R.I.P. Neil Peart

[profusion]

When I started listening to rock music in 1981, you couldn't get away from Rush if you tried. Good thing they were really good!!

We celebrate a lot of willfully obscure music around here, but Neil and his bandmates did an amazing job of exposing advanced musical and lyrical concepts to a bunch of kids who just wanted to RAWK (such as me). So many great musicians were inspired to be their best when they started to listen to Rush.

Well done, sir.

[Dharma]

Terrible news. This video kind of lifted me up today. A small example of how Neil touched many lives. RIP The Professor

[Progatron]

I echo all of these sentiments. I can't adequately convey how important Rush have been in my life, particularly as a teenager/twentysomething, but even now in my late forties. And Neil is a massive part of the reason for that.

Until today, I had always thought people saying they were 'gutted' at the news of a musician's death were being a bit melodramatic. Today, I understand that feeling, and I apologize for ever having (even silently) discounted those feelings. This one is staggering for me.

[Gruno]

I'm definitely not a Rush fan, but a bunch of my friends were. They loved Peart's drumming and he was their favorite member of the band. RIP.

[Poisoned Youth]

I echo all of these sentiments. I can't adequately convey how important Rush have been in my life, particularly as a teenager/twentysomething, but even now in my late forties. And Neil is a massive part of the reason for that.

Until today, I had always thought people saying they were 'gutted' at the news of a musician's death were being a bit melodramatic. Today, I understand that feeling, and I apologize for ever having (even silently) discounted those feelings. This one is staggering for me.

That was Freddie Mercury for me.

RIP Neil

[The Dark Elf]

[julioscissors]

Rush was the music of my teenage years; I spent countless hours in my friend's basement spinning Rush records, drinking beers, and dissecting the lyrics. I generally don't react to famous people passing away, but this one is a tough one.

People I haven't heard from for ages were texting me today about the news, which makes it even harder because Rush is one of those bands that have always brought people together. Their texts brought me back to those days partying in the Capital Centre parking lot before the Grace Under Pressure concert, hitchhiking on the Beltway to get to the Power Windows show, being invited into an after-show hotel party in Pennsylvania simply because I shared love for a band with a group of strangers, driving 8 hours to Toronto to see them on their farewell tour (the border guard even told us where to find Lakeside Park), etc., etc.

As a music fan, Rush was my "home team" and Neil was the stalwart goalkeeper. I imagine that his passing has brought together many people who perhaps have had their memories reminded of old friends today, and I am thankful these old friends - and those times - are now fresh in my memory again.

[Vic2012]

I was aware of Rush in the 70s but didn't pay attention. In the late 90s when I got into this prog kick i got into Rush. Mind blown. Loved the early stuff instantly. I saw them in 2002 on the Vapor Trails tour. Unforgettable. RIP Neil.

[Scott Bails]

I echo all of these sentiments. I can't adequately convey how important Rush have been in my life, particularly as a teenager/twentysomething, but even now in my late forties. And Neil is a massive part of the reason for that.

Until today, I had always thought people saying they were 'gutted' at the news of a musician's death were being a bit melodramatic. Today, I understand that feeling, and I apologize for ever having (even silently) discounted those feelings. This one is staggering for me.

That was Freddie Mercury for me.

RIP Neil

For reasons I can't explain, it was John Wetton for me.

But this one really hurts, too.

[Hour Candle]

RIP you giant of lyricism, drums and musicianship. You were a true guiding light for me. Now I must be playing all the treasures you left us with. First I will be playing 'Available Light" whose lyrics means an awful lot to me. You were, are and forever will be an Idol of mine!

[TCC]

That was Freddie Mercury for me.

RIP Neil

For me, it was Bonzo and years later Layne Staley.

Love his approach to jazz too:

[UnderAGlassMoon]

I echo all of these sentiments. I can't adequately convey how important Rush have been in my life, particularly as a teenager/twentysomething, but even now in my late forties. And Neil is a massive part of the reason for that.

Until today, I had always thought people saying they were 'gutted' at the news of a musician's death were being a bit melodramatic. Today, I understand that feeling, and I apologize for ever having (even silently) discounted those feelings. This one is staggering for me.

I agree with this and it’s pretty much how I feel. Very hard hitting and I feel like I’m going through the five or whatever it is stages of mourning. This is brutal man, wish we could get a giant group hug somehow. My wife doesn’t quite understand it, but that’s okay.

NP: Rush-Xanadu live from Exit...

