Bands have always been known to be pushed to their limits while on tour. As much as those few hours onstage are the highlight of the day. Compromising with the same folks every night to ensure everything runs smoothly may become tedious. Even though Rush rarely said anything negative about each other on tour, Geddy Lee got into a heated argument with Gene Simmons during one of their early tours.
Rush’s chances of a successful headlining tour were questionable in the beginning. Songs like ‘Working Man‘ achieved some popularity on the local Canadian circuit. Their career didn’t take off until a prominent radio station in Cincinnati discovered them.
After replacing Rutsey with Peart on Fly By Night, the band caught Kiss’s attention during significant northern performances. Whereas the band had been in sync with the sounds of Yes and Genesis, Simmons only heard scorching hard rock.
When asked about putting them on tour, Simmons told Beyond the Light Stage: “We wondered, ‘What the heck is this? This is similar to the Canadian Zeppelin. “We said we wanted that band to open Canada for us.” After a few stadium gigs supporting Uriah Heep, the power trio got a taste of touring life when they saw the band’s backstage setups.
Rush was incredibly tame in comparison to the lewd activities that took place behind closed doors. Their primary concern seemed to be finding marijuana whenever possible. Occasionally, they partied with Ace Frehley and Peter Criss when the opportunity arose. Simmons was not going to take it well. Lee decided to perform a practical joke on the band and disturb his female company.
After making a joke on Frehley by wearing a bag over his head, Lee began to escort some of the girls in the band’s hotel rooms out. Simmons arrived soon after. In “My Effin Life,” he stated, “Gene followed, grabbed me, and pushed me against the wall, demanding to know why I’d given them the boot.” I remarked, ‘Hey dude, they were bumming everyone out!'”. He said, ‘Yeah, but…’ and angrily shared a few words that could only be described as a lesson in female anatomy.”
Lacking their usual comfort with confrontation, Rush opted for their alternative approach: crafting a song about Gene Simmons. In response to the Kiss ballad ‘Goin Blind‘, the band added a parody of Simmons’ love song ‘I Think I’m Going Bald‘ on their next album.
Those disagreements, however, did not detract from the great camaraderie that existed between the two groups. Despite performing to opposite crowds every time they performed live, Kiss and Rush remained amicable. The Canadian Titans decided to call it quits following their Clockwork Angels tour.
