These days, bands try to imitate Rush, but back in the late 1960s, the burgeoning Canadian prog-rock band was trying to emulate the groups they were hearing on the scene. Rush was an ever-evolving ensemble in its earliest years on all accounts. Not only did their lineup undergo several changes before settling on the classic trio of Geddy Lee, Neil Peart, and Alex Lifeson. But they also started out playing covers of popular rockers like Cream and Jimi Hendrix to help hone in on their collective sound.
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In a 2021 interview for Classic Rock, Rush frontman and bassist Geddy Lee revealed the band whose sound the budding trio never could quite master.
Rush Tried To Sound Like This Band When They Were Starting Out
Canadian prog-rock band Rush built their entire career on their unique approach to standard rock ‘n’ roll. A bit weirder, a bit more complex, a little bit more under the surface, if you look closely—all descriptions that could also be attributed to a British rock band Rush tried to emulate in their early days with little success. “They were a huge, huge influence on us,” Geddy Lee wrote in his Classic Rock interview. “We wanted to be them instantly. But their stuff was hard to play. We tried a number of Zeppelin songs when we played in the bars, but we felt we couldn’t pull them off.”
Lee, of course, was referring to Led Zeppelin, the mystical four-piece from England that combined heavy metal riffs with mythological lyricism and enough stage presence for four rock bands combined. The first time Lee saw Led Zeppelin, he was with Rush guitarist Alex Lifeson and former drummer John Rutsey, who left the band in the summer of 1974. On August 18, 1969, the three musicians walked into the first of two Led Zeppelin headlining shows. “We lined up for hours,” Lee recalled.
“We got in, and we sat in the second row. And I swear they didn’t walk out on stage,” he continued. “They floated out. They literally brought the house down because, by the end of the night, there was plaster falling from the ceiling. I remember when the first album dropped, and we waited at our local Sam the Record Man store in Willowdale, grabbed the record, ran to my house, put it on, and sat on my bed freaking out over “Communication Breakdown.”” That Led Zeppelin debut came out in January 1969, just months after the show Leddy, Lifeson, and Rutsey attended.
Led Zeppelin Helped Pull Rush From A Career Slump Years Later
Three decades after a young Geddy Lee, Alex Lifeson, and John Hutsey stumbled into that formative concert, Led Zeppelin was a mere musical memory. The British four-piece dissolved after the tragic death of their drummer, John Bonham, in 1980. The surviving members pursued other musical projects, including guitarist Jimmy Page and frontman Robert Plant, who briefly performed under the duo moniker Page & Plant. The duo released one album, Walking into Clarksdale, in 1998.
Plant and Page were traveling through Toronto on tour when Plant tried to reach out to Rush, who, by that point, was an iconic rock band in their own right. “Someone kept calling our office saying they were Robert Plant and they needed to speak to me,” Rush frontman Geddy Lee said. “No one believed it. But it turns out it was him. We were on hiatus after Selena [Neil Peart’s daughter] had passed away. We were not in a good place. I called Robert back, and he wanted us to come to the show, and I was pretty down in the dumps at that point. He said, ‘No, come to the show. We’ll talk.’”
“He understood what was going on with the band,” Lee continued. And indeed he did—Plant’s son, Karac, had died at five years old while Led Zeppelin was on tour in the United States in 1977. “I remember him saying: ‘You’ve got to re-join life, and sooner is better than later. So, get your a** down here.’ I called Alex [Lifeson] up and said, ‘We’re going to see Page & Plant.’ They were totally awesome. They were so nice. There’s nothing better than meeting someone you admire for so many years and so many reasons and finding out they’re true gents.”
Photo by Fin Costello/Redferns
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