2020: Year in Review

Let’s be honest: 2020 hasn’t been a great year. From the chaos of the pandemic to the stress of the election, this hasn’t been an easy time. Still, there were a few artists that released new music. I know I’ve been less and less active on this blog but I just don’t have the inspiration that I used to. However, one tradition that I would like to keep going is the Year in Review.

This is an article of my takes on the music from 2020 that I’ve purchased.

New albums

X
Alphabetland
Rating: **** 

FAVORITE ALBUM OF THE YEAR 

            More than 25 years since the release of Hey Zeus, LA punk rockers X surprised everyone by releasing a new studio album. The album, Alphabetland, was dropped back in April 2020- almost 40 years to the day the band released their 1980 debut Los Angeles. While not a groundbreaking album, Alphabetland is a fun batch of tunes in the spirit of the band’s first four albums. In just 24 minutes, X present a little bit of everything: you got all-out punk rockers, rockabilly-tinged tunes and ska flavored ditties. Some fans might gripe about the album not being entirely originally- given the re-recordings of “Delta 88 Nightmare” and “Cyrano deBerger’s Back.” Even if not entirely original, Alphabetland is an all around good effort from a veteran artist.

Highlights: Water and Wine, I Gotta Fever, Goodbye Year Goodbye, Free

 

Bob Dylan
Rough and Rowdy Ways
Rating: **** 

            Now entering the sixth decade of his career, Bob Dylan released his first album of original tunes since 2012’s Tempest. While Dylan’s 79-year-old voice may not please everyone, the man still has a lot to say. The ten songs on Rough and Rowdy Ways are songs that see Dylan questioning his morality- along with singing songs of remorse and heartbreak. Musically, Dylan sounds like he’s picking up where he left on Tempest- although you will find some rock n roll numbers and a few bluesy tunes. While a solid album, Rough and Rowdy Ways is a bit longer than it should be- with the 17 minute “Murder Most Fowl” being the misstep on the album. While many have been praising the Kennedy assassination themed epic, the song has one too many name drops. Despite its weaknesses, Rough and Rowdy Ways is still worth a listen.

For a more in-depth review on this album, read my review on Pop Culture Beast. 

Highlights: False Prophets, I Made Up My Mind to Give Myself to You, Goodbye Jimmy Reed, My Own Version of You

Fee Waybill
Fee Waybill Rides Again
Rating: *** ½ 

            More than 20 years since his last solo album, Tubes frontman Fee Waybill surprised everyone by releasing a brand new studio album. While a new album, some of the songs were apparently recorded a few years earlier. Although Waybill worked with friends such as Richard Marx on this album, Rides Again is just okay. The songs are catchy and Waybill’s voice sound great. The only thing working against this album is that it isn’t entirely memorable. I’ve only heard the album a few times and I’m struggling to remember the names of the songs. While not entirely memorable, Rides Again isn’t bad at all.

Highlights: Faker, Don’t Want to Pull the Trigger, Man of the World

 

The Residents
Meat, Metal and Bone
Rating: **** 

            When it comes to the Residents’ work after the 1970s, their output is either hit or miss. In the case of Meat, Metal and Bone, I’d say this is a good album. I’ll admit that I haven’t listened to all of the group’s discography but compared to the other albums I’ve heard, this is a really solid effort from the group. As per usual with Residents albums, this follows a concept- performing the songs of Alvin Snow, aka the Dyin’ Dog. Part of the experience in listening to this album is reading the liner notes included- which tells the story of the (more-than-likely fictional) blues singer. This is a very inspired effort from the group and it gets better on repeated listens.

For a more in-depth review on this album, read my review on Pop Culture Beast. 

