Follow us on Google Discover Rush frontman Geddy Lee has always come across as one of the more honest figures in rock music. He’s so honest, in fact, that a modern PR team might’ve warned him about the importance of self-promotion. Throughout his career, Lee delivered many frank opinions on his work, ranging from the enlightening to the damning. Perhaps this realism is partly to do with the fact that Rush had an oscillating career that saw them establish themselves as one of the premier prog-rock bands while releasing several notable misfires along the way. These misfires, however, are part of the reason why they were so great. They were reaching for something different, and as Ritchie Blackmore said, that’s of vital importance if you want to achieve something great. ”Jimi Hendrix used to play lots of wrong notes,” Blackmore continues, ”because he was searching all the time, ‘where the hell is that correct note’.” He continued, “When he did find that right note… wow, that was incredible, but if you are always playing the correct notes, there is something wrong, you’re not searching, you’re not reaching for anything.” Rush were often reaching, and they were brave enough to do so. According to Geddy Lee, Rush were even openly mocked for one of their songs, ‘Xanadu’, the 11-minute epic found on 1977’s A Farewell to Kings. Being the butt of the joke came from the hard rock band UFO, with whom they toured, as well as fans, who brought signs mocking the track’s lyrics. In the 2010 documentary Beyond the Lighted Stage, Lee recalls getting relentlessly ridiculed by seemingly everyone outside the band during this period. Geddy Lee backstage with his guitars. (Credits: Far Out / TimothyJ) In addition to that, it wasn’t just the music that came under fire; even their choice of wardrobe fell afoul of the world. In the movie, Lee says: “[UFO] would call me ‘Glee’. I would go out onstage, and there would be a pair of fuzzy white slippers nailed to the stage. And I’d hear, ‘That goes perfect with your robe, Glee’.” Lee also remembered some fans specifically poking fun at the lyric, “I have dined on honeydew”. Whilst A Farewell to Kings is a contentious chapter in Rush’s oeuvre due to songs such as ‘Xanadu’, this wasn’t the first time the band had experienced a challenging reception. The album long-discussed as their worst is 1975’s Caress of Steel. While the record marked a turning point in their sound, moving from a more rudimentary form of blues-based hard-rock into a more progressive direction, the darker sonics and out-there songs failed to land. Sales were so poor that their label, Mercury, nearly dropped the group entirely. The band were in despair, but not out of ideas. When speaking to Guitar Player in 1980, Rush guitarist Alex Lifeson looked back on that monumental period and revealed that it was the only time he ever considered quitting the group. Noting the complex significance of the record in their story, he said: “Without Caress Of Steel, we couldn’t ever have done 2112. And the latter, for us, was like coming back with a vengeance”. It relaunched the derided band, and defined their legacy. He added. “It was at that time we said, ‘Okay, everybody wants us to do nice short songs like we did on the first album.’ Do we do that, or do we pack it in, or do we say, ‘Screw you! We’ll do whatever we want!’ The last is what we decided to do, and we came back punching with 2112. That album still feels like that to me when I listen to it today – I can feel the hostility hanging out.” Despite Caress of Steel also opening the gates to one of Rush’s most fertile chapters, when speaking to Classic Rock Magazine in 2020, he still named it the worst record ever made when asked. He said, “Immediately, Caress Of Steel comes to mind. But I’ve met so many fans who love that record. And I think Presto disappointed a lot of fans. The songwriting was a little flat.” Related Topics Source: https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/the-album-so-bad-rush-almost-quit-music-for-good/