Neil Peart of Rush is Dead

[02SE]

A tremendous loss. Rest in peace, Mr. Peart.

 

[csandste]

Another one bites the dust. They're dropping dead faster than I can go to their concerts. Never saw Rush but took in a very good Rush tribute band. My date waited outside because she thought she'd get a seizure. Never went out with her again.

 

[va2001ss]

exit the warrior.. May he RIP.

 

[Mad_Hatter]

Splitting hairs but Baker and Moon were better drummers IMO. Though any conversation about great drummers has to include Neil..he was that good. Rip brother...

 

[grampi]

Best ever IMO. RIP Neil...

 

[Jackson_Slugger]

Originally Posted by Mad_Hatter

Splitting hairs but Baker and Moon were better drummers IMO. Though any conversation about great drummers has to include Neil..he was that good. Rip brother...

Moon was a great drummer, but he never played the same the same way twice, and faded due to lack of rehearsal and substance abuse, Moon went to [censored] in extended periods between tours (if any drummer needed a kit at his house to play when not on tour it was Moon, but he could care less). I think John Bonham deserves mention as well. All were great drummers in different ways, could care less who's best...

 

[uc50ic4more]

Originally Posted by Jackson_Slugger

Originally Posted by Mad_Hatter

Splitting hairs but Baker and Moon were better drummers IMO. Though any conversation about great drummers has to include Neil..he was that good. Rip brother...

Moon was a great drummer, but he never played the same the same way twice, and faded due to lack of rehearsal and substance abuse, Moon went to [censored] in extended periods between tours (if any drummer needed a kit at his house to play when not on tour it was Moon, but he could care less). I think John Bonham deserves mention as well. All were great drummers in different ways, could care less who's best...

I think Ian Paice of Deep Purple gets forgotten about in these discussions. And in the same way that a lot of young "shredders" can play like Eddie Van Halen now, a generation or two removed from his raising of the technical bar, so too can a lot of these metal drummers play circles around the conceptions we used to have of what made a drummer "wow"-worthy. Eg. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bAJ1WTGNISk (If anyone can figure out what kind of 5/4 or 15/8 or whatever the heck this guy's bottom half is doing while his top half does something completely different, please advise.) A lot of Peart's contribution to the world of music also had to do with his often-brilliant lyrics.

 

[4WD]

Man, I only lasted 2 minutes of that video … pass the Tylenol please

 

[4WD]

Originally Posted by cb450sc

Youngest drummer inducted into the Drummers Hall of Fame. He was inducted in 1983. He also wrote many of the lyrics of Rush's songs. Sadly missed

There will always be drummers with more flash … but OP's print mentions precise … He stayed well connected to Lifeson's strings https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=limelight&&view=detail&mid=0574C0C40689F77D0CC20574C0C40689F77D0CC2&&FORM=VRDGAR&ru=%2Fvideos%2Fsearch%3Fq%3Dlimelight%26FORM%3DHDRSC3

 

[uc50ic4more]

Originally Posted by 4WD

Man, I only lasted 2 minutes of that video … pass the Tylenol please

I don't know which would hurt more: my head or his calves.

 

[4WD]

Yep, back of those legs would look like a humpback whale !

 

[HemiBenny]

For as great as he was, he was seeking to get better, a true perfectionist! I read where Geddy Lee stated that Neil retired because he could not perform to his own expectations because of the "ailments and things that he is going through" back in 2018. It's a sad time for Rush fans. It's hard to fathom never seeing Neil Peart crawl "within" his kit, not behind, but within. His setup had it's own zipcode. Lol

 

[Schmoe]

I couldn't believe it when I heard it Friday. I still can't. My whole drumming career start can all be traced back to Neil. I was playing garage bands from about '76. Then, 4 years later, Moving Pictures came out. OMG. What in the #ell is this drummer doing? I realized I was an absolutely horrible drummer after hearing Neil play. I almost just gave it up. But....I knew I could do all those things Neil did. So, I took that personal challenge. Of course I couldn't do it, but at that time, you're not going to tell a 13 year old drummer he won't be that good. I listened, practiced, listened, practiced...repeat...for years. Learned the importance of keeping time, it's not all flash. When to use fills, when to play silent, when to accent, when to lay back....most importantly....do NOT BE THE LEAD DRUMMER. Got better, got confident, got into a lot better bands. Worked my way up from garage bands, to night clubs, to auditoriums. Had a band years ago and were the opening act for Katrina and the Waves. Money got better. Gigs got better. Somehow, I managed to keep taking college classes with the money I made from drumming. Eventually, I got my degree. I kept playing. Back in the 80's at that time, if you didn't "make" it in your 20's, you were destined for bars and clubs. Something I didn't want to do the rest of my life. Changed career's and drumming slid to the way side. Fast forward to today. 30 year career with the military. No way I'd be here if it wasn't for Neil. He inspired me to keep pushing my talent. I wasn't even close to his level of mastery, but became good enough to play in just about any band. A part of me died too. Makes me realize that at some point....suddenly you're gone.....doesn't matter who you are or what you do. Time waits for no one. This weekend was like a blur. I can't even listen to Rush tunes just yet. RIP Bubba!!!!