Highlights: DIE! DIE! DIE!, River Runs Dry, Momma Don’t Go, Midnight Man

 

AC/DC
Power Up
Rating: **** 

            Despite the drama surround the band in 2016, AC/DC returned this year with a brand new studio album- with singer Brian Johnson and drummer Phil Rudd back in the band. Dedicated to the late Malcolm Young, Power Up is a surprisingly decent album. Throughout the album, the band are in fine form playing an array of catchy rockers. Musically, the band are firing on all cylinders- which is impressive considering how older these guys are. This is probably the band’s most consistent since 2008’s Black Ice- albeit with a shorter runtime. With the Brian Johnson era albums after Back in Black, it’s a bit of a bumpy road through their discography. With Power Up, this is a thoroughly consistent effort. If this ends up being their last one, Power Up would be a perfect end to their career.

Highlights: Realize, Shot in the Dark, Through the Mist of Time, Systems Down

 

Paul McCartney
McCartney III
Rating: **** 

            Paul McCartney had no plans in releasing new album in 2020. Once the lockdown came around, McCartney went to work on a new studio album. As the title would suggest, McCartney III is the third in a trilogy of albums, with the other two installments coming out in 1970 and 1980. Staying true to the first two albums, McCartney III sees the former Beatle playing every instrument- giving the album a more intimate feel and vibe. Musically, the album does have some of the acoustic and experimental elements found on the first two album. However more than anything, it sounds like a follow up to 2018’s Egypt Station in terms of the production and overall sound. While not an instant classic, McCartney III is still an all-around solid album.

 

Highlights: Find My Way, Pretty Boys, The Kiss of Venus, When Winter Comes

 

 

Ranking

1.     X- Alphabetland

2.     Paul McCartney- McCartney III

3.     AC/DC- Power Up

4.     Bob Dylan- Rough and Rowdy Ways

5.     The Residents- Metal, Meat and Bone

6.     Fee Waybill- Fee Waybill Rides Again

 

Archival Releases

Neil Young
Homegrown
Rating: **** 

Shelved for over 40 years, Homegrown was supposed to be Neil Young’s follow-up to the immensely successful Harvest. However due to the depressing nature of the songs, Young shelved the album. Now in 2020, Homegrown has finally been released. As an album, it’s pretty solid. However, it’s hard to fully immerse myself into this album. Had Homegrown been released back in the day, perhaps it would’ve been considered one of Young’s best albums. Though if it was released then, would Young’s other great work have ever happened? Still, I do like the album. As to if I listen to it many years from now- I don’t know.

 

Paul McCartney
Flaming Pie
Album Rating: ****
Bonus disc: ***

           

            After a two-year delay, the Paul McCartney Archive Collection continued this year with Paul’s 1997 effort Flaming Pie. Usually considered to be one of McCartney’s best later efforts, the album has a rock/pop-indie thing going on here. From beginning to end, this is strong abum- featuring songs such as “The Song We Were Singing,” “The World Tonight,” “Calico Skies,” the title track and “Little Willow”- with the last being a touching tribute to Maureen Starkey. For an album made in the late 1990s, this remaster surprisingly sounds better than the original CD. Looking in Audacity at the files, the original CD was much louder. With the new remaster, it sounds warmer. As for the bonus disc, you can skip it.

           

Jimmy McCulloch
White Line 
Rating: **** 

            An indie label reissued the long out-of-print White Line tapes from Wings guitarist Jimmy McCulloch. Formed in the late 1970s, White Line was a band formed by McCulloch with his brother Jack and bassist/singer Dave Clark. The band would only release one single but had about a dozen of demo tracks recorded- which finally saw the light of day in 1994. By surprise, this collection was reissued and it’s good to see this back in print. While most of the songs are incomplete, this is a solid collection of tunes. Highlights include “Call My Name” the McCulloch sung “Too Many Miles” is an absolute killer.

 

Listed below are my reviews for other archival releases- all coming from Pop Culture Beast. To read them, simply click on the text that’ll lead you to the reviews.

