Force Ten (song)
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| "Force Ten" | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Promotional single by Rush | |
| from the album Hold Your Fire | |
| Released | September 1987 |
| Recorded | 1987 |
| Genre | |
| Length | 4:33 |
| Label | Mercury |
| Songwriters | |
| Producers |
|
"Force Ten" is a song written, produced and performed by Canadian rock band Rush, released as a promotional single from their album Hold Your Fire.[1] It was the last song written for the album. The song has been critically positively received, and peaked at number 3 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks chart.
According to Peart, the song describes the "storms of life," using storm level in the Beaufort wind scale as an analogy.[2] Peart, a self described "weather fanatic", makes references to "the eye of the storm" and circling hurricanes in the lyrics. He also "express[es] appreciation" for the disproportionally small number of female fans at Rush shows "singing along, or air-drumming, or even dancing" in the lyric "cool and remote like dancing girls".[3]
"Force Ten" was written in three hours on December 14, 1986, the last day of pre-production for Hold Your Fire.[4][5] With nine songs already written, producer Peter Collins felt it was important to have one more song for the album.[5] Pye Dubois, who previously worked with Rush on their song "Tom Sawyer", had sent Neil Peart some lyrics for the song, and Peart would add more verses to it.[5]
Musically, "Force Ten" is composed in A minor, with changes into A major scale occurring in the song. The song is set in common time at a fast rock tempo.[6] Peart has said that Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson were "trying to explore some musical areas that we hadn't covered yet," when writing the music for the song.[7] Lee performed bass chords in the song, inspired to do so by his friend Jeff Berlin.[8] The song was described by The Cavalier Daily as "intense".[9]
Release and reception
"Force Ten" was released in the United States by Mercury Records as a 12" vinyl one-track promotional single in 1987.[1] It is the opening track of Rush's studio album Hold Your Fire, and the song later appear on compilation albums such as Chronicles, Retrospective II, The Spirit of Radio: Greatest Hits 1974-1987, Gold, Icon, and Sector 3.[10] The song received a favorable critical reception, with Allmusic calling it "the band's [Rush] most immediate number in years," rating the song an AMG pick track.[11] The song would make it on the Billboard Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks, peaking #3.[12]