 

[grampi]

Question for those in this thread. Did any of you know he had brain cancer? I didn't. This was the first time I even heard about it...

 

[aquariuscsm]

I LOVE the drumming in "Subdivisions". The drumming of Neil is what made Rush "Rush".

 

[quint]

Originally Posted by grampi

Question for those in this thread. Did any of you know he had brain cancer? I didn't. This was the first time I even heard about it...

If they ever announced it, I personally never heard it. I told my wife, after seeing Geddy in an interview about six months or so ago that I suspected something was wrong with one of them, but I had it in mind Alex Lifeson, not Neil. Just from the tone of Geddy being asked yet again if there was any chance we'd see them on stage together again, early on after the last tour it was all "We arent all on the same page regarding that" and "Alex has some arthritis" and Neil "was have tendonitis issues" and wanted to spend time with his family, etc etc so they are probably done for good or whatever. Then lately in interviews it seemed like the tone changed and he was giving very definitive "We are 100% done, you wont see us on stage ever again, its over, no more tours, no more albums", very stern no, kind of answers. Which made me sadder still, I have seen them in concert probably 30, maybe 40 times. Was always hoping for one more.

 

[grampi]

Originally Posted by quint

Originally Posted by grampi

Question for those in this thread. Did any of you know he had brain cancer? I didn't. This was the first time I even heard about it...

If they ever announced it, I personally never heard it. I told my wife, after seeing Geddy in an interview about six months or so ago that I suspected something was wrong with one of them, but I had it in mind Alex Lifeson, not Neil. Just from the tone of Geddy being asked yet again if there was any chance we'd see them on stage together again, early on after the last tour it was all "We arent all on the same page regarding that" and "Alex has some arthritis" and Neil "was have tendonitis issues" and wanted to spend time with his family, etc etc so they are probably done for good or whatever. Then lately in interviews it seemed like the tone changed and he was giving very definitive "We are 100% done, you wont see us on stage ever again, its over, no more tours, no more albums", very stern no, kind of answers. Which made me sadder still, I have seen them in concert probably 30, maybe 40 times. Was always hoping for one more.

I know many times famous people like to keep their illnesses secret from the general public. Neil must have been one of those...Donna Summer was the same way...the first time I heard she had cancer was when she passed away...

 

[Jimmy9190]

Mike Portnoy says he knew about it for two years, but was sworn to secrecy because Neil, his family and Alex and Geddy all wanted to help keep it all private. We all know Neil was a very private person. https://ultimateclassicrock.com/neil-peart-mike-portnoy/ The news of Neil's death hit me very hard; I have not been the same since I heard about it. I knew Rush was done and we would never hear any new music or see them play live again but I had no idea about Neil's cancer. I did not like every song on every album they recorded but Rush was and still is my favorite band. Music is a big part of who I am. I can't put it into words, but it feels like part of my own heritage is gone now with Neil. I almost lost it myself when I listened to "Losing It" a couple of days ago. Some people have said the 2020's will be the decade that rock music itself will die, and a lot of the musicians and bands we grew up with and still listen to now will all be gone by the end of the decade. It makes me very sad because there is so little good rock music being written now. At least we still have the albums and even though their content is finite, the music will never go away. Neil will never go away as long as we continue to play the records and remember him and his talents. RIP Professor.

 

[Jackson_Slugger]

Originally Posted by quint

Originally Posted by grampi

Question for those in this thread. Did any of you know he had brain cancer? I didn't. This was the first time I even heard about it...

If they ever announced it, I personally never heard it. I told my wife, after seeing Geddy in an interview about six months or so ago that I suspected something was wrong with one of them, but I had it in mind Alex Lifeson, not Neil. Just from the tone of Geddy being asked yet again if there was any chance we'd see them on stage together again, early on after the last tour it was all "We arent all on the same page regarding that" and "Alex has some arthritis" and Neil "was have tendonitis issues" and wanted to spend time with his family, etc etc so they are probably done for good or whatever. Then lately in interviews it seemed like the tone changed and he was giving very definitive "We are 100% done, you wont see us on stage ever again, its over, no more tours, no more albums", very stern no, kind of answers. Which made me sadder still, I have seen them in concert probably 30, maybe 40 times. Was always hoping for one more.

They didn't, it was a closely guarded secret...

 

[A_Harman]

I feel bad for Neal mostly because he didn't have long to enjoy life with his wife and daughter after retiring. Each of us, a cell of awareness. Imperfect and incomplete. Genetic blends. With uncertain ends. On a fortune hunt that's far too fleet. -Free Will We are young. Wandering the face of the earth. Wondering what our dreams might be worth. Learning that we're only immortal for a limited time. -Dreamline