Peter Green- The Name of the Game
Harry Nilsson's The Point Blu Ray- FAVORITE ARCHIVAL RELEASE
Sir Lord Baltimore- Complete Albums
Trapeze- Trapeze/Medusa/You Are The Music We're Just The Band
The Residents- Cube E Box
Culpeper’s Orchard- The Polydor Years
Billion Dollar Babies- Battle Axe
Iron Butterfly- Unconscious Power: 1967-71
The Stooges- From KO to Chaos

Movies

Zappa
Rating: ****

Directed by Alex Winter (Bill and Ted), Zappa is a career-spanning documentary about the brilliant Frank Zappa. Using archival footage and new interviews from Zappa's peers, Zappa is able to paint a picture of one of the most unique musicians of the 20th century. While a good movie, it isn't without it's flaws: several parts of Zappa's career are missing while some fans might be disappointed that his actual music is barely discussed. If anything, this is a documentary about Frank Zappa as a person. As such, it does its job. 

In Memoriam
Neil Peart- drummer for Rush
Bill Rieflin- drummer for REM and King Crimson
Lou Kouvaris- guitarist for Riot
Florian Schneider- member of Kraftwerk
Little Richard- rock n roll musician
Astrid Kirchher- photographer/artist, fiancé of Stuart Sutcliffe
Bob Kulick- session musician for Kiss
Peter Green- guitarist of Fleetwood Mac
Pete Way- bassist of UFO
Frankie Banali- drummer of Quiet Riot
Lee Kerslake- drummer of Uriah Heep and Ozzy Osbourne
Eddie Van Halen- guitarist for Van Halen
Ken Hensley- keyboardist of Uriah Heep
Dieter Horns- bassist of Lucifer’s Friend
Leslie West- guitarist/singer of Mountain

Lucifer's Friend bassist Dieter Horns dead at 74

 Dieter Horns
February 28, 1946 - December 19, 2020

Dieter Horns, bassist and co-founding member of German hard rockers Lucifer's Friend, passed away Saturday morning. His death was announced by the band's Facebook page- with singer John Lawton saying Horns will be remembered for his "musicianship, songwriting and the respect of other musicians." No cause of death has was announced. 

Horns was on the co-founding members of Lucifer's Friend, who originally formed in 1968 as Electric Food. Along with Horns was singer George Mayros, guitarist Peter Hesslein, drummer Joachim "Addie" Reitenbach and keyboardist Peter Hecht. After two albums, Mayros left the band and was replaced by English singer John Lawton. The band would then change their name to Asterix before finally changing their name to Lucifer's Friend. For most of the early 1970s, Lucifer's Friend were part of the German rock- aka Krautrock- scene. The band would achieve success throughout most of Europe and elsewhere except the United States- where they never toured. The band are perhaps best known for their song "Ride the Sky"- a trailblazing heavy psych rocker. While mostly associated with heavy psych and progressive rock, the band would change it up with every album released. In their time together, the band would go through several line-up changes- with the most notable being singer John Lawton departure. Lawton joined Uriah Heep, replacing original singer David Byron. Lucifer's Friend would continue with singer Mike Starrs, which drove the band to a more AOR sound. Lawton rejoined in 1981 but the band would soon cease activity in 1982. 

Lucifer's Friend would reform briefly in 1994 under the name Lucifer's Friend II. Due to inner tensions between the band members at the time, Horns was not in the band during this time- with Lawton and Hesslein being the only original members. Nearly 20 years later in 2014, Lucifer's Friend reunited with Horns, Lawton and Hesslein as the returning original members. Given Reitenbach's death in the early 2010's and Hecht lack of interest, the band recruited drummer Stephen Eggart and keyboardist Jogi Wichmann to replace them. Prior to Horns' passing, Lucifer's Friend had released two albums- Too Late to Hate (2016) and Black Moon (2019). 

According to the Facebook post, Horns is survived by his longtime partner Hannelore. 

Hearing about Mr. Horns' passing is sad. I interviewed Lucifer's Friend via email in 2016. While email interviews aren't the best, these guys were friendly and it was great to learn a little more about a band that aren't all that famous. 

