"Fear" Series

The "Fear" series was a four part set of songs released by RUSH. The songs were not released in a storyline, but deal with topics related to the feeling of fear.

Part l: The Enemy Within
This song off of Grace Under Pressure explains phobias and things that scare people.

Part ll: The Weapon
This song comes off of ''Signals. ''It talks (or sings) about how people's fears can be used against them as a weapon. (hence the name)

Part lll: Witch Hunt
Witch Hunt explains how manipulators "possess" the "ignorant" to their own liking, much like the townspeople during the Salem Witch Trials. One of the many oddities off of Moving Pictures.

Part lV: Freeze
Almost 18 years after the initial release of Part l, This song was fresh off the plate from Vapor Trails, and talks about the difference between running from one's fear, and standing up to your fears.

On a Side Note...
"The idea for the trilogy was suggested by an older man telling that he didn't think life was ruled by love, or reason, or money, or the pursuit of happiness -- but by fear. This smart-but-cynical guy's position was that most people's actions are motivated by fear of being hungry, fear of being hurt, fear of being alone, fear of being robbed, etc., and that people don't make choices based on hope that something good will happen, but in fear that something bad will happen.
 * Neil said in a later interview,

I reacted to this the way all of us tend to react to generalities: 'Well, I'm not like that!' But then I started thinking about it more, watching the way people around me behaved, and I soon realised that there was something to this viewpoint, So I sketched out the three 'theaters of fear,' as I saw them: how fear works inside us ("The Enemy Within"), how fear is used against us ("The Weapon"), and how fear feeds the mob mentality ("Witch Hunt").

As it happened, the last theme was easiest to deal with, so it was written first, and consequently appeared first on record, and the other two followed in reverse order for the same reason."



The series was released in reverse order. Starting with Witch Hunt, then The Weapon, then The Enemy Within. The series was surprisingly finished with Fear on the Vapor Trails album.