"Poppy" as in most popular with Rush, I'm thinking Working Man as that's the song from their very first album that made them popular in the US that gave them their big break in being discovered. If it were not for that song, it would have taken them longer to make it.

As in most " poppy" with regard to pop music, "Ghost of a Chance" gets my vote, didn't look, either off Presto or Roll the Bones. Local radio stations overplayed that song, in my opinion not one of their best songs. To me it sounds like a garden variety love song that we don't typically expect from Rush.

In the spirit of this thread, watch Rush Live In Rio. The fans in South America were so thrilled with Rish finally playing there, they actually sang along with YYZ which came as a total shock to the band as it's an instrumental. It was like every song was a sing a long to them.

Working Man is a great tune. I love Hemispheres as well...and also I really like Caress of Steel. Underrated album IMHO.
Did any of you happen to catch Geddy Lee on "That Metal Show" on VH1 several months ago? He ranked the first bunch of albums. I think it was "Rush" through "Moving Pictures"...can't remember exactly. His rankings may have been the opposite of mine.

Geddy Lee admitted in the 2010 documentary film Rush: Beyond the Lighted Stage that he thought bandmates Alex Lifeson, Neil Peart and he were "pretty high" during the making of Caress of Steel.

Due to poor sales, low concert attendance and overall media indifference, the 1975-76 tour supporting Caress of Steel became known by the band as the "Down the Tubes" tour. Given that and record company pressure to record more accessible, radio-friendly material similar to their first album – something Lee, Lifeson and Peart were unwilling to do – the trio feared that the end of the group was near.

Ignoring their record label's advice and vowing to "fight or fall," the group's next album, 2112, ultimately paved the way for lasting commercial success despite opening with a 20-and-a-half-minute conceptual title track.

Whatever Geddy's ranking looks like, it's wrong. Sorry, Geddy. The ranking actually looks like this:

1) Hemispheres
2) 2112
3) Permanent Waves
4) A Farewell to Kings
5) Caress of Steel
6) Fly By Night
7) Moving Pictures

The rest doesn't even belong on the list.