My thoughts go out to Mr. Horn's family and friends at this point in time. 

To read my interview with Lucifer's Friend from 2016, click here.

Eddie Van Halen dead at 65

 Edward Van Halen
January 26, 1955 - October 6, 2020

(Note: I'm aware that this post is very late but as mentioned before, I haven't been using this blog as much. I'll keep it going though so I thought I'd write something about the late Mr. Van Halen- with part fact and part personal thoughts)

Eddie Van Halen, guitarist and co-founding member of rock icons Van Halen, died on October 6 after a long battle with cancer. Van Halen was 65. The news was confirmed by his son and Van Halen bassist Wolfgang "Wolfie" Van Halen. According to multiple reports, Van Halen was surrounded by his wife Jamie and son Wolfgang- along with a visit from Van Halen's ex-wife Valerie Bertinelli, who is Wolfgang's mother. Formed in California during the 1970s, Van Halen would go on to become one of the most popular rock bands of all time. While originally formed by Eddie and his brother drummer Alex Van Halen, the band would soon find their classic line up after bassist Michael Anthony and singer David Lee Roth joined. After playing as the house band at the Whisky-A-Go-Go for a while, Kiss bassist Gene Simmons helped the band record a demo- which got the band signed to Warner Brothers Records. From 1978 to 1984, the band would release six studio albums- featuring classics such as "Runnin' With the Devil," "Dance the Night Away," "Unchained" and the Billboard #1 hit single "Jump." 

After Roth's departure in 1985, the band continued with former Montrose lead singer Sammy Hagar. With Hagar, the band's success continued with hits such as "Dreams," "When Its Love" and "Right Now." After a failed reunion with Roth in the mid 1990s, the band tried out Extreme frontman Gary Cherone as their new singer. Unlike Roth and Hagar, Cherone wasn't as lucky: his lone album with the band, 1998's Van Halen III, was a critical and commercial failure. After Cherone left in 1999, the band would remain on hiatus until 2004 when the band reunited with Hagar. This resulted in a disastrous tour from 2004-05- as Eddie's substance abuse was slowing him down. After a stint in rehab, the band reunited once more in 2007 with Roth back and Eddie's then 16-year-old son Wolfgang replacing Michael Anthony. The band's last album was 2012's A Different Kind of Truth, which was not only the band's first album since Van Halen III but the first to feature Roth since 1984. The band would continue to perform and tour until 2015. No official announcement was made about Van Halen being together or not. In 2019, word had gotten out that Eddie's health was declining- with David Lee Roth even chiming in. However, Eddie would resurface on social media not too long afterwards. In reality, Eddie was in a battle with cancer- which he was first diagnosed with in 2000 in the form of tongue cancer. Eddie recovered but over the last two decades, Eddie's cancer would return. 

So what can I say about Eddie Van Halen that hasn't already been said? In the weeks following his passing, almost everyone in the music business has commented on Eddie's influence. I was lucky enough to see Van Halen twice- once in 2004 with Sammy and again in 2007 with David. I can't help but admit that my love for the band kind of dwindled after Michael Anthony was fired. It just pissed me off that we were SO CLOSE to having the classic line up reunite but Eddie had to have Wolfie in the band. With Wolfie being only a few month older than me, it's easy to see why I'd be upset: there was a kid in one of my favorite bands! However, that's all in the past. Looking back, I'm happy that Eddie got to have his son join Van Halen. Wolfie has grown to become a fine musician himself and I'm sure  he'll treasure those times sharing the stage with his dad. Van Halen are one of my favorite bands of all time and Eddie was the driving force in the band. The guy was a master at the guitar and his contributions to the hard rock genre are tremendous. I got into the band in 2003 or so when I was in fifth grade- just as I was discovering dozens and dozens of rock bands. Their videos were on VH1 Classic often and soon enough, I was slowly collecting their music- or at least whatever I could get a hold of. It's a bummer to hear about Eddie's passing but the guy left a lot of music behind. With that, we should be grateful. 

