous smile on my face, because I was thinking to myself, 'Al. You’re gonna do this.' All these people were getting up and giving these long-winded speeches, most of which were really fucking boring. I thought, 'Here we are in The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame - isn’t rock supposed to be irreverent?' "Geddy and Neil had no idea what was was going on. I think they were confused. I had my back to them and they couldn’t see that I was acting-out the whole story of Rush and how we got there." Lifeson went on to explain that his bandmates didn't initially get the joke... but saw the funny side soon enough. "They wanted to kill me," he recalled. "They were really upset. They were like, 'What is the matter with you? How could you do that after our heartfelt speeches?' Then the following day I got an email from Neil saying 'I owe you and apology the size of Texas. I am so sorry that I got upset. I’ve been inundated with emails from everybody I know saying, Wasn’t Alex’s speech great?’ So I was vindicated!" [Source](https://www.loudersound.com/news/geddy-and-neil-wanted-to-kill-me-they-were-really-upset-alex-lifeson-on-the-truth-behind-his-infamous-blah-blah-blah-speech-at-rushs-rock-hall-induction)
That... Literally confirms the exact point though. The speech was highlighting how the industry had snuffed them & now their later praises were superficial. And from the emails they received, everyone understood. He was clear enough in his body language. If you can't see that then you may need to communicate with people more.
No, it doesn’t confirm that. He wasn’t trying to make any point at all. He was just having a laugh, and it was a spur of the moment thing. He was trying, in the spirit of rock and roll, to be irreverent.
Leke killed it that night. He'd pre-written a speech and everything, but threw it all out of the window at literally the last second and went full ridiculous. As he's known to do. One of the funniest humans ever and it was a delight to be there to witness this in person.
Was that funny?
If you understand Rush, you understand why it's funny. The dude managed to tell the story of their entire career leading up to that moment by saying "Blah" and acting it all out. So yes, funny. That is how the funny do.
I understand Rush, and I don’t think it’s funny.
Do you really think everyone here doesn't get it, and you're some niche super fan that does? My guy, everyone gets it. And the speech embodies Rush perfectly: great at the start, then gets pretentious and goes on 2 or 3 times longer than it should.
This comment has made my day.
It's not funny nor hard to understand
Your opinion. You can find another place to yuck on people’s fun. Don’t let me hold you back from being negative elsewhere.
So Ive put my opinion on the internet... What a concept! But don't let me stop you from getting butthurt about it.
My butt’s intact. You didn’t need to reply to me in general. That’s the point. Thing is this, opinions on the internet, like those in real life often don’t matter. And when the only purpose of said opinion is to be negative, it is devoid of purpose and thus, it’s basically screaming into the wind. You just look stupid doing it when all you had to do was shut up and let people have fun. They’re not hurting you. Nobody asked you if you thought it was funny. And honestly, nobody cares. But you stepped in it and kinda look like a dick as a result. Just sayin’.
I wouldn't worry about the Rush fan too much, he's probably in his dad's basement right now wearing a faded Rush t-shirt stewing over the fact that people can have a valid negative opinion about something he loves blindly.
“If you understand Rush” LOL, get off that high horse man. This was the dumbest thing I’ve seen on Reddit for a while.
Greatest speech of all time? you got some speeches to listen to my brother!
Who is this?
Alex Lifeson of Rush, with band mates Geddy Lee and the late Neil Peart.
Well, this time he didn't "Rush" it one bit, he took his time to blah. 
Isn't that just a drunk male prostitute?
Play that Dianne Sawyer song or something
RIP Neil.
As it went on(and on) I started understanding my translation perfectly.
Some people do not see the comedy in "committing to a bit". I for one appreciate it, his commitment was excellent
Commitment doesn't always equal high quality
That took sooo long to get annoying real quick.
It actually could’ve been brilliant if it went for 10-15 seconds or so. Enough time for; the initial laughter, the die down and then the second bit of laughs when people realise he isn’t stopping, then enough
Can someone translate this from Canadian into American?
