With an unmistakable sound melding Geddy Lee’s high-pitched vocals, Alex Lifeson’s guitar heroics and Neil Peart’s ultra-complex drumming, this Canadian power trio are one of the most beloved progressive rock bands ever. The futuristic concept album 2112 made Rush a late-Seventies force to be reckoned with. But a tentative accommodation with new wave pop structures, beginning with Permanent Waves, caused the trio’s popularity to soar. The platinum Signals introduced a refined sound: warm synthesizer backdrops and relatively subdued vocals from Lee, who by then sang in a lower register. That remained the blueprint for Rush’s music throughout the ’80’s and early ’90’s. Each of Rush’s five albums through 1985’s Power Windows sold at least one million copies, with Moving Pictures moving more than four million. After various sabbaticals, in 2002, the trio released Vapor Trails and followed with a tour and live album. In 2007, the band released Snakes & Arrows, which rocketed to number three, capped once again by an extensive tour and another concert album. In 2007, Rush introduced its most famous song, “Tom Sawyer,” with a South Park parody on huge screens; a year later, Stephen Colbert interviewed the band on The Colbert Report. In 2009, Rush showed up at an event promoting the Hollywood bromance, I Love You Man, about two guys who find friendship thanks to their shared love of — who else? — Rush. The band released their latest studio album, Clockwork Angels, in June 2012 with a supporting tour that began in September 2012. Rush is one of the greatest bands – and they’re still performing.
