Farewell professor: A homage to Rush drummer Neil Peart

Neil Peart, the prodigiously talented drummer and eclectic lyricist for the Canadian progressive rock band Rush, died on Tuesday, January 7 after battling brain cancer for the past three years.

Peart joined the Canadian progressive rock trio in 1974 following the release of the band's self-titled debut album "Rush". 
While Geddy Lee doubled down as bassist and singer, it was Peart's lyrics, covering every aspect, starting from science fiction, fantasy to philosophy. These thought-provoking lyrics emphasised on Rush's highly progressive edge, cementing themselves as one of progressive rock's penultimate artists.

Pulling in outside influences such as jazz, Peart's style became increasingly more fluid, as did Rush's sound by 1976 when they released the epic "2112", which opened with the 20-minute title track featuring seven movements.

Watch the solo drum performance of Neil Peart in Frankfurt 

This episodic style would come to dominate their ensuing '70s records, tempering these brainy pieces with shorter, more traditional style songs that demonstrated that Rush was adept at composing incredibly complex pieces as well as more straight-ahead rock songs.

It was through these distinguishable traits, the band was able to appeal to the musical elite and those tuning into the radio in search of easily digestible hit songs. Even when Rush's sound gained more commercial appeal during the '80s, Peart's intensely progressive style remained unswayed, which was the secret ingredient to their success. 

Neil Peart's influence on modern drumming in all aspects of heavy music can never be understated and his name will forever be remembered as a "legend."

A picture of Neil Peart's drumkit set. Photo: Collected

In total, Neil Peart played on 18 of Rush's 19 studio albums, the last being "Clockwork Angels", which was released in 2012. Following Rush's "R40" tour, commemorating the band's 40th anniversary, Peart announced his retirement from the band in 2015. Alex Lifeson, their guitarist, announced Rush's dissolution just three years later. 

Devastated by this massive loss to the music world, members of Guns N' Roses, Black Sabbath, Metallica, KISS, Megadeth, Anthrax, Slayer, Exodus, Nirvana, Stone Sour, Fozzy and many more have all remembered the drummer in their own way.

Peart perhaps made the greatest impact of all on Mike Portnoy, who shared some touching words about his close friend and personal hero.

"It absolutely breaks my heart to pieces to get the news of the passing of one of my greatest heroes of all time. Neil Peart will always be a mentor and a hero to me and his influence on me as a drummer for the past 40 years is absolutely impossible to measure," wrote the former drummer and a co-founder of the progressive metal/rock band Dream Theater.
His impact on rock and metal scene worldwide was immense and thus musicians from Bangladesh also chimed in, paying homage to this "legend" who has influenced them through generations. 

"I used to listen to Rush back in the '80s and the most striking feature of their songs was their odd drum signatures which played a prominent part in all of their songs. He is undoubtedly one of the greatest drummers we have seen in our time," stated Miles upfront and bassist Shafin Ahmed. 

Terming Peart as "the drums professor", Warfaze drummer Sheikh Monirul Alam Tipu added, "Him passing away is a big loss to the worldwide music industry as a whole, especially to the drummer world. The loss of the 'drum professor' is an irreversible loss to the drum industry. He has influenced us a lot. In fact, we go to learn a lot from this drum maestro."

Reflecting on the loss of this heavyweight, Kazi Faisal Ahmed, lead guitarist of Artcell, the biggest progressive metal band of Bangladesh said, "He was not only a unique drummer with his awesome drums arrangements, but also, an amazing song writer. This is definitely a sad day for music worldwide."