The 1970s gave birth to countless Rock subgenres, with bands like Rush combining styles such as Hard Rock and Progressive Rock. Their sound was defined by the classic lineup of Geddy Lee, Alex Lifeson and Neil Peart, helping establish them as one of the most influential bands of their era.
Early in their career, they were the opening act of many more established acts like Kiss, despite the band’s very different sound and image. Over the years, Geddy Lee has shared his thoughts on many artists Rush crossed paths with, including Kiss.
What is Geddy Lee’s opinion on Kiss
Although Geddy Lee respects Kiss, said he learned a lot from them in terms of professionalism and is thankful for their help at the beginning of Rush’s career, he said he likes some of their songs, but it’s not his kind of music. “Yeah (we learned a lot from them), we were so green. When we crossed the border in the US of A for the first time in 1974, we were opening shows and we were so wide-eyed. We barely had professional cases, you know, we were still carrying some of our cabling in empty coke crates. So we had a lot to learn and we’d sit night after night at the side of the stage, after our short set and watched all the bands.”
“Kiss was really impressive because not only was the road crew incredibly kind to us and the guys in the band were very supportive of us. But they were putting on this literally explosive pyrotechnic display and they worked so hard every night. Everything had to be choreographed and everything was split-second timing. So there was a lot to learn, a lot to take in. You know it really wasn’t about their music for us. We liked some of their songs, of course, some of them we didn’t care for. But the way they went about their business was really instructive,” Geddy Lee told CBC in 2024 (Transcribed by Rock and Roll Garage).
He had already said that, in his opinion, they were the hardest-working band in the business, even though some people might criticize their music. “Regardless of what you want to say about Kiss musically or otherwise, there was no harder working band than Kiss.”
He continued:
“There was no band more determined to put on a spectacular show and give people their money’s worth than Kiss. That was a great thing to see as an opening act. We were so impressionable, they were very good to us. Those guys liked to have a good time, especially Gene. Their hotels were always fun to watch (laughs),” Geddy Lee said in Rush’s documentary “Rush: Beyond the Lighted Stage” (2010). In his recent autobiography “My Effin’ Life”, Geddy said there was “little in their music” that they wanted to emulate but learned a lot about the importance of being professional.
The Kiss song that Geddy Lee likes that inspired a Rush track
Curiously, “Goin’ Blind”, which was written by Gene Simmons and Stephen Coronel, who was part of his previous band Wicked Lester, and released on Kiss’ second studio album “Hotter Than Hell” (1974), inspired a Rush track. As Geddy said in his book, “I Think I’m Going Bald”, from “Caress of Steel” was inspired by that song. “Another song born of a joke, it was partly a piss take on the title of a Kiss song we liked, ‘Goin’ Blind’. (Also was) partly about the fear of aging, but mainly about Alex. Who was deathly afraid of going bald,” he said.
Rush had a lot of fun during that tour, especially with the late guitarist Ace Frehley. He had one of the most recognizable laughs in the music business and they loved it. In his biography he described it as “an outrageous, maniacal laugh like one of those scary clowns in amusement parks that he loved to use and we loved to trigger. So we’d gather in his room, where Herns would regale him with his own road stories while Alex and I smoked joints and listened in like a radio audience. Alex invented a character called the Bag: he’d draw a mad face on a laundry bag with holes cut out for eye and put it over his head, then push his arms into his sweatpants along with his legs to create a stubby living cartoon with a goofy voice to match,” he said.
Gene Simmons says he gave Geddy Lee some bass “lessons”
Kiss bassist, singer, and co-founder Gene Simmons has always praised Rush and its members over the decades. He has had a lot of respect for them and once said he gave Geddy some bass “lessons”.
“Kiss took out Rush on their first tour. They came out to support us, you know, because we liked what they did. This was in their ‘Working Man’ period, when they sounded kind of like a Canadian Zeppelin, which I still prefer, sound-wise. But obviously, they’ve done very well, and we used to hang out with the guys and joke around everything. One night back at the hotel or backstage someplace, Geddy and I were sitting down, trading licks. I said, ‘Do you want to do a blues scale? You go first, and then I’ll continue the chord pattern,’ and he said, ‘I don’t know what you mean.’ At least from what I recall, Geddy didn’t understand what a blues scale was or what ‘1,4,5’ meant.”
Simmons continued:
“That also bears noting that when you go ‘1, 4, 5’ to a musician, that means something. It’s a relationship of notes or chords. So I go, ‘Well, okay then, you hit a G, either octave or low’. He said, ‘Which one is that?’ Geddy played purely 7 by ear. Now of course later on, he learned what the notes were and stuff like that, but it’s the same thing with The Edge. The reason you heard ‘jingle jangle jingle jangle,’ kind of thing — that became the style of U2’s guitar sound is when The Edge started playing guitar in a band, he couldn’t play chords. He just strummed various notes, so, it’s all open to… Music is an interesting thing. You don’t have to get complex about it, just start,” Gene Simmons told Ultimate Guitar in 2023.
Paul Stanley said Rush was their best opening act
Kiss had many incredible opening acts during their career that later became huge stars,. Some of them were Judas Priest, Scorpions, Sammy Hagar, AC/DC, Iron Maiden, Guns N’ Roses, Bon Jovi and Mötley Crüe. So it’s not easy to choose who was the best one, but when Gene and Paul were asked, the bassist mentioned AC/DC and the guitarist chose Rush.
“I think for us, Rush was most exciting. We’re kind of going off on a side tangent. When we first had them playing with us in Canada and John Rutsey was still the drummer. The first album was so… It was Humble Pie, it was Zeppelin. They obviously found their footing in something they wanted to do later on.”
“They were always great. AC/DC with Bon [Scott] when we had them on tour, great! [Judas] Priest, Priest were phenomenal. Bob Seger — you know, we can go down the list. Bob Seger got his first gold album on tour with us. Mellencamp. John Cougar Mellencamp. Tom Petty. The list goes on and on,” Paul Stanley said in an interview with SiriusXM’s program Ozzy’s Boneyard in 2018.