Subdivisions (5:33)

“Subdivisions” is a Rush song that describes peer pressure for teenage life in the suburbs.

“Subdivisions” was released on the 1982 album Signals. Aside from being a perennial fan favourite and a staple of live performances, the song appears on several greatest hits compilations, was released as a single in 1982, and despite doing little serious business in the UK charts, it gained a lot of radio airplay in Britain at the time. In the US, it charted at #8 on the Album/Mainstream rock charts. It was also played live prior to its release. Pre-release live versions exist on the internet. Geddy Lee plays an Oberheim OB-X synthesizer, and the two synthesizer solos were done on a Minimoog.

The promotional video scenes were filmed in the Toronto area. The downtown scenes were filmed in downtown Toronto, while the suburbs scenes were filmed in Scarborough, Ontario, near Warden and Finch Avenues. The high school scenes were filmed at L’Amoreaux Collegiate Institute, in the same area. The video also features scenes of the Don Valley Parkway and a busy TTC subway station. The student that walks downtown in the video is Dave Glover, a student at the L’Amoreaux Collegiate Institute at the time. Near the end of the video, Glover is seen playing the video game Tempest at an arcade, which was reportedly his favourite video game at the time.

The song features heavy use of synth. Geddy Lee takes a similar role to that in Countdown, the final track on Signals by playing a minimal amount of bass. The track begins in 7/8 time, Lee playing an pattern of F# notes on the Oberheim.