“New World Man” by Rush

"New World Man" was the afterthought that became Rush's biggest American single. It was the last song written for Signals, the 1982 album on Mercury, and the fastest: producer Terry Brown pointed out that the two sides of the cassette ran uneven, so the band knocked out one more song to balance them. Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson wrote the music, Neil Peart the words.

What they came up with is tight, bouncy and new-wave lean, Lee's synths blipping over his bass, Lifeson's guitar slashing in short bursts, Peart snapping it along with a compact drive the trade press compared to the Police. It topped the national chart in Canada, climbed to 21 on Billboard's singles chart, still the band's only American top 40 hit, and went all the way to the top of the Top Tracks chart.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.