Rush”s fans have ardently lobbied for their favorite power trio to be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame ever since the band first became eligible in 1998. Alas, the Canadian rock act never even made the ballot. All that changed this year when the band not only made it onto the finalists” ballot, but ended up one of six acts inducted at last night”s ceremony in Los Angeles.
Geddy Lee, Neil Peart and Alex Lifeson made their way backstage and I asked them about their fans” role in getting them the honor. I addressed the question to Lee since Peart is notoriously a little shy about speaking to the media, so it was a delight when after Lee answered, Peart jumped in with more.
As far as Lifeson”s “blah, blah… ,” that was an extension of his weird acceptance speech, which consisted solely of his very animated use of only the word “Blah” to seemingly act out the band”s 39-year career.
Lee said, “I think the collective voices of our fans, without question, put a hell of a lot of pressure on {the Hall] to seriously consider us… I had the people from the Hall of Fame coming up to me today thanking us because it”s been the quietest it”s ever been after the announcements are made, usually they are so beseiged with angry violent emails and such…”
Peart feels the fans and the band have grown up together. “We have evolved naturally in our music and our lyrics and our songs and all of our experiences as from our past and our present as grown ups and we”ve expressed all that in our songs and a lot of them have grown up with that.”
Lifeson added, “blah, blah, blah… “