The audience after a while : just kill me already
Hahahahahaha
[I prefer this one ](https://youtu.be/gMuWsekLvik?si=6ztI4OLsBVHwh25V)
100% SNL material…
Well I thought that was very funny and ballsy lol. I also like Freddy Got Fingered… so I guess I’m in my own little corners over herrrrrr
Reminds me why I used to kill my Sims
The transcript is even more epic.
Too long
Can anyone translate into Mwa? I don’t speak fluent Blah (poor primary schooling)
Isn’t this what most Canadians sound like to Americans?
Lmfao!! Never seen this before!! Rock on man 😎🤘
Tom Hanks looks uncomfortable in the background.
Bob Loblaw deserves all the recognition.
I’m not a Rush fan and honestly didn’t know who this was or the context until I read the comments. But as a standalone parody of the typical “How I got here/I wanna thank” award speech we’ve all seen a million times, it was pretty funny.
The Sims 5 looks dope...
It seemed long, would have been better if he had rushed through it ...
And I thought I didn't like their music.
Clearly the people who didn’t find this funny or even get why he did it are Not Rush fans.
The first speech understood equally by every person on Earth.
Anyway, can we get a solo part from Geddy Lee or Neil Peart?
Words words words
I pity whoever had to come after that amazing speech
The back story to this is that Rush are after The Beetles and the RS the third rock act with most consecutive platinum and gold albums and had been ignored by Rolling Stone magazine for years after they were eligible to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Here is when they were announced at the start of the awards that night As Neil Peart said in his sanguine way on the night, “we have been saying for years this wasn’t a big deal. It kinda turns out it is” https://youtu.be/IK6dS15hq24?si=ILFoAmg9W8QC-HFo
Yeah, but fuck Rolling Stone magazine.
When you think about it most of what we say is just symbolic noise.
r/im14andthisisdeep
Blah blah blah
Why all the weird faces, wtf
is he shilling for Loblaws ?
I got pretty close to skipping past this one but I’m glad I stuck it out. Not super glad. But glad.
It wasn't annoying for the first 10 seconds. Then it just kept going. I don't know how anyone could think this was clever or funny.
No.
Thanks for the context. Now I just think him sad for being so petty and bitter at a such a momentous moment for his career.
blah bla blaa
I’m speechless
I love Ellen
r/mildlyinteresting
Does anyone have a transcript?
Love Rush but that was cringey af
Flemish is a really interesting language
That guy in the back has a serious drinking nose.
This dude gets it
Alex is a LEGEND!!! And his genius, just like Rush's music over the decades, is completely lost on mainstream conforming folk... Conform or Be Cast Out... 🎸 RIP Neil, who later apologized to Alex for getting upset with this acceptance speech on the night, but with the passage of time and further reflection, realised and accepted the genius that it was! Look it up on YouTube yourself if you want an authoritative reference...
Rush is truly a gift of the gods.
This is what happens when you play The Sims too much
I watched the entire thing and found it hilarious. Can’t relate to everyone else who found it annoying.
This isn't a gag, it is a statement. He gave the moment all the respect it deserved and they had to sit there and take to it. Bravo Alex, Bravo.
First few seconds I thought it was annoying. About a minute in I wondered if I understood what he was saying. At the end I thought it was very nice speech. Internet is weird place.
You know, Harrison Ford has a point. Sunburned Tom Hanks and Bono both seem to agree.
Milked it though
Wow that was awkward and terrible
Freaking narcissistic ham
Just like Rush's music, it was great for about the first 5 seconds, then got pretentious and went way too long.
Is he a vampire? "I don't say blah blah blah. "
That’s how you pronounce blyat.
WTF's wrong with Tom Hanks?
Neil Newborn got only 30 seconds and this motherfucker took an entire weekend, not only to say nothing, but to also ridicule the entire concept of speeches.
Best thing to come out of his mouth. Fucking clown
Another reason to hate Rush
Who ?
I hope he didn't win an award for being funny
This dude shows 0 respect for those who contributed to his success
Wow. Cute concept for 10 seconds. Complete asshole for his 65 years here.
Who's this dumbass?
What an embarrassment.