Formed in Toronto, Canada back in 1968, Rush started more as a Hard Rock group, being even compared with Led Zeppelin on their first album. But after the drummer Neil Peart joined the band and became their main lyricist, Alex Lifeson and Geddy Lee also explored more their Progressive Rock influences, mixing Prog with Hard Rock, creating a unique sound. They experimented a lot in their career, writing simple and really complex songs.
Sometimes they even had trouble playing the songs they recorded. Geddy Lee once talked about a Rush hit that is tough to play.
The Rush hit Geddy Lee said it is tough to play live
As Lee said in an interview with Prog magazine in 2013, the song that is difficult to play live is “Spirit of Radio”, released on their 1980 album “Permanent Waves”. “There are two or three songs we do every night when I hope that we’re all on the same time when we play them. The Spirit Of Radio is one. It was always hard to play and it’s still hard to play! I always hold my breath a little bit before we play it. And some nights it goes completely haywire. It’s a toughie!” Geddy Lee said.
The real station that inspired Rush’s Spirit of The Radio
“Begin the day with a friendly voice, a companion, unobtrusive, plays that song that’s so elusive, and the magic music makes your morning mood”. If you are a big Rush fan you probably heard this phrase a thousand times. Because it is simply the intro of the song.
Although the track is a tribute to every radio station in the world, it was actually inspired by a Canadian station called CFNY, which was formed in 1960 and still exists, now called “102.1 The Edge” and plays Alternative Rock.
During the same interview with Prog magazine in 2013, Geddy Lee talked about that station. He said: “CFNY reminded us of when FM radio first started in America and Canada,” Geddy says. “You’d have your favorite DJ and he had no playlist – he would just play music.”
He continued:
“So he was turning you on to new music all the time. It was part of why we became musicians – it was that important. And this was a stark contrast to what was happening in 1980. (Which was) the beginning of consultants programming 50 radio stations across the country. That was kind of depressing to think of. So the song was a lament for a better time,” Geddy Lee said.
Curiously, the track also has a small kind of tribute to the Simon and Garfunkel 60s song “Sound of Silence”. The 60s song says: “And the sign said, ‘The words of the prophets are written on the subway walls and tenement halls and whispered in the sounds of silence”.
The Rush track says: “The words of the profits are written on the studio wall, concert hall. Echoes with the sounds of salesmen.”
Besides being featured on the album “Permanent Waves”, the track was also released as a single. It peaked at number 51 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and performed better in the UK, peaking at number 13 on the singles chart.