Back in 1998, Rush was still one of prog-rock’s most vital bands. They were over three decades and 16 albums deep into a somewhat improbable run as radio-worthy virtuosos. After a pair of crushing personal tragedies hit drummer-lyricist Neil Peart, the future looked bleak for the Canadian trio. But a kind gesture from another rock icon—former Led Zeppelin singer Robert Plant—helped give them strength.
Rush hardly existed at that time, having entered an extended hiatus in August 1997, after Peart’s 19-year-old daughter, Selena, died in a car accident. (His common-law wife, Jackie, died from cancer less than a year later.) Geddy Lee, the band’s singer and bassist, told Classic Rock that they were “not in a good place”—and they certainly weren’t expecting a phone call from Plant. The singer, who’d recently released a collaborative album with former Led Zeppelin bandmate Jimmy Page, was playing Toronto’s Molson Amphitheatre on July 4, 1998, when he rang up the Rush HQ.
“Someone kept calling our office saying they were Robert Plant and they needed to speak to me,” Lee said. “No one believed it, but turns out it was him.” The bassist, who was “pretty down in the dumps at that point,” returned the call and accepted Plant’s invitation to attend their concert. “[H]e said, ‘No, come to the show, we’ll talk,’” Lee said. “He understood what was going on with the band. I remember him saying: ‘You’ve got to re-join life, and sooner is better than later. So get your ass down here.’ So I called [guitarist Alex Lifeson] up and said, ‘We’re going to see Page & Plant.’”
Plant probably would have felt a special empathy for Peart’s situation, given that the Zeppelin legend lost his 5-year-old son, Karac, to a stomach virus in 1977. (He wound up writing one of his band’s most famous songs, “All My Love,” in tribute to his late child.) Lee enthused that Plant and Page were “totally awesome,” adding, “There’s nothing better than meeting someone you admire for so many years and so many reasons and finding out they’re true gents.”
Of course, Rush needed a lot more than a pep talk and a fun night out to clear a path forward. During this period of mourning, Peart drove across North America via motorcycle, an experience chronicled in his 2002 book, Ghost Rider: Travels on the Healing Road. He writes in that memoir that, on the day of his daughter’s funeral, he tearfully told his bandmates, “[C]onsider me retired.”
The other members worked on other projects during their pause: Lee recorded his first (and, thus far, only) solo album, 2000’s My Favourite Headache, while he and guitarist Alex Lifeson compiled a live archival Rush compilation, 1998’s Different Stages. The album’s packaging features a reference to their 1984 song “Afterimage,” now reframed as a tribute: “Suddenly … You were gone … from all the lives you left your mark upon. In loving memory of Jackie and Selena.”
The band eventually regrouped to record their first album in six years, 2002’s Vapor Trails, followed by two more LPs: 2007’s Snakes & Arrows and 2012’s Clockwork Angels, and multiple tours. Their last live run came in 2015 and Peart died from brain cancer in January 2020. He’s widely considered one of the greatest drummers to ever grip a pair of sticks.
Plant, meanwhile, played a role beyond boosting Rush’s confidence—he also had a major musical impact. In an interview with the CBC, Lee talked about the profound experience of first seeing Led Zeppelin live.
“Musicians talk about life-changing moments. Lots of people talk about life-changing moments, and it’s hard to take that expression seriously, but I can say in all honesty that, for me and Alex Lifeson, my BFF and my partner-in-crime for a million years—and also for John Rutsey, who was our [original drummer]—it was a life-changing experience,” he said. “We sat there in the second row, and Jimmy Page didn’t walk on stage. He floated on stage. I’m sure there was a cloud under his feet. And it was such a profoundly intense rock experience, and the rafters were literally shaking, and plaster was literally falling off the ceiling. They really brought the house down. And it was a kind of rock music that we had never really heard or felt in that way.”
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