Though many consider Rush to be a musical Marmite, their unique sound, akin to that of the black breakfast gloop, has won them hordes of fans everywhere from the sunny beaches of Rio de Janeiro to the chilly urban landscapes of post-Soviet Europe. Three of Canada’s best musicians—Neil Peart, Alex Lifeson, and Geddy Lee—came together in a brilliant band that blended their individual influences. It created a sound that is unique to itself.
Before deciding on its iconic lineup, the band went through a number of lineup changes. However, Peart’s arrival in 1974 really helped them step it up. Connecting the dots between his hard rock influences, like Keith Moon, Ginger Baker, and John Bonham, and jazz greats like Gene Krupa, Neil Peart was the missing piece that high school pals Lee and Lifeson had been searching for all along. He completely outperformed the other candidates in his role audition.
In addition to providing the musicians with a dynamic variety of ballast that they could only have imagined during the era of former drummer and band leader John Rutsey, his technical proficiency also introduced a novel element to the group: he took on the role of lyricist. This freed up the frontman, who also doubles as a bassist and guitarist. He could then focus on evoking sounds from far beyond space and time.
Even as Peart saw the band evolve and create a distinctive take on prog, not everyone warmly embraced his efforts. Rush’s first truly conceptual effort, Caress of Steel (1975), is included in this list of misfires.
It was such a radical departure that it took both the record label Mercury and the public by surprise. It lead to a huge commercial failure. The failure was so severe that they were almost dropped. Peart would later improve his compositions. The three of them pledged to continue despite hostility, creating the masterpiece 2112 the following year.
However, Peart still faced criticism because his lyrics on the album’s title track heavily referenced the contentious writings of Ayn Rand and her novel Anthem, even though it was an artistic triumph and opened Rush up to what many consider to be their greatest period. The Russian-American writer, a hero to right-wing libertarians, is well-known for his theories that prioritise individual rights over group rights, which have caused controversy. “I worship individuals for their highest possibilities as individuals. And I loathe humanity for its failure to live up to these possibilities”. She once said, summarising her philosophy in general terms.
Peart found resonance with this general idea, and although Rand’s writings can be criticised in many ways, you can’t blame the Rush drummer for his constant quest for authenticity. When he talked about Eric Clapton, who caused division in the Rush camp, he demonstrated the extent of this. Although frontman Lee considered Cream, Clapton’s own trio, to be his all-time favourite, Peart had a different opinion. Before he developed a more philosophic view of people’s differences, he might have even called the Londoner “shit.”
The band didn’t care that there was a general disagreement regarding Clapton. Their success stemmed from their uniqueness. Each member’s unique context contributed to creating the complex sound. The drummer outlined this when speaking to Marc Allan in 1990.
Neil Peart clarified: “And I was happy to realise from the start too was really a crucial insight that I had in my early years, which is the distinction between taste and quality. That I could identify, for example, Eric Clapton, who I’ve always considered to be a great guitarist but who I’ve never really enjoyed listening to play.”
He continued in his characteristically blunt manner. “I know there’s a lot of music that isn’t that great technically, like a lot of R&B, reggae, and stuff. But I still really like it, and just learning that difference to say, like, this is great. However, I don’t really like it, or this isn’t that great. But I don’t really like it, it’s a really important thing. However, but a lot of people never do make it, they think if they like something, its great. And if they don’t like it, it’s shit. It’s a very simple equation, but of course, in any kind of art, it doesn’t really apply.”
