Rush’s ‘Cygnus X-1′ Is Your Rock Star Wars Champion

Ultimate Classic Rock's readers have spoken, and they're sending Rush into space.

The band's classic multi-movement opus "Cygnus X-1" took on all comers in our Rock Star Wars tournament, soaring through our carefully arranged series of intergalactic battles between 32 space-themed classic rock songs. We dreamed up the whole thing as a way of trying to fill our days until the Dec. 18 arrival of Star Wars: The Force Awakens — and now that the movie's here, it's time to share the news that Rush are our competition's big winner.

"Cygnus X-1" deserves the honor after slugging it out in a succession of increasingly difficult rounds. Def Leppard's "Rocket" faced the axe in the opening round, amassing less than 25 percent of the vote, and Rush quickly added a pile of other bands to the scrap heap, moving on to defeat Creedence Clearwater Revival's "It Came Out of the Sky," David Bowie's "Space Oddity" and Styx's "Come Sail Away" before facing off against Queen's "Flash's Theme" in the final round.

Freddie and the boys put up a valiant fight, but in the end, "Cygnus X-1" was simply too powerful, cruising to victory with more than 63 percent of the vote. Much as we might love the suitably over-the-top goodness of "Flash's Theme," we can't argue with these 100 percent reader-determined results — not only is Rush's classic space suite named after a real-life suspected black hole, it rocks on purely musical terms, with two halves adding up to nearly half an hour of proggy delight.

Thanks to everyone who voted, and congratulations are in order for all of our contestants, each of whom went up against at least one worthy opponent — and a particularly hearty round of applause for Rush. The next time we take a trip into space, "Cygnus X-1" is definitely getting a place of honor on the rocketship playlist.

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