The band that Geddy Lee called his “far and away” favourite
Throughout his career, Rush frontman, bassist, and keyboardist Geddy Lee has openly expressed his admiration for a diverse array of music genres. As a master of the craft, Lee’s own musical tastes span from classic rock acts like Cream and Led Zeppelin to contemporary innovators such as Björk and Radiohead.
Radiohead, in particular, became an integral part of Lee’s life, particularly when he first heard their music and rediscovered his love for the familiar sounds of prog rock. “To me, Radiohead carried on the tradition of bands like Yes,” he told The Quietus. “They are always adventurous and challenging, and yet they have remained ahead of the game, really. I love the way they blend old and new, including contemporary beats and instrumentation.”
Similarly, Lee once proclaimed Led Zeppelin “were a huge, huge influence on us”, their ability to elevate conventional rock norms to unprecedented levels became a significant driving force for the band. However, as their music grew increasingly complex and challenging to perform, they eventually abandoned attempts to cover several songs, although ‘Livin’ Lovin’ Maid’ remained part of their live repertoire for a period.
Elsewhere, Lee once disclosed to Rolling Stone that Cream, consisting of Jack Bruce, Eric Clapton, and Ginger Baker, were his favourite band during his formative years refining his musical abilities. “[Cream] was far and away my favourite band when I got old enough to appreciate rock music, and I was getting more and more into rock,” he said. “Cream was such an influence on early Rush and me as a bass player.”
Discussing attempts to emulate their appeal, Lee explained: “We would do our own version of ‘Spoonful’. We would play in the coffeehouses and the high-school dances and all that stuff. We really tried to emulate Cream in the earliest days of Rush, so there was a real bond to Jack Bruce’s playing for me.”
However, although Lee expressed his admiration for Cream on numerous occasions, Clapton isn’t his ultimate favourite guitarist. Surprisingly, that title belongs to Jeff Beck, who happened to be his friend and successor in The Yardbirds. In a 2009 interview with Guitar World, Lee was asked about the tracks that influenced Rush’s sound, to which he specifically highlighted Beck’s rendition of Willie Dixon’s ‘I Ain’t Superstitious’.
He explained: “If I had to pick a favourite guitarist of all time, it would probably be Jeff Beck. I mean, was there a better guitar sound ever? I think this was the first great Jeff Beck’ moment.’ The first time when you’d hear something and know that it couldn’t be anybody but him. He was such an amazing pioneer. Just an incredible stylist. The notes he squeezes out of that thing with a whammy bar, a volume control knob and his fingers are simply incredible.”
