(Credits: Far Out / Shipguy)
As the guitarist of prog pioneers Rush, Alex Lifeson has left an indelible mark on the world. From Metallica to Marillion, many prominent names have cited his brilliance as an inspiration over the years.
One of the most scintillating aspects of Lifeson’s playing is his dynamism. While he can produce moments of technical mastery in the vein of the metal virtuosos he helped pave the way for, he’s never been one for peacocking. Everything Lifeson did with the Canadian trio was to serve the song and act as an assertive middle ground between the complex rhythms of drummer Neil Peart and the locomoting, and often melodic basslines of Geddy Lee, the latter of whom he would dovetail with to full effect.
Lifeson’s extensive oeuvre with the trio contains many highlights, from prog and psychedelia to metal and indie. Even one of the group’s best-loved efforts, ‘Roll the Bones’, from the 1991 album of the same name, tried its hand at the burgeoning rap rock genre. This would have been unthinkable a decade earlier when they were at the peak of their prog powers. Unsurprisingly, though, Lifeson seamlessly reacted to this stylistic shift with one of his most impactful performances.
It makes sense that Rush should have experimented with so many genres in their time, given that each member has a wide-reaching music taste. From classic rock to more contemporary trailblazers such as Björk, the trio has praised an assortment of artists in their time. Regarding Lifeson, those he has listed as favourites range from Led Zeppelin to Californian prog-metal outfit Tool.
As Lifeson and his bandmates emerged from the countercultural era and grew up on rock ‘n’ roll and its adjacent forms, a host of notable names from the genre’s rudimentary chapter influenced them in their younger years. For Alex Lifeson, the track that made him first fall in love with music was rockabilly legend Johnny Horton’s 1960 hit ‘Sink The Bismark’.
Listing the songs that shaped Rush’s sound for Guitar World, Lifeson explained how ‘Sink The Bismark’ was the start of his musical journey. He explained: “I fell in love with music because of this song. It was the first single I bought. I was around 11 years old, which was about a year before I started playing guitar.”
Continuing: “It’s a song about the Bismarck, a German battleship that sunk during World War II. It’s a very thematic, rousing song. I think I mowed two lawns or something to make enough money to buy it.”
Listen to ‘Sink The Bismark’ below.