Geddy Lee Reveals Challenge of Imitating a Hard-Hitting Band

2023-09-23 18:10:03

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Rush's Geddy Lee on the band that were "too hard" to imitate

It was 1969 when a determined 16-year-old Geddy Lee embarked on his musical aspirations. Despite his mother's disapproval, he dropped out of school to pursue a career as a musician. Reflecting on this decision, Lee declared, "I felt like I had to make sure that it was worth it. I wanted to show her that I was a professional, that I was working hard, and wasn’t just a lunatic." This determination transformed his basement enterprise into a true rock and roll haven.

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Lee's hunger for musical excellence drove him to venture beyond his hometown. This hunger was further fueled by the concert poster he saw for "The Rock Pile" concert in Toronto, which featured the relatively unknown Led Zeppelin. Lee, along with Alex Lifeson and the original Rush drummer, John Rutsey, eagerly waited for hours in line to secure their spots. The concert left a lasting impact on Lee, who described the experience as "literally so loud that it rattled glasses off the shelves, which shattered into her chicken soup."

Lee became an instant fan of Led Zeppelin, a band that profoundly influenced Rush's music. However, the young musicians quickly discovered that imitating their idols was no easy feat. They toiled away in their basement practice room, struggling to emulate Zeppelin's complex compositions. Although they managed to include "Livin' Lovin' Maid" in their setlist for a while, they soon realized that fully capturing their hero's sound was beyond their current abilities.

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Nevertheless, attempting to imitate Led Zeppelin proved to be a valuable learning experience for Rush. It helped shape their style, which involved incorporating a wide range of influences into their music. According to Lee, Zeppelin's willingness to take risks and draw inspiration from various sources, exemplified by Robert Plant's majestic lyrics, set them apart from other heavy metal bands.

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Geddy Lee on the impact of Led Zeppelin:

They used influences and they took chances that other heavy metal bands just would not conceive of, maybe sparked by Robert Plant’s lyrics. He had that Tolkienesque majesty about his lyrics, and people don’t like that about his writing, but I do.

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