Neil Peart once revealed the “ambitious” bands that inspired Rush to create ‘2112’
By the time Rush made 2112, the band had delivered many impassioned sessions and welcomed its transformative power on their career. “We were so angry at that time,” Neil Peart once explained. “We had a whole month to write, rehearse and record that album, so it was done under the rawest of circumstances but with such conviction and enthusiasm.”
Ultimately, it’s difficult to ignore the impact of 2112 on Rush’s reputation and the landscape of progressive rock as a whole. The titular track is also a 20-minute seven-part suite that includes a dystopian narrative set in the year 2112, proving that, if not for nothing else, Rush was the most ambitious outfit around at the time.
Despite the pressures mounting from labels and other teams to create something more commercially accessible, 2112 instead saw Rush enter a more intense period of musical exploration, including songs that comprised lengthy and convoluted structures and lyrics that weren’t necessarily the easiest to digest. However, these complexities catapulted the band into a new realm musically, establishing them as one of the most artistically and technically adept outfits of all time.
Despite the initial trepidation and previous feelings of despair, it also reignited a passion in the band they thought had long since iced out. But it was also something they felt only became possible after realising they needed to take one of their biggest risks. As Alex Lifeson later reflected: “We fully intended to [not] go down in flames, but we were prepared to do that.”
According to Neil Peart, the strive for greater excellence didn’t just come from their need to create something career-saving, but a lot of outfits were delivering ambitious projects at the time, for better or worse. The ones that succeeded, however, ended up pushing them to reach even further and create something that ended up being even better than anything their contemporaries could create.
Even if those contemporaries were legendary in their own right, which they were. “Our influences were so strong and transparent,” the drummer explained. “Going through the late 1970s as music started to change stylistically, we were right there,” he added. In terms of specific figures that caught their attention, he said they found hope in acts like Jethro Tull, King Crimson, The Who, Cream, and others.
“What informed us from the very beginning was absolutely the example of others who came before,” he continued. “What led us to 2112 was absolutely set by The Who, and by Jethro Tull, and people like King Crimson.” It could be said that while rock groups like The Who informed their approach when crafting anthemic rock sounds, acts like Jethro Tull encouraged them to push the needle even further and discover the possibilities of building upon the standards set by those who came before.
