Rush Return to American TV with "Colbert" Appearance

Rush made their first American television performance in 33 years last night as they sat down for a Q&A and performed their hit "Tom Sawyer" on The Colbert Report. Why they chose to come back to U.S. TV on the Canadian-bashing Colbert show is beyond us, but it made for entertaining television. "You've been touring for 30 years, do you ever get tired of being so awesome and kicking so much ass?" Colbert asked the band, followed by "Will my show end up on your tour T-shirt?" After asking the band whose music influenced them, Colbert deadpanned the question "You're known for your long songs, have you ever written a song so epic that by the end of the song, you were actually influenced by yourself at the beginning of the song?" For the rest of the interview as well as the band's performance of "Tom Sawyer," check out the video above.

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Song Stories

“Smells Like Teen Spirit”

Nirvana | 1991

"Smells Like Teen Spirit," named after a brand of deodorant marketed to girls, was Kurt Cobain's attempt to "write the ultimate pop song," he said, using the soft-loud dynamic of his favorite band, the Pixies. Cobain "had that dichotomy of punk rage and alienation," the song’s producer, Butch Vig, told Rolling Stone, "but also this vulnerable pop sensibility. In 'Teen Spirit,' a lot of that vulnerability is in the tone of his voice." Sadly, by the time of Nirvana's last U.S. tour, in late '93, Cobain was tortured by the obligation to play "Teen Spirit" every night. "There are many other songs that I have written that are as good, if not better," he claimed.

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