Music: Neil Peart greatest prog musician of all time?

[beowulf]

Readers of Prog magazine name Neil Peart as the best-ever prog musician, not just drummer but musician. The magazine had a shortlist of just under 250 figures from the prog world, from which fans were encouraged to vote in an online poll – and it was Peart who came out on top.

Who agree or not?


Neil Peart voted the greatest prog musician of all time | Louder

Click to read more...

 

[davemess]

Feels like a pretty solid choice to me. The fact he wrote most of the lyrics is a big tick as well.

 

[Cas]

Feels like a pretty solid choice to me. The fact he wrote most of the lyrics is a big tick as well.

I don't know - Peart's drumming was legendary, and being the primary lyricist is a good draw as well, but from what I understand most of the songwriting was done by Lifeson and Lee, with Peart putting percussion and lyrics to the demo tracks he was given. I'm sure he had a significant voice in critiquing the songwriting and arrangements, of course, but I feel like Lifeson and Lee were the key drivers of Rush' progressiveness on a songwriting level.

I don't know much about progressive rock beyond Rush, so I'm not going to try and compare them to the other choices (David Gilmour, Geddy Lee, Rick Wakeman, and Robert Fripp), but within Rush I think Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson were probably more deserving of the nod. All three probably would belong on a large list, of course.

 

[NyQuil]

At first I was a bit skeptical.

He didn't write any of the progressive music.

But it wasn't referring to best progressive rock songwriter, but rather about best musician, and as one of the top 2 or 3 drummers of any kind of all-time, he's probably the best progressive rock musician of all-time.

Rounding out the top five of the poll were David Gilmour (Pink Floyd), fellow Rush member Geddy Lee (Rush), Rick Wakeman (Yes) and Robert Fripp (King Crimson).

 

[Saturated Fats]

I'd say Gilmour or Fripp, but I haven't given a fair shake to much modern prog. I'd round out a top 5 with Steven Wilson, Omar Rodriguez-Lopez, and either Peart or Peter Hammill. I've never been a big Rush fan, to be fair.

 

[NyQuil]

Someone like Matthew Bellamy might be a consideration for a more modern candidate.

 

[beowulf]

And old but interesting read about Peart and Rush's songwriting process.

"The Songwriting Interview: Neil Peart" - Guitar For The Practicing Musician, October 1986

Lee from another interview

For those who haven’t followed Rush’s 28-year recording career, the band has stuck with the same basic songwriting process ever since Peart took over the drum kit from the unfortunate John Rutsey on the group’s second album, Fly By Night. Peart writes the lyrics; Lee and guitarist Alex Lifeson come up with the music. That kind of inflexible relationship makes you wonder if Lee ever feels the urge to contribute the odd batch of lyrics himself.
“Only if I’m forced,” he comments with a chuckle. “You know, Neil’s done a great job for us all through the years. We work very closely together on songwriting, and I have to shape his lyrics into melodies, so I have a lot of input into the way these things turn out. So I think it’s a benefit to him to have me as kind of a sounding-board editor–slash–melody writer. And it’s a nice partnership.”
That said, the long-time partnership was tested with Vapor Trails. Apart from Peart’s personal misfortunes, there was the five-year stretch between the new disc and the previous one, Test For Echo. That time period did allow Lee and Peart to produce their own projects, for themselves and for others, but it also made it difficult for the threesome to get back into the swing of things. “It was a long, slow process getting on the same page in terms of our playing and writing,” Lee relates.

Geddy Lee on Neil Peart's personal struggles, shaping his lyrics, and loving Rush | earofnewt.com

 

[beowulf]

Someone like Matthew Bellamy might be a consideration for a more modern candidate.

But can Muse truly be listed a prog rock band? They do have some songs that would meet the "criteria" of what people consider prog rock/metal, but many more that do not. I think most people seem them more as an alt rock bank than a prog rock band...or maybe a mix of the two.

 

[NyQuil]

But can Muse truly be listed a prog rock band? They do have some songs that would meet the "criteria" of what people consider prog rock/metal, but many more that do not. I think most people seem them more as an alt rock bank than a prog rock band...or maybe a mix of the two.

I think they are pretty prog.

Cheesy futuristic space-based lyrics, operatic vocals and screaming guitars, plenty of synth.

Matt never met a song he couldn’t turn into some epic monstrosity.

The only reason he might not be considered prog is that the entire style has fallen out of fashion.

Incidentally, one of the best live shows I’ve seen.

 

[kihei]

To pick another drummer, one who enhanced the reputation of every progressive rock band that he was in, Bill Bruford gets m y vote; Alan Holdsworth, as runner-up.

 

[Mount Suribachi]

May I also throw in Freddie Mercury? Early Queen was very prog, even if they may not have defined themselves as such.

I think they are pretty prog.
Cheesy futuristic space-based lyrics, operatic vocals and screaming guitars, plenty of synth.
Matt never met a song he couldn’t turn into some epic monstrosity.
The only reason he might not be considered prog is that the entire style has fallen out of fashion.
Incidentally, one of the best live shows I’ve seen.

