Geddy Lee on Metallica and Heavy Metal music

Fronted by Geddy Lee, Rush was one of the first bands to combine Progressive Rock and Hard Rock, becoming one of the godfathers of what would later be known as Progressive Metal, a genre that gave the world bands like Dream Theater, Tool and Queensrÿche. The power trio, also formed by Alex Lifeson and Neil Peart, were influenced by bands such as The Who, Led Zeppelin, Humble Pie, Yes and Genesis, which were crucial in helping them shape their own sound and songwriting style.

Over the decades, Geddy has spoken about many musical genres, including Heavy Metal. One of the groups he gave his opinion on several times was Metallica, which went on to become one of the biggest bands in the world.

Geddy Lee on Metallica and Heavy Metal music

Although Geddy Lee is not a big fan of Heavy Metal, he does like Metallica a lot and said he’s got a great respect for them as a band. “Well, I don’t listen to a lot of metal. Even though there’s an aspect of our sound that can be quite metal, I sort of attribute it more to early metal. In the way that Zeppelin were metal and in the way that Black Sabbath were metal, and Blue Cheer were metal. And that’s the sort of tradition of metal that we took on. I like Metallica, I’ve got great respect for them. But, you won’t hear too much speed metal or death metal in my house,” Geddy Lee told Vice in 2015.

He has been praising the group since the mid 80s when they were starting to become more famous. According to him, most Metal bands at the time sounded the same but Metallica was an exception. Especially because they were not afraid to explore different ideas. “Most metal bands sound the same. There’s a frightening lack of desire to break from the standard metal cliches. But I like Metallica. They’re a great metal band. They’re real good and honest at what they do. In some ways, they remind me of Rush. They’re trying to make their metal complicated, but also entertaining,” Geddy told Hit Parader magazine in 1986.

Curiously, the Rush frontman almost became the producer of Metallica’s groundbreaking album “Master of Puppets” (1986). Geddy was a good friend of Cliff Bernstein, Metallica’s manager, who was the one who signed Rush to their first American record deal and that’s how his connection with the band started.

Geddy Lee said:

“It’s sort of true. There was some discussion with Lars, back in the day, about working with them. This was before ‘Master of Puppets’ came out, I think? There was talk, you know. I was friends with their management and I met Lars back in England. I remember going to see them here in Toronto when they played at the Masonic Temple.”

“That’s when the original bass player was still happening. You know, before that tragedy. And, you know, we talked about it and I liked their band a lot at that time. But it just never came together,” Geddy Lee told Vice. Bernstein was the same person who gave Neil Peart‘s number to Lars Ulrich around that time so that he could ask for some advice about gear.

Geddy Lee likes “For Whom the Bells Tolls”

“For Whom the Bells Tolls”, released on their 1984 album “Ride The Lightning” is one of the most famous songs of their career. Geddy Lee likes that track as he told CBC Music in 2019, when he was part of the show “It’s a Jam or Not a Jam”. After they played a part of the song, without saying which one it was, he said: “I know that bell… Well, this one of those songs where the bass line is really doubling the guitar parts. So it’s not… it’s basically contributing to the ‘heaviosity’ of the track.”

“The purpose of the bass line in this is to add weight. It’s got a bit of a twang, it’s got a lot of heaviness. So that genre requires that Heavy Metal pomp and that’s what the bass line does. It serves after it. So I would say it’s kind of a jam,” Geddy Lee said (Transcribed by Rock and Roll Garage).

That song is one of the best examples of the late Cliff Burton’s talent, showcasing the bass guitar as a fundamental part of the track. Curiously, as revealed by Metallica’s guitarist Kirk Hammett, Cliff was extremely nervous back in the 80s when they told him Geddy Lee would watch them playing. “Geddy Lee showed up at one of our shows on the ‘Ride The Lightning’ tour. We played Toronto, and all of a sudden we got a message backstage that Geddy Lee was in the audience. And Cliff Burton just freaked out.”

He continued:

Geddy Lee mentioned Metallica in his autobiography

Geddy Lee released his autobiography, “My Effin’ Life,” in 2024 and although he doesn’t talk about going to see Metallica around that time, he mentions the band in a very positive way. For example, he notes that their 2008 album, “Death Magnetic,” was one of the records that pushed the limits in terms of production and audio quality. “‘Definitely Maybe’ by Oasis is widely credited with being the first CD that blew other songs out of the jukebox thanks to producer and engineer Owen Morris’s ‘brick-walling’ technique.”

“Some of the albums notorious for pushing the limit included Metallica’s ‘Death Magnetic’ and ‘Californication’ by the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Today, streaming services have put an end to competitive loudness practices with Audio Normalization. I think, by the way, that the Loudness Wars helped spark the debate over which was superior, digital or analog. (It) created a whole another red herring,” Geddy Lee said.

When talking about the period when Rush started working again with producer Peter Collins, Geddy recalled they recorded at a legendary studio where respected artists like Metallica had worked. “In February 1996 we brought Peter Collins back to produce our new album ‘Test for Echo’, at the legendary Bearsville Studios, our first-ever recording session in the US of A. In its thirty years of operation, more than two thousand albums were made there by artists including Metallica, Patti Smith, Todd Rundgren and the late, great Jeff Buckley.

Metallica advocated for Rush to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame