Rush is a Canadian progressive rock band comprising bassist, keyboardist, and vocalist Geddy Lee, guitarist Alex Lifeson, and drummer and lyricist Neil Peart. Rush was formed in the summer of 1968, in Willowdale, Ontario by Lifeson, Lee, and John Rutsey. Peart replaced Rutsey on drums in July 1974, two weeks before the group's first U.S. tour, to complete the present lineup. Since the release of their self-titled debut album in 1974 the band has become known for their instrumental virtuosity, complex compositions and erudite lyrics. Rush's three decades of continued success under the lineup of Lee, Lifeson, and Peart have earned the band the respect of their musical peers. Rush has influenced various modern artists such as Metallica, The Smashing Pumpkins and Primus, as well as notable progressive bands such as Dream Theater and Symphony X.Rush has been awarded several Juno Awards and was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame in 1994. Additionally, Lee, Lifeson, and Peart are Officers of the Order of Canada, the first rock musicians so honored. Over the course of their career, the individual members of Rush have been recognized as some of the most proficient players on their respective instruments. Each member has won several awards in magazine readers' polls. As a whole, Rush boasts 23 gold records and 14 platinum (3 multi-platinum) records, making them one of the best-selling rock bands in history. Rush currently places fifth behind The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, KISS and Aerosmith for the most consecutive gold and platinum albums by a rock band.GEDDY LEEApart from prolific writing, musical influence, and instrumental prowess, Geddy Lee's high-register vocal style has always been a main signature of the band — and often a focal point for criticism, especially during the early years of Rush's career when Lee's vocals were high-pitched, with a strong likeness to British hard-rock singer Robert Plant. In fact, his voice is often described as a "wail". Nevertheless, Lee's voice has softened significantly over the years and still remains distinctive. His instrumental abilities, on the other hand, are rarely criticized. An award-winning musician, Lee's style, technique, and virtuosity on the bass guitar have proven very influential in the rock and heavy metal genres, inspiring such players as Steve Harris of Iron Maiden, John Myung of Dream Theater, Les Claypool of Primus, and the late Cliff Burton of Metallica, among others. He is notable for his ability to competently operate various pieces of instrumentation simultaneously. This was mostly evident during live shows when it was necessary for Lee, as the frontman, to play bass, supply lead vocals, manipulate keyboards, and trigger footpedals during the course of a performance, as in "Tom Sawyer". Obviously this restricted his movement significantly, because he was required to remain in one place during songs which contained complex instrumentation. Lifeson and Peart were, to a lesser extent, responsible for similar actions during live shows.ALEX LIFESONInstrumentally, Lifeson is regarded as a master guitarist, a pioneer of electronic effects and chord structures. During his adolescent years, he was influenced primarily by Jimi Hendrix, Pete Townshend, Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton and Jimmy Page. For versatility, Lifeson was known to incorporate touches of Spanish and classical music into Rush's guitar-driven sound of the 1970s. Taking a backseat to Lee's keyboards in the 1980s, Lifeson's guitar returned to the forefront in the 1990s and has remained there ever since, along with his occasional duties of cuing various guitar effects and the use of bass-pedal synthesizers.Despite his high esteem, Lifeson is often regarded as being overshadowed by his bandmates due to Lee's on-stage multi-instrumental dexterity and Peart's iconic status.NEIL PEARTPeart is widely regarded by music fans, drummers, and fellow musicians as one of the greatest drummers in the history of rock, this high esteem continuing today as it has throughout his playing career. He is also regarded as one of the finest practitioners of the in-concert drum solo. Initially inspired by Keith Moon, Peart absorbed the influence of other rock drummers from the 1960s and 1970s such as Ginger Baker, Carmine Appice, and John Bonham. Incorporation of unusual instruments (for rock drummers of the time) such as cowbells, glockenspiel, and tubular bells, along with several standard kit elements, helped create a highly varied setup. Continually modified to this day, Peart's drumkit offers an enormous array of percussion instruments for sonic diversity. For two decades Peart honed his technique; each new Rush album introduced an expanded percussive vocabulary. In the 1990s, he surprised many fans by reinventing his style, with the help of drum coach Freddie Gruber. At this time, Peart began emulating jazz drummer Buddy Rich.Due to his esteem as a multi-percussionist, a staple of Rush's concerts is a Peart drum solo. Peart's drum solos include a basic framework of routines connected by sections of improvisation, leaving each performance unique. Each successive tour sees the solo more advanced, with some routines dropped in favor of newer, more complex ones. Since the mid-1980s, Peart has used MIDI trigger pads to trigger sounds sampled from various pieces of acoustic percussion that would otherwise consume far too much stage area, such as a marimba, harp, temple blocks, triangles, glockenspiel, orchestra bells, tubular bells, and vibra-slap as well as other, more esoteric percussion. Some purely electronic, description-defying sounds are also incorporated into each drum solo.Peart also serves as Rush's primary lyricist, attracting much attention over the years due to his eclectic style. Known for penning concept albums and songs inspired by literature, opinions of his writing have varied greatly, running the gamut from cerebral and insightful to overly pretentious and preachy. Nonetheless, his lyrical contributions provide a compelling case study. Polygram distributed a poetry packet to high schools in 1986 in conjunction with the release of Power Windows with the intent of stimulating student interest in poetry and teaching about metaphors, similes, and personifications as used within the lyrics of that album.