Canadian band released their debut album 44 years ago
Forty-four years ago, Rush released their self-titled debut album. For the past four decades, they have been an iconic power trio that broke many of rock's inventive barriers. Acclaimed by critics for their long, intelligent, and sometimes obscure songs, the band has maintained a large legion of fans who have been eagerly awaiting new releases since they retired from touring .
Two documentaries, Beyond the Lighted Stage and Time Stand Still AXS below .
1- Neil Peart doesn't do Meet & Greets because he's shy.
While most Rush fans love Neil Peart for his clever lyrics and his ranking as one of the greatest rock drummers, others were disappointed to buy Meet & Greet tickets and discover that Peart wouldn't attend these gatherings. In Beyond the Lighted Stage , he explains that he doesn't participate because he's shy. He said he doesn't meet fans because he "feels embarrassed" when people start telling him how wonderful he is.
2- Geddy Lee's parents are Holocaust survivors and inspired one of the band's biggest hits.
Geddy Lee, vocalist and bassist of Rush, and his parents are both Polish Holocaust survivors. His mother was imprisoned in Bergen-Belsen and his father in Dachau. Their story inspired the lyrics of "Red Sector A" from Grace Under Pressure .
3- The dryers on stage are a satire of other rock bands' stage setups.
The machines, which dry Rush's t-shirts during performances, appeared when Geddy Lee started controlling his sound directly from the front of the console, making amplifiers unnecessary. Needing to fill a gap on stage, the band chose the dryers to poke fun at the rockers' habit of crowding stages with walls of amplifiers, only some of which actually work.
4- Alex Lifeson delivered one of the most memorable speeches in Rock and Roll Hall of Fame history.
Rush was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2013. Instead of thanking his family or friends, he simply repeated the phrase "blah, blah, blah" several times. The recording of the moment became a YouTube sensation.
5- Neil Peart traveled to Rush shows alone on his motorcycle.
Reinforcing the lone wolf image, the drummer didn't travel with Rush by bus during tours. Instead, he used his BMW motorcycle. After losing his wife and daughter in a short period of time, the musician wrote a book about how road trips helped him cope with grief, called Ghost Rider: Travels on the Healing Road .
