03.30.26: Life Under Rush
Rush made a surprise appearance opening last night's Juno Awards (the Canadian Grammies, basically) on Canadian TV last night, and not surprisingly, the appearance -- the band's first ever on the awards show in their decades-long career -- went viral. And for good reason: The band still has a loyal following eleven years after their supposed retirement due to drummer/lyricist Neil Peart's ill health. News of Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson electing to recruit Anika Nilles to fill the drum throne was all over social media when they announced plans to return to performance. Anika filled Neil's shoes very well -- and Neil was who I referred to as an "often imitated, never duplicated" drummer when I posted a tribute to him on my old Instagram page, an observation bourne from experience, which I'll elaborate on in a moment. I'm not the biggest fan of Geddy's earlier "yelping" singing style as displayed on "Finding My Way", the song from the band's first album that they played last night. But the choice of song was an appropriate one, as it seemed to signify a new beginning for the band.
Not surprisingly, videos of their performance went viral on YouTube last night as mentioned earlier -- not just the official clip on the Juno Awards' YouTube page but a fan-shot angle (completely with a surprised nearby fan yelling "What?!" in disbelief the second the band was introduced) and a video of Nilles' drum performance from the show, isolated with AI and begging to be downloaded and turned into Apple Loops in Logic Pro. And those were just the ones I made the time to watch. There are reaction videos up too, and while I did search for them, I didn't bother to watch them. I didn't need to.
My earliest memories of Rush were when they were getting more prominent in the mainstream in the late 70s and early 80s. Permanent Waves and Moving Pictures and its attendant radio singles were popular amongst some of the boys in my classes, but my tastes were already leaning towards punk and alternative music and so I never really bothered to buy any of their albums -- why would I want to when I was hearing them being blasted from classmates' cassette players all the goddamn time? I didn't dislike Rush at all -- I just didn't prioritize buying their albums back then.
As a musician, I observed countless players of my generation trying to emulate Geddy and Neil especially. I remember seeing one player's open bass case, displaying a black Rickenbacher bass with a picture of Geddy playing his own then-signature Rick glued to the inside of the case. I watched -- and sometimes played -- with a lot of drummers who idolized Neil, and unfortunately -- and this is where my observation of him as being "often imitated, never duplicated" originated -- these guys were trying to master Peart's complex time signatures and drum fills in a world where they were more likely to have to end up playing 4/4 common time rock beats in cover bands (until Lars Ulrich and Dave Lombardo came along and made a lot of drummers change their approach). And, as a multi-instrumentalist reared on punk and alternative music as a teenager, I got quite a bit of scorn from some players who were disgusted that my role models weren't the same as theirs; One even thought I didn't have the ability to play like Geddy at all. The reality is, I could -- I just didn't immerse myself in the Rush discography like they did. At this point in time, all I'd have to do is sit down with any Rush recording and transcribe one of Geddy's bass lines myself if the need or the desire arose.
I do own at least 95% of the band's discography on CD (I'm only missing a coule of live albums from their post-Mercury Records days) but I've never given it super close listens enough to justify trying to duplicate Geddy's bass lines or Alex's guitar work, and my drum skills are limited to programming drum parts in my studio and rare occassions of doing bad imitations of Grant Hart and Tommy Ramone in essential brother Bryan Morgan's jam room in his mancave, as a drum kit is one thing I've never been regulary near of outside of band practices, and I certainly wasn't the drummer. But am I a fan? Yes. Not as diehard as others I know, including a couple of friends that I hold dear. Moving Pictures and Fly By Night are particular favorites of mine from their catalog, and my love of electronic music means I have a soft spot in my heart for their synth-heavy 80s albums (the ones some snobbier Rush fans seem to scorn, despite the fact that these same fans bought them on release day, loyally upgraded their CD editions at least twice, and undoubtedly played them just as much as their 70s chestnuts). 2112, not so much -- while I appraciate the album, its not one that resonates with me, or at least not the one I am likely to reach for first whenever I am in the mood to listen to them. I'm also not the biggest fan of Geddy's earlier "yelping" vocal style as heard on their first album (from whence "Having My Way", the song they played last night on the Juno Awards, came from; he managed to start restraining himself from Fly By Night onwards). But do I like them? Yes. And am I glad to see them back? Yes.