Muse are the most opinion dividing band I know amongst the rock fraternity. Any time they get played on Planet Rock (biggest rock radio station in UK) the DJs get inundated with complaints from angry rockers complaining that they're not real prog and don't belong on the station. I find it all a bit bizarre.

 

[Mount Suribachi]

To pick another drummer, one who enhanced the reputation of every progressive rock band that he was in, Bill Bruford gets m y vote; Alan Holdsworth, as runner-up.

I always remember an interview with Bill Bruford where he talked about the change in songwriting styles going from Yes to King Crimson. "In Yes we would debate for three weeks about which chord to use to transition from the verse to the chorus. In King Crimson you were just expected to know"

 

[NyQuil]

May I also throw in Freddie Mercury? Early Queen was very prog, even if they may not have defined themselves as such.

Muse are the most opinion dividing band I know amongst the rock fraternity. Any time they get played on Planet Rock (biggest rock radio station in UK) the DJs get inundated with complaints from angry rockers complaining that they're not real prog and don't belong on the station. I find it all a bit bizarre.

Queen is probably the band that Muse appears most inspired by, so it’s interesting that you brought them up.

Queen shied away from the science fiction and future-focused songwriting (aside from Flash Gordon!) that seems to underly a lot of progressive rock, but perhaps that is really more a reflection of the time in which prog rock was ascendent and stories like Dune and Stranger in a Strange Land had brief almost mainstream appeal.

I’ve heard the term “arena rock” as a label for bombastic over-the-top epics as opposed to the more deeply personal blues-derived rock and metal that characterizes most rock subgenres.

Bowie sort of belongs in the discussion as well.

 

[Fantomas]

LOL, Rush sucks.

 

[NyQuil]

LOL, Rush sucks.

Spoken like 90% of the world's population and 99.9% of women.

I only get one Rush song per road trip.

But Mrs_NyQuil only gets one country song so it evens out.

Usually I pick Xanadu or 2112 because they're so long and it annoys her.

 

[Fripp]

I took this poll, and the way it was set up - each ballot was no limit check boxes without discerning ranking - lent itself to the results - someone who was on everyone's list but probably not at the top. Much love for Neil, though. He deserves any and all accolades he gets.
My personal pick for #1 was Bob Fripp, as, in my opinion, no one else more pushed the boundaries of prog so prolifically.

 

[NyQuil]

My personal pick for #1 was Bob Fripp

I for one am shocked.

 

[beowulf]

LOL, Rush sucks.

Such a cogent argument buttercup

 

[beowulf]

Spoken like 90% of the world's population and 99.9% of women.

I only get one Rush song per road trip.

But Mrs_NyQuil only gets one country song so it evens out.

Usually I pick Xanadu or 2112 because they're so long and it annoys her.

Well you could make an argument the Cygnus X-1 (10:25) and Cygnus X-1 Book II: Hemispheres (18:02)are the "same song" and get almost a full half hour.

 

[Fantomas]

Spoken like 90% of the world's population and 99.9% of women.

I'm proudly an ally to all women.

 

[NyQuil]

Well you could make an argument the Cygnus X-1 (10:25) and Cygnus X-1 Book II: Hemispheres (18:02)are the "same song" and get almost a full half hour.

Fountain of Lamneth is like 20 minutes.

 

[NyQuil]

I'm proudly an ally to all women.

I'm sympathetic to people who dislike Rush because I certainly disliked them for quite awhile until my older brother's incessant playing of them wore me down.

Then he started making me mix-tapes and that was it.

Still, Geddy Lee's vocals are an acquired taste at best, some of the long instrumental sections could be seen as self-indulgent and the lyrics (whether about trees or guitar-wielding revolutionaries or car chases in the future or Ayn Rand philosophy) are weird.

So when someone says they dislike Rush, I completely understand, even if I also completely disagree.

What I do like about them is that they never compromised their vision for what they wanted to do, they amicably stayed together for decades, and they offered nerds the world over an outlet for their passions and beliefs while still boasting virtuoso musicianship and legitimate rock and roll volume.

A song like Subdivisions, as cheesy as it sounds, sums up the lives of a lot of Dungeons and Dragons playing teens who did not have a fun time in high school.

 

[Fantomas]

I went through a prog phase in my 20s and absolutely loved Fripp's work, particularly 1970s King Crimson.

How can a guy who looks like Hans Moleman produce such a rockin' bitchin' sound? I dunno.

That love faded with time (21st Century Schizoid Man gives me anxiety now), but I still gotta give the respect.

I once brought a Lizard CD to work and let the nice office manager lady borrow it. She said she liked Gwen Stefani and Supertramp. Long story short, she was thoroughly displeased with it.

 

[NyQuil]

She said she liked Gwen Stefani and Supertramp. Long story short, she was thoroughly displeased with it.

I suspect they belong in a Prog Rock thread.

 

[Fantomas]

I'm sympathetic to people who dislike Rush because I certainly disliked them for quite awhile until my older brother's incessant playing of them wore me down.

Then he started making me mix-tapes and that was it.

I've had a 180 change of heart on some artists. Maybe, god forbid, I'll like Rush one day.