Rush's Geddy Lee recently conducted an interview with his hometown magazine Toronto Life to promote his newly-published autobiography My Effin’ Life, and admitted that his bandmate opted not to take the path that their record label and management considered their "destiny."
Admitting that the group's third album, 1975's Caress Of Steel, was "pretty weird" and "wasn’t well received with the general population" Lee tells the magazine that he, Alex Lifeson and Neil Peart considered "that the very idea of compromise was offensive" and refused to listen to those who suggested that perhaps a more radio-friendly sound might reap greater rewards.
"That’s what our label and management wanted us to do," Lee recalls. "They kept saying that our destiny was to be like Led Zeppelin or Bad Company, but we had other ideas. We refused to shy away from the concept album. Instead, we put out a better one about things happening in space. That album was 2112. It didn’t make it any easier for us to get on the radio, but the word of mouth was palpably different with 2112, and it started a groundswell."
