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(Credits: Far Out / ceedub13)
It would be dumb to try to narrow down Rush into one specific category.
They are the definition of what prog rock should be for many fans, but when looking at their music a little closer, they were willing to put whatever they could into their tunes if it meant getting the sound they were looking for. Nothing was off limits if it managed to suit whatever they were working, but that only came from people like Geddy Lee looking at the honest artists that came before them.
Even if prog was one of the more in-demand genres at the time, Rush were still the oddities of the scene. They were almost too cerebral when looking at their complicated epics, and even if they had their moments where they could kick some ass, everyone was more interested in listening to the more mainstream prog bands like Pink Floyd or whatever the blues bands of the day like Bad Company were doing.
They all had their place, but the Canadian icons were the last ones to roll over and please the label. Neil Peart wasn’t about to write meatheaded songs about girls and cars or anything, and even if he refused to give in, Lee and Alex Lifeson were right behind him. For all they knew, 2112 was bound to be a colossal failure and their ticket into obscurity, and yet when people heard about the story of one man going against the establishment, they knew exactly what they were talking about.
But that also came from the band listening to music by artists who did the same thing. Led Zeppelin never got to the top of the charts by making hit singles, and when looking at the biggest names in Lee’s record collection, there was always bound to be a bit more fire in his music if his heroes were anything to go by.
As opposed to the traditional prog giants, Lee was fascinated by what was coming out of the mavericks of the industry when picking the soundtrack to his life, saying, “The Who played an important part in my early life. Joni Mitchell, in a way, I used to love her music when I was young. Neil Young. I don’t know if one message or one person’s music helped me psychologically, but I know the music of many, many bands and many individual artists always moved me and made me want to be a musician.”
While not all of those artists are exactly in the same category, what made them stand out is being able to make music on their own terms. There was no reference point for Pete Townshend to make an epic masterpiece like Tommy, but when he debuted the world’s first authentic rock opera, the rest of the world was willing to see something in it that maybe the singles crowd didn’t give a chance to.
If Townshend dared to challenge what songwriting could be, Mitchell was the one challenging how someone could look at musicality. There are many folk artists from her time who relied on a simple acoustic guitar to get them places, but when she branched out into jazz music, there was always bound to be interesting chords for other artists to pull from when making their own sophisticated pop gems.
But the real clincher is Young. The fact is that he never once apologised for following his muse, and that’s the kind of mindset that nearly every Rush record had. The label was not going to breathe down their neck after 2112, and they would spend the rest of their career trying their best to make music that satisfied them and didn’t have to cater to whatever musical flavour of the month was happening.
It was nice when their music lined up with trends every once in a while, but Lee’s soundtrack is about much more than a catchy tune. It’s about musical integrity, and that was far more important to every member of Rush than having a hit single for a few months whenever they put out a record.
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