The pioneering frontman who “mesmerised” Geddy Lee
While Rush emerged during the classic rock era, the trio didn’t come to prominence until after the noteworthy innovations of the British invasion and their American counterparts had made their mark. Formed in 1968, following the psychedelic explosion of the previous year, the group underwent several changes before settling on the iconic lineup of Geddy Lee, Alex Lifeson, and Neil Peart in 1974.
Notably, Rush’s early sound was explicitly deferential to blues rock after consolidating proceedings as a power trio. Over the course of the decade, though, they gradually moved in a more fantastical and prog-oriented direction à la the sound of Yes and Zeppelin’s expansive esotericism of the period, and it would be in this area that they would start to flourish.
This arc started terribly with the real existential threat that 1975’s Caress of Steel posed, a flop of an album neither fans nor their label understood. Still, in a show of their resolve, the group returned to the drawing board, refined their formula, and returned with the following year’s 2112, an album now deemed their masterpiece and a distillation of their love of pulsating hard rock and outlandish prog.
Over his career, Rush frontman Geddy Lee has extensively discussed his and the band’s long list of influences, from past to contemporary acts. While he has regularly examined just how impactful the likes of Led Zeppelin and Yes have been on his life – particularly that fateful night he caught the British band live in Toronto – there’s another influential outfit he was lucky enough to witness in their pomp who left a lasting mark on his person and sound: Jethro Tull, the group that established the world of prog.
Led by the flute-toting Ian Anderson, the band’s fusion of rock, jazz, and classical laid the foundations of the nascent prog movement and captured the imaginations of everyone from Rush to the indomitable Yes, who would support them in their early years.
When speaking to The Quietus in 2012, Geddy Lee recounted being a “massive Tull fan from very young” and listed 1972’s Thick as a Brick, the epic send-up of the popular concept album genre, as his favourite record. One of the band’s most explicitly prog releases, it’s easy to hear where Rush would take inspiration for their own sprawling pieces such as ‘2112’ and ‘La Villa Strangiato’. Furthermore, the night Lee witnessed Tull in Toronto would prove galvanising, with him tantalised by Anderson.
He recalled: “I was a massive Tull fan from very young and they are one of the bands that I saw live in Toronto…yes, we were lucky to see so many incredible concerts when we were very young and, I hope, that too reflects in Rush. I was mesmerised by Ian Anderson.”
Accounting for aspects of his unique onstage presence and grace that formed after that night, Lee continued: “His presentation was simply magical, and he delivered it with such a sense of humour and great style.”
Lee was captivated by the immense singularity of Jethro Tull’s sound and aesthetic. He and Rush took this artistic triumph as a challenge to create something equally unique in the live arena. It was a significant moment, as the trio’s show became crucial to their success, augmenting the worlds they constructed in the studio.
