In the wake of Neil Peart’s shocking and tragic death, it has been heartwarming to see the outpouring of love and respect he is being shown, seemingly everywhere. Even LinkedIn was awash in tributes. While I was reading the many homages paid to him it occurred to me that if everyone lived their lives the way Neil lived his, the only problem in the world would be an overabundance of experts, all of whom would be humble and constantly looking to improve. He is of course famous mostly because of his contributions to Rush but everything I ever read about him created an image in my mind of someone who approached all areas of life with thoughtfulness, honesty, discipline and humility. He was not just a student of the drums or writing, he was a student of everything. Through Noble and Cooley, I have had the good fortune to meet many of my heroes, but I never got to meet Neil. He was someone I wanted to meet but it never seemed urgent because Neil was going to be around for a long time. He didn’t live the rock star life. Retired or not, he would be involved in writing, perhaps an occasional Rush show or maybe he would go to NAMM or something. I think news of his passing will be like the Kennedy assassination where people will always remember where they were and what they were doing when they heard. In my case, my buddy Nukes called in the middle of the day while I was working in my office at home.
Me: What’s up?
Nukes: Neil Peart died.
Me: WHAT????
Nukes: Neil Peart died. I just saw it online.
Me: No.
Nukes: Yes.
Me: No. How is that possible? Was he in a car accident?
Nukes: No, it says here he had brain cancer, whatever that is.
Since I work in neuro, I unfortunately immediately knew that this likely meant a glioblastoma and started to explain it to him but suddenly just said, “Dude, I gotta go.” This was so unbelievably unexpected and shook me so much for someone I had never met I didn’t even know how to react, other than to reach out to my musician friends, many of whom were reaching out to me simultaneously. At one point every text conversation visible on my phone was about him dying. I think the entire music community and every Rush fan had to have known within 10 minutes of it being posted on the news. And it turns out we all had the same reaction – shock, disbelief, and profound sadness at the loss of someone who most of us had never met yet had indeed felt like a long-awaited friend.
As with most other drummers, Neil Peart was a significant influence in my life but I actually learned about him by accident. Yes, by accident. I was playing a gig in my high school band and it was the first show I had played with my cherry red Tama Superstars. I had lusted over these for the better part of a year while saving up to pay for them by working at McDonald’s, David Lee Roth polyester pants and all. Someone came up to me after the show and said, “You have the Neil Pert kit”. I said, “The what kit?” He said, “Not what, who. Neil Pert, the drummer for Rush. How can you be a drummer and not know who he is?” So, I went out and bought the only album available in the bin at Strawberries on Route 9 next to Fun and Games which was Permanent Waves. Which is how I found out this guy was right. How did I not know who Neil Peart was? What kind of a drummer learns about Rush by anyone other than 1) a musician or 2) an older brother (I am the older brother). I learned later that the only reason Permanent Waves was in the bin was because Power Windows had just come out and was sold out, that’s how late to the game I was here. Since this is the one forum I have in life where I don’t have to explain his influence as a drummer, I’ll skip to the other part that captivated me – the lyrics. Not just the lyrics, the subject matter of the lyrics. Literature, social themes, individuality, integrity, independence. He was a realistic optimist who essentially said life is challenging and requires hard work but is wonderful and worth it. All of these themes resonated with me like they did with millions of others, collectively known as Rush fans. Everything about the music was so uplifting. To this day, when any project I am working on starts to come together, I will say, “I feel the sense of possibilities.” And whenever I feel down about the world, I watch the live performance of Xanadu from Exist Stage Left on You Tube. The elaborate production - the organ pipes and glockenspiel, the robes - I always smile and think, as long as stuff like this can exist, we will be OK.
It’s probably hard for younger fans to picture a time that it wasn’t cool to be a Rush fan. It’s strange to think of now, because in recent years they have FINALLY, as Dave Grohl said, gotten the respect they deserve. If you haven’t seen Dave inducting them into the Hall of Fame, it’s worth watching several times. As he states, for a long time, they were not considered cool. Lots of critics hated them, they still get called math music, non-emotional, stiff, no feel, etc. A review of a show I went to in Boston said that, onstage, they have the vitality of a hockey puck. And get this one. My wife said she likes bands that are “more rhythmic”. I said you mean you like bands that are less rhythmic. So, in response, Rush fans have become zealot like in their support of the band. I actually wonder if this is part of the air drumming phenomenon. As air drum inspiring as Neil is, I kind of feel like when we drummers do this, on some small level consciously or unconsciously, we are saying I am showing you what is going on here that you just don’t get. Although, in contradiction to this thought, I saw a Josh Freese Instagram post the other day with him air drumming. I keep the volume off on my phone, so I literally just saw it, didn’t hear anything. I thought, oh, he is doing the call and answer part in the middle of Tom Sawyer. What other drummer could you do that with? And yet it was AFTER writing and recording masterpieces like Moving Pictures that Neil decided to take time off and work on his playing.
Nevertheless, it is the combination of all of this stuff - phenomenal chops, brilliant drum compositions, signature parts, insightful lyrics, a fantastic band with equally talented musicians, incredible work ethic, passion for life and humility that resulted in his status as the biggest living drum hero. It occurred to me that with his passing, we have no drum heroes of this magnitude and influence remaining. I don’t mean at all to imply we don’t have amazing drummers and legends out there playing right now. There are probably more amazing drummers playing now than in the history of drumming. Many legends are still playing actively. People say rock and roll is dying. From the sheer passage of time legends have died, or will, during the next decade or so. But I don’t believe rock is dying. Sure, pop and country are more popular now, but music goes through phases and I don’t think the popularity of one genre causes the demise of another. As Neil said, there is freedom in music, and I think there is a LOT of freedom in rock. I don’t think loud, vibrant, live and creative music will ever go away. There is great music everywhere. The craft evolves. The next generation learns from the current one, music goes in new directions. Neil had heroes he learned from and drummers who learned from him are inspiring new drummers. I know there will be other drummers who come out and change things again and we will all learn from and admire those players. They will likely cite Neil as an influence, but they will do things their way. I bet Neil would want this.
The day after it was announced that Neil had died, I needed to drop some things off at my parents’ house. Obviously, Rush was being played non-stop everywhere. It was a rare warm January day and I had the top down in my car. I deliberately took side roads home so I could hear more Rush and soak up the warm weather. I was at a long red light as a train passed by in downtown Framingham not far from the place where I played that first gig with my Superstars. I landed on a station halfway through Big Money. I hadn’t heard this song on the radio since I was in high school. Knowing I had time, I sat back, closed my eyes, felt the sun on my face and yes, dammit, air drummed until the song ended. I opened my eyes and the first thing I saw was a vapor trail with clouds drifting past. I had that same uplifting feeling that Neil and Rush first gave me all those years ago but something new was there - gratitude for everything he gave us.
The world is a better place because Neil Peart was in it. He will be missed not just by those who knew him and by his famous drumming peers but by fans everywhere. He gave us a level of performance to aspire to, was a role model for a life well-lived and allowed all of us, not just drummers, but drummers most of all, to feel the sense of possibilities.
