Rush's songs speak to the mind and the heart.
The band also sings from a place of empathy, as its individual members have endured a lot
of pain and struggle over the years.
Here's the tragic real-life story of Rush.
From late 1996 to July 1997, Rush toured in support of its album Test for Echo.
And after the final stop in Ottawa, Ontario, drummer Neil Peart headed home to Toronto
to see his 19-year-old daughter Selena Taylor off to college.
Peart wrote in Ghost Rider: Travels on the Healing Road that on the morning of August
10, 1997, he hopped on his motorcycle to guide his daughter, who was riding in a car behind
him, through the Quebec wilderness.
He wrote that they stopped at a gas station and parted ways.
"Once again I hugged and kissed her and told her I loved and was proud of her.
Now I was so glad those words had been spoken."
That's because later that day, Taylor died after being involved in a single-car accident.
According to MTV News, Taylor's Jeep rolled over on Highway 401, somewhere
between Toronto and Montreal.
Jackie Taylor, the mother of Neil Peart's daughter and his partner of more than two
decades, was understandably devastated by the death of Selena Taylor.
Peart wrote,
"She just wanted to die.
She had to be coaxed into eating anything at all, and talked of suicide constantly."
In January 1998, Peart and Taylor were beginning to emerge from the haze of grief when Taylor
started to suffer from a persistent night-time cough and serious back pain.
However, it wasn't the result of grief-related stress, as Taylor had presumed.
Instead, a doctor diagnosed her with terminal cancer.
Just a few months later, Taylor passed away after suffering a series of strokes.
This personal tragedy was the second loss of a family member that Peart suffered in
less than one calendar year.
"After she passed away, he was lost, and so he ran.
He got on his motorcycle and ran."
When a lot of legacy musical acts retire, they let their audiences know and stage a
final "goodbye" tour so they can cash in before disappearing from the public eye.
Rush certainly could've made a bundle from a farewell tour, but that wasn't in the cards.
In 2018, Geddy Lee told Trunk Nation, quote, "That period of our life is done."
The reason?
Neil Peart couldn't play the drums to his own very high standard anymore.
Lee explained,
"Neil is retired.
He hasn't just retired from Rush; he's retired from drumming.
He's not drumming anymore, and he's living his life.
Which is fine."
The band's R40 Tour in 2015 wound up being the band's last, and even then, it was very
hard for Peart to get through, because of tendinitis, shoulder pain, and a serious foot
infection.
Lee explained,
"Neil was struggling throughout that tour to play at his peak, because of physical ailments
and other things that were going on with him.
And he did not want to go out and do anything less than what people expected of him."
While not an original member of Rush, Neil Peart played a huge part in forging the band's
identity.
Not only was he responsible for 40-plus years of superhuman proficiency and clever drum
technique, he also wrote the majority of the band's intelligent and philosophical lyrics.
But sadly, health issues forced Peart to quit the band after its 2015 tour, and while Geddy
Lee and Alex Lifeson discussed teaming up for some musical project down the line, it
just wouldn't and couldn't be Rush without Peart.
And now, there will never be a full Rush reunion.
On January 7, 2020, Peart passed away at the age of 67.
A spokesman for Peart's family confirmed the news to Rolling Stone, as well as revealing
that Peart had been quietly fighting brain cancer for several years.
Rush shared a message on Instagram:
"Our friend, soul brother, and band mate of over 45 years, Neil, has lost his incredibly
brave three-and-a-half-year battle with brain cancer."
Rush bassist Geddy Lee is one of Canada's finest, born in Toronto in 1953.
His parents, Morris Weinrib and Manya Rubenstein, were relatively recent immigrants to the Great
White North, both originally from Poland.
The pair met and fell for each other in 1939, and as this was Poland under World War 2-era
Nazi occupation and they were Jewish, that meeting occurred in a work camp.
Neither was older than 13, and they were both sent to the notorious Auschwitz concentration
camp, where they endured unbelievable horrors for close to two years.
Then Weinrib was transferred to Dachau, while Rubenstein remained at Auschwitz before
being sent to Bergen-Belsen.
After the Allied liberation of the camps, Weinrib set out in search of Rubenstein, eventually
finding her at a displaced persons camp and marrying her before moving to Canada.
Lee would later say that his first memories were of his mother discussing Hitler and the
camps.
His father was more reticent to discuss the atrocities, and died when Lee was only 12.
While it's certainly not as tragic as the rest of these events, Rush's years-long struggle
to get respect from the rock 'n' roll mainstream is certainly puzzling and undeserved.
At one point, a critic writing for Rolling Stone likened Geddy Lee's voice to a, quote,
"dog-calling falsetto shriek [that] float[s] through the songs like swamp gas."
Alex Lifeson explained to Radio Dot Com:
"They didn't like us at all at Rolling Stone.
In fact, I think it sort of bordered on hate.
They were a 'hip' crowd from an early generation."
"If they don't appreciate the aesthetics of our music, they will find a defensive, frankly,
and consequently radio stations do not want to take a chance on playing something like
us."
Rolling Stone publisher Jann Wenner also headed up the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and despite
being eligible for years and being one of the most successful acts ever, Rush just couldn't
get enshrined.
Finally, in 2013, Rush made it in.
Lifeson said,
"When we were nominated, it came as a bit of a surprise to us, because we thought we
wouldn't get inducted unless it was over Jann Wenner's dead body.
But he was still quite alive."
Check out one of our newest videos right here!
Plus, even more Grunge videos about your favorite artists are coming soon.
Subscribe to our YouTube channel and hit the bell so you don't miss a single one.