2/26: Don't Care (Victor)

Lifeson's solo project opens up with a raw, crude, relentless track.

Don’t want your kindness
Don’t want your heart
Don’t care for wanting
Don’t care for smart

For today’s tune, we swing back to Alex Lifeson’s mid-90’s solo album, Victor. The opening track, “Don’t Care,” is a scene-setter that desperately attempts to carve out a unique voice for Victor beyond Rush by taking an extreme, hyper-sexualized tone.

It… sort of works? I can’t really decide. On the one hand, the music (especially the guitar) is great—awesome really. Grinding guitars, weird-ass time signature, and a solo that will melt your speaker.

On the other, the music is way better than the lyrics, which feel like a crib of NIN’s The Downward Spiral. “Don’t Care” tries so hard to be aggressive-sexy. Mostly, it just ends up shouty.

I can’t help but think of the old Rutsey-era songs, where the guys were aping other people’s sounds in the hopes of eventually finding their own.

But again—it’s not a bad song, and maybe some of my reaction is bound up in my feelings about Lifeson. “Don’t Care” is a bit like hearing your eleventh-grade teacher’s love poetry. Um, no thanks.

One thing I love about Lifeson, though, is that he always pushes himself in different directions. He's not content to just make Rush™ music; he wants to always explore, innovate, expand. This is definitely not the kind of music Rush would make!