The Rush singer, bassist and keyboardist Geddy Lee was lucky enough to be a teenager in Canada back in the 60s and 70s, where he had the chance to see many incredible Rock and Roll bands playing live. So he not only had the chance to hear some of Rock’s most incredible albums when they were released but also to see famous bands in their prime or when they were still starting. One of them was The Who, a group that had one of the most praised bass players of all time: John Entwistle. But what is Geddy Lee’s opinion on the late musician?
What is Geddy Lee’s opinion on The Who’s John Entwistle
Although Geddy Lee was extremely influenced by Progressive Rock, he is also a huge The Who fan, and of course, loved John Entwistle’s bass playing. Geddy even said that the late musician was like a God of Rock for him.“He was one of the first gods to me. Gods of rock. (Laughs) Ever since I first heard ‘My Generation,’ it’s like, ‘Who is that?’ That was a name you needed to know. And I still rank him as the greatest rock bassist of all time, in one sense. First of all, he was ferocious. He had a sound that dared to encroach upon the domain of the guitar player. So he had a very loud, very aggressive tone.”
“And to hear that on pop radio. I mean, ‘My Generation’ didn’t get as much play over here as it did in the U.K. But it was a pop hit with a bass solo in it, no less. So I was drawn to, first of all, his tone, secondly, his audacity and thirdly, his dexterity. I mean, he had incredible dexterity. Just moved across the strings in such a fluid manner with such ease, and yet, sounded so tremendously ferocious at the same time.”
“We all tried (early on) to play ‘My Generation’ and failed miserably. But you do your crappy version of it. I would say (Who songs) were harder to do than, say, a cover of ‘Road Runner,’ by Junior Walker and the Allstars, where you can transform that into sort of a rock bass [line] without too much trouble. But yeah, the Who were much tougher,” Geddy Lee said.
Geddy Lee bought one of John Entwistle’s bass guitars
The Rush frontman was lucky enough to have seen The Who live but after the drummer Keith Moon was already gone. Decades later he had the chance to buy one of Entwistle’s bass guitars. Like the British musician was, Geddy is also a bass collector. He revealed that in an interview with Q104,3 New York (Transcribed by Rock and Roll Garage) about the process of writing his book “Geddy Lee’s Big Beautiful Book of Bass”.
He interviewed The Who’s guitar tech Alan Rogan and bought through him one bass guitar that belonged to Entwistle. “(Alan Rogan) is a super interesting guy. A real character and he’s worked for The Who since the 70s. He helped John build his collection and John had a very extensive and famous collection. (It) was sold at an auction shortly after he passed away. One of those instruments I was fortunate enough to acquire through Alan.”
“That’s a 61 precision bass, which I never change the strings off (laughs). As a rule I don’t look (for my collection), for bases by famous players. But the opportunity to have something that one of my heroes played was too great to resist,” Geddy Lee said.
Rush paid tribute to The Who on their 2004 covers album “Feedback”, when they made a version for the song “The Seeker”. “We’d like to do something a little different now. Before we started this tour we decided to record some songs that we loved when we were young musicians about a hundred years ago. So we would like to share with you some of that music tonight. This is a song by The Who called ‘The Seeker’,” Geddy Lee said (Transcribed by Rock and Roll Garage) that year before playing the song live during their tour.
The Who album that Geddy Lee said is his favorite
Geddy Lee frequently mentions The Who tracks from the 60s as examples of songs that influenced a lot. But his favorite album by the group is actually “Who’s Next”, released in 1971. But his choice has nothing to do with Entwistle’s playing, it’s due to Pete Townshend’s songwriting as he explained The Quietus back in 2012. “Many of these records happened to be during the period when I was just beginning to find my way. Not just as a musician but beginning to discover what music was all about.”
“Pete Townsend, for me, is arguably the ultimate rock musician. He can expand on a very simple idea and take it somewhere else. Just by the power of his playing and it loses none of the initial excitement. ‘Who’s Next’ was one of those albums that never left my turntable for years. For me it is the album that shows four great musicians touching their creative peak. It transcends any notion of genre. It just is what it is, which is the best thing you can say about any band, any album.” That album had many famous tracks like “Baba O’Riley”, “Going Mobile”, “Behind Blue Eyes” and “Won’t Get Fooled Again”.
