Six years after beginning his musical career at a young age in 1968, multi-instrumentalist and singer Geddy Lee signed a record deal to release Rush’s self-titled first album, which he recorded with drummer John Rutsey and guitarist Alex Lifeson.
The Canadian group developed throughout the years and had a distinctive sound, particularly after drummer Neil Peart joined and took over as lead lyricist. As a result, the band established a passionate fan following that supported them for more than 50 years and sold millions of albums globally.
When Lee was younger, he was influenced by a wide range of bands, but he was particularly drawn to the British ones. He went so far as to say that a song by an English group could contain the greatest power chords ever.
The song with the best power chords of all time according to Geddy Lee
The Who was among the bands that most influenced the frontman of Rush. One of the most important bands of all time, they were founded in London, England in 1962. The Who was already one of the top bands in the world when their debut album was published. The band is Canadian. They made six albums, and one of their most well-known tracks, “Who’s Next” (1971), was published not too long earlier.
Bands from the United Kingdom have traditionally found great success in the North American market. Thus, they made several stops in North America and Europe. When Geddy was still a youngster, he had the good fortune to see The Who live many times in addition to countless other amazing bands.
He discussed the group’s influence on him in an interview with Classic Rock in 2020, even speculating that the 1971 song “Won’t Get Fooled Again” by “Who’s Next” could contain the greatest riff ever.
“Maybe the greatest power chords ever recorded. Who invented the power chord? Probably Pete.”
In the same talk, he declared the pioneering Who album to be the greatest album of all time.
However, he cherished every aspect of The Who, which naturally included bassist John Entwistle. He even repeatedly named him as one of his all-time favorite bassists. The Ox was one of Geddy’s original rock gods, according to him. When he first heard “My Generation,” he became enthralled.
The first time he met Pete Townshend
Even though Geddy has been a well-known rock star for many years, he didn’t really get to meet the guitarist until 2012. It took place in Canada during an awards ceremony. He remembered hearing in an interview with Classic Rock that day that Des McAnuff will be performing alongside the lead composer of The Who.
“I was in Ottawa, Canada, the capital of Canada. We were receiving what’s called the Governor General’s Performing Arts award. It was a wonderful event. One of the surprise guests that night was Pete Townshend. (He) had come in to perform with Des McAnuff, who also won an Arts Award that evening.”
He added, “After the gig we were invited to go down Pete’s dressing room and meet him. I’ve never met him. Pete Townshend is one of my real, real heroes. I can honestly say I wouldn’t be sitting here talking to you if he had not written those great songs for The Who.
They just inspired me to want to be the best writer I could be. So meeting him, I was a bit awestruck and he was great. (He is) easy to talk to. But in the back of my mind I was going ‘Holy crap, I’m meeting Pete Townshend’,” Geddy Lee said. Rush had the chance to pay tribute to The Who on their 2004 covers EP. Called “Feedback”, the record had many classic tracks, including The Who’s “The Seeker”.