For most bands, picking a favorite song from their catalog is a nearly impossible task.
Every track holds some significance, and rock stars aren’t usually keen on publicly favoring one piece of work over another.
However, journalists continue to press bands like Rush with this question. What’s more intriguing, though, is discovering which songs those same bands truly despise.
For Rush, one track stands out as their biggest regret.
While Rush’s Neil Peart, Alex Lifeson, and Geddy Lee consistently displayed musical precision, they—like many legendary bands—have a few songs they wish they’d never made.
Even icons like John Lennon expressed disdain for certain Beatles tracks. But for Geddy Lee, it wasn’t an entire collection of songs that made him cringe. It was just one: “Tai-Shan.”
Most diehard Rush fans already know what’s coming. “Tai-Shan,” from the band’s 1987 Hold Your Fire album, is widely considered their weakest link.
During a Reddit Q&A, Lee didn’t hold back on his opinion of the track, explaining why it’s the black sheep of their discography.
“It’s one of those songs that Alex [Lifeson] and I like to make fun of,” Lee said. “At the time I was singing it, I wasn’t exactly on a mountaintop,” he joked, referencing the song’s inspiration.
But humor aside, the real issue was the lack of personal connection. “Tai-Shan” was deeply personal to Peart, who wrote the lyrics after visiting the sacred Chinese mountain of the same name.
While it may have been a profound moment for him, Lee and Lifeson just couldn’t relate.
“It was hard for Alex and me to put ourselves in it,” Lee admitted. Without that emotional connection, the song fell flat for them both.
“We need all the ammunition we can get to make fun of each other, and ‘Tai-Shan’ landed right in that crossfire.”
Despite not being the primary lyricist, Geddy Lee still had to fully believe in the words he sang.
His vocal performance, and by extension the audience’s reception, depended on that belief. Since “Tai-Shan” lacked that bond, it didn’t resonate with Lee or the fans.
Over the years, “Tai-Shan” has become a running joke within the band. Lifeson once called it “one of the worst, easily.”
Given the band’s high standards, it’s almost shocking that a song inspired by a sacred Chinese mountain, written in such a picturesque setting, could feel so hollow.
Peart even crafted a unique sound for the track, using a plastic water bottle hit with a toothbrush, as he described in his book Roadshow.
Lee also reflected on it as “an error” and a song they “should have known better” than to make. But even this misstep fits into the larger context of Rush’s career.
Their willingness to experiment, even when it failed, is part of what made them legends.
Without that adventurous spirit, Rush wouldn’t have created masterpieces like “2112” or “Tom Sawyer.”
While few fans or critics would mourn the loss of “Tai-Shan” from their catalog, the song still represents a key part of Rush’s identity.
It shows their dedication to pushing boundaries, even at the risk of failure. And while Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson may joke about it now, it’s those very experiments—both the hits and the misses—that cemented Rush’s legacy as one of rock’s most innovative bands.
Though “Tai-Shan” may be a small blemish on an otherwise sterling career, it’s a reminder that even the greatest bands sometimes misfire.
However, without these bold risks, Rush might never have achieved their iconic status.
