Rush - Subdivisions

What this video is

Released in 1982 concurrent with the launch of the Signals album, 'Subdivisions' arrived during the first full year of MTV's operation, inserting a cerebral Canadian prog-rock statement into the nascent music video landscape. Lyrically, the song reflects Neil Peart's memories of growing up in suburban Ontario and explores themes of conformity, alienation, and social division. The video's Toronto-area locations…

Why it matters

A landmark artifact of the progressive rock / new wave crossover moment, 'Subdivisions' marked Rush's most commercially and aesthetically successful embrace of synthesizer-forward arrangements while retaining the band's compositional sophistication. The video is one of the earliest examples of a…

The director

Grant Lough is a Canadian director and production manager whose verified filmography includes Rush: Subdivisions (1982) and Rush: Countdown (1983) as director, and Rush: Exit...Stage Left (1981) as production manager/supervisor. His work with Rush across the…