I've been a fan for about 30 years. I was familiar with them for a few years before becoming a BIG fan. The song that really caught my notice was "Between the Wheels" from Grace Under Pressure. I'd heard it on the radio and remember thinking "Man, those keyboards are HEAVY!" And the lyrics were pretty evocative, too, "You know how that rabbit feels, going under your speeding wheels. Bright images flashing by, like windshield towards a fly." I was intrigued. I went to the department store and found the album. I looked on the back and saw three kind of odd-looking guys. I was stunned that three guys could make such complex multi-instrument music.
A guy I was friends with had all their albums and let me borrow them. Within a few days I'd listened to them all in reverse chronological order, going back from Signals to Rush...and was a huge fan.
They were the first concert I ever went to, 5 Dec 1987 in New Haven, CT, on the Hold Your Fire tour. I still have the program from it. I remember MSG opened up for them (Michael Schenker was absolutely hammered but still played amazing guitar). Unfortunately I only saw them live one other time, 16 Feb 1992 in Dallas. That was a great show; they played a good mix of old and new and absolutely rocked.
Picking a favorite song is a tough prospect. I love the live version of "Beneath, Between, and Behind" from Exit...Stage Left. I love "Natural Science". I love "The Camera Eye". I love "Xanadu". But if I had to choose only one to ever listen to again it would be "La Villa Strangiato":
http://youtu.be/iB4uwO1Dmf4 (I need to learn how to imbed a video).
Alex Lifeson remains one of my favorite guitarists. He makes the difficult sound easy and the easy sound difficult. Plus, he gave the greatest R&R HOF induction speech ever:
http://youtu.be/Z-zV4GaElko 