hehehe. yeah, pretty much.
how about chart success? singles in the top 40?

As a group, Rush possesses 24 gold recordsand 14 platinum (3 multi-platinum) records.^[1] Rush's sales statistics place them third behind The Beatles and The Rolling Stones for the most consecutive gold or platinum studio albums by a rock band.^[

that's record sales. not radio plays

how many top 10 singles did they have?

This is Anecdotal but...

I hear RUSH all the time on the radio.

I couldnt find any measure of radio play othe than current music.

Limelight, New world Man, Fly by Night, Tom Sawyer and Freewill are all songs I have heard on a local classic rock station in the last month.

my response to that is: i've also heard rush on classic rock stations. i've heard journey on classic rock stations. they play a ton of led zeppelin on classic rock stations. stairway to heaven was never released as a single. yet you hear it often on classic rock stations. those aren't playing songs from the top of the current charts.
album sales are a good measure of popularity of records. not of particular songs. pop/rock people usually have singles that make the top of the charts. rush was not that even in their heyday. especially when you mention them in the same breath as journey.

that is what i meant by mainstream.

you ask a person over 18 today to name some journey songs, they can probably rattle off several if not many if they listened to the radio at all while growing up. ask them to name some rush songs and most people would be hard pressed to name 3 total.

Maybe over 25, lol.

I understand your difference.

I never meant to imply that Rush was as popular as Journey, I just meant that both bands had some people who started to dislike them because it became cool to knock them. Just like knocking Stairway is now cool in some circles.

And again I would be hard pressed to find a band with more talented musicians ever. I realize that doesnt make them a good band, but it should count for something.

take a peek at this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-selling_music_artists

journey has sold 75 million records according to this page.

according to the rush wikipedia page: Rush also ranks 79th in U.S. album sales, with 25 million units.^[3] Although total worldwide album sales are not calculated by any single entity, as of 2004 several industry sources estimated Rush's total worldwide album sales at over 40 million units.

some japanese person/group named b'z has sold 80 million records
 

Posted by swamphawk22 on 12/14/2012 3:41:00 PM (view original):
Maybe over 25, lol.

I understand your difference.

I never meant to imply that Rush was as popular as Journey, I just meant that both bands had some people who started to dislike them because it became cool to knock them. Just like knocking Stairway is now cool in some circles.

And again I would be hard pressed to find a band with more talented musicians ever. I realize that doesnt make them a good band, but it should count for something.

you may be surprised by SOME of the younger generation. my nephew listens to 70's/80's/90's music and knows a lot of the music i grew up with. he just turned 18. i'm sure there are others out there who listened to/heard what their parents listened to.
i heard a lot of music my mom listened to while i was growing up and that's part of the reason i like it.

Snl did a joke on the news lasw week that i cannot find a clip for...

It went something like...

"The Rock and Roll Hall of fame is inducting Rush, Public Enemy and Donna Summer".

"Who are the other 2" said anyone who is a fan of one of them.

I'm not a fan of any of 'em, and I know who they all are.

See you have to be a fan...