Rush
is a Canadian rock band formed in August 1968 in the Willowdale
neighbourhood of Toronto, Ontario. The band is composed of bassist,
keyboardist, and lead vocalist Geddy Lee; guitarist and backing vocalist Alex Lifeson; and drummer, percussionist, and lyricist Neil Peart.
The band and its membership went through several reconfigurations
between 1968 and 1974, achieving its current form when Peart replaced
original drummer John Rutsey in July 1974, two weeks before the group's first United States tour.
Rush has become known for its musicianship, complex compositions, and
eclectic lyrical motifs drawing heavily on science fiction, fantasy,
history, and philosophy. Rush's music style has changed over the years,
from a blues-inspired hard rock beginning, later moving into progressive
rock, and including a period with heavy use of synthesizers. Its
musical style returned to a more guitar-oriented sound in 1989. The
band's latest studio album, Clockwork Angels (2012) won the Album Of The
Year Award from Progressive Music Awards. The supporting tour ran from
September 2012 to August 2013.
According to the RIAA Rush ranks 80th with sales of 25 million units in
the United States. Although total worldwide album sales are not
calculated by any single entity, several industry sources estimated
Rush's total worldwide album sales at over 40 million units as of 2004.
The group has been awarded 24 gold, 14 platinum, and 3 multi-platinum
albums.
Rush has received seven Grammy award nominations, although they have
never won a Grammy. The band, however, has won several Juno Awards, was
inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame in 1994, and inducted into
the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2013. Over their careers, the members
of Rush have been acknowledged as some of the most proficient players
on their respective instruments, with each band member winning numerous
awards in magazine readers' polls. Rush plans to stop large-scale
touring at the end of 2015, though this will not necessarily end the
band.
Rush's musical style has changed substantially over the years. Its debut
album was strongly influenced by British blues-based hard rock: an
amalgam of sounds and styles from such rock bands as Black Sabbath, the
Who, Cream and Led Zeppelin. Rush became increasingly influenced by
bands of the British progressive rock movement, especially Genesis
(Peter Gabriel era) and Jethro Tull, as Geddy Lee is a fan of both
bands. In the tradition of progressive rock, Rush wrote extended songs
with irregular and shifting time signatures, combined with fantasy and
science fiction-themed lyrics. In the 1980s, Rush successfully merged
their sound with the trends of this period, experimenting with new wave,
reggae and pop rock. This period included the band's most extensive use
of instruments such as synthesizers, sequencers, and electronic
percussion. In the early 1990s, the band transformed their style once
again to harmonize with the alternative rock movement.