[dropforge]

yes ... plus Dio vocal or Bowie vocal/rhythm guitar maybe?

Keith Emerson on the Modular Moog, grand piano and clavinet.

John Wetton, too. Co-bassists!

[yamishogun]

I can't count the number of miles I drove, ran, walked or biked with Neil setting the pace and pushing forward.

This is me. I have only listened to Rush when in motion - running, driving, biking and walking - never a stereo in the room. The exception was when listening to them in 1992 in Alpine Valley, WI. But my fist went up a lot.

[Scott Bails]

Love his approach to jazz too:

That was really cool! Never saw that before!

[TCC]

For me, it was Bonzo and years later Layne Staley.

Love his approach to jazz too:

Or this one:

[Progatron]

I had to write a short tribute. It was gnawing at me.

https://www.velvetthunder.co.uk/exit...ell-to-a-king/

[yamishogun]

I had to write a short tribute. It was gnawing at me.

https://www.velvetthunder.co.uk/exit...ell-to-a-king/

[UnderAGlassMoon]

I had to write a short tribute. It was gnawing at me.

https://www.velvetthunder.co.uk/exit...ell-to-a-king/

Thank you, very well written.

[arabicadabra]

I am so sorry to hear this, Beano. How awful for you.

This news is quite a shock - I expect to see nothing but Rush all over Facebook as just about every prog fan, musician and drummer mourns.

I lost my wife to cancer in December 2018...The pain never goes away..RIP Neil...

[elliottnow]

I had to write a short tribute. It was gnawing at me.

https://www.velvetthunder.co.uk/exit...ell-to-a-king/

Very nice.

[smcfee]

As an apathetic GenX teenager, Rush opened up a wider world to me. Peart wrote anthems to individuality and self-empowerment, which were exactly what I needed at that time of life. All three of them were so good at what they did, and it was validating to see that you could be about excellence over fashion, and fill arenas. As much as I have liked the music of Rush over the years, I didn't realize how important the existence and idea of Rush had been to me. They worked incredibly hard, first to make it and especially after, and followed the path they believed in for so long that the next generation of music nerds who followed them and gained success behind them forced a grudging industry to ultimately acknowledge their influence.

Although he has been measured/judged based on his early lyrics, I also found Peart's lyrics became much more humane and reflective. He spent a great deal of his career as a self-described bleeding heart liberal, even though he's associated with hatchets, axes, and saws. It's the difference between the young man who thought the world was a beautiful place filled with terrible people, and the older one who realizes the world is a terrible place filled with beautiful people. Much of his later work seems to be about coming to grips with the fact that we aren't better, and I have no doubt some of his personal suffering played a role in that evolution.

I wish he could have had a longer retirement and more time with his wife and daughter. He made a lot of our lives better, including mine.

[JJ88]

For reasons I can't explain, it was John Wetton for me.

But this one really hurts, too.

Bowie and Emerson here. The latter hit especially hard due to the circumstances. And like Peart, the wider public was really not expecting them. (Although with Bowie clues were there that all wasn't well.)

[spacefreak]

For me in the three best rock drummers (along with Ginger Baker & Keith Moon). Very sad news...

[txprog]

As an apathetic GenX teenager, Rush opened up a wider world to me. Peart wrote anthems to individuality and self-empowerment, which were exactly what I needed at that time of life. All three of them were so good at what they did, and it was validating to see that you could be about excellence over fashion, and fill arenas. As much as I have liked the music of Rush over the years, I didn't realize how important the existence and idea of Rush had been to me. They worked incredibly hard, first to make it and especially after, and followed the path they believed in for so long that the next generation of music nerds who followed them and gained success behind them forced a grudging industry to ultimately acknowledge their influence.

Although he has been measured/judged based on his early lyrics, I also found Peart's lyrics became much more humane and reflective. He spent a great deal of his career as a self-described bleeding heart liberal, even though he's associated with hatchets, axes, and saws. It's the difference between the young man who thought the world was a beautiful place filled with terrible people, and the older one who realizes the world is a terrible place filled with beautiful people. Much of his later work seems to be about coming to grips with the fact that we aren't better, and I have no doubt some of his personal suffering played a role in that evolution.

I wish he could have had a longer retirement and more time with his wife and daughter. He made a lot of our lives better, including mine.

I remember an interview from not that long ago I think, during which Neil replied - with a smile on his face - to a question about whether he agreed with Ayn Rand's incoherent psychopathic ranting and miserable ideas, "Of course not.".......