RIP, Eddie. 

Frankie Banali dead at 68

 Frankie Banali
November 14, 1951 - August 20, 2020

Frankie Banali, longtime drummer for Quiet Riot, died last night after an eighteen month battle with pancreatic cancer. Banali is said to have passed at around 7 pm- with his wife Regina and his daughter Ashley by his side. Banali was diagnosed in April 2019 but didn't reveal this until October of last year. 

Born in Queens, New York, Banali was inspired to play the drums after seeing the Beatles perform on Ed Sullivan. Prior to Quiet Riot, Banali had been in several different bands- including Steppenwolf. In the 1980s, Banali would meet singer Kevin DuBrow- who was the singer for LA rockers Quiet Riot. At that point in time, Quiet Riot had split after guitarist Randy Rhoads had left the band to join Ozzy Osbourne's solo band. From 1980 to 1982, DuBrow had his own namesake band- which featured a revolving door of musician, with some being from Quiet Riot. By 1982 prior to Rhoads' untimely passing- he had given DuBrow the blessing in using the Quiet Riot name again. At the time the band changed their name, the band consisted of DuBrow, Banali, guitarist Carlos Cavazon and bassist Chuck Wright. While the band were eventually signed to Pasha Record, Wright had left the band. Wright would be replaced by former Quiet Riot bassist Rudy Sarzo, who had just come off his tour with Ozzy Osbourne- a gig that Rhoads had helped Sarzo get. After the shock of Rhoads' death, Sarzo felt back at home with the new Quiet Riot. With that, he was in the band. In March 1983, Quiet Riot would release Metal Health- an album that featured hit singles such as the title track and "Cum On Feel the Noize"- with the latter being a cover of a song originally by glam rockers Slade. Just a few months later, Metal Health reached #1 in the Billboard charts- becoming the first metal album to do so. 

Sadly, the band's popularity started to decline after the release of 1984's Condition Critical. Sarzo would leave shortly after while DuBrow was fired in 1987 after 1986's flop QR III. Cavazo and Banali tried once more with new singer Paul Shortino for 1988's QR, which sold poorly. After a brief tour in Japan, Quiet Riot were no more. After the band's split, Banali would join shock rockers W.A.S.P. In 1989, the band released their fourth album The Headless Children- which was a turning point in W.A.S.P.'s career given the album's subject matters of politics and society. Banali would also play as a session musician for many recordings- including Billy Idol's hit "Mony Mony." In 1993, Banali renewed his friendship with Kevin DuBrow and rejoined the reunited Quiet Riot just in time for the band's comeback album Terrified. The classic Metal Health line up would reunite in 1997 and would last until 2003. The band would reunite the following hear- with DuBrow and Banali at the helm. The band would continue to tour until November 2007. Shortly after Thanksgiving of that year, DuBrow was found dead in his house- with the cause of death later being revealed to have been from a cocaine overdose. In early 2008, Frankie Banali announced the Quiet Riot were no more. 

In 2010, Banali decided to reform Quiet Riot- bring back the surviving members of the band's last touring line-up- which included Banali, Chuck Wright and guitarist Alex Grossi. For the next ten years, this reunited version of Quiet Riot would tour all over the world with an almost revolving door of lead singers: Mark Huff (2010-11), Scott Vodkun (2012-13), Jizzy Pearl (2013-16, 2019-present), Sean Niccols (2017) and James Durbin (2017-19). The band's revival from 2010-12 was documented for the 2014 documentary feature Well Now You're Here There's No Way Back- which premiered on Showtime the following year. The band released new material in 2014 with Pearl on the half studio-half live effort 10.  For full-length studio albums, the band would release two with Durbin on lead vocals- Road Rage (2017) and Hollywood Cowboys (2019). Prior to the latter's release, Durbin left the band- with Jizzy Pearl rejoining the band in his place. For several shows in 2019, many were surprised to not see Banali present. In October 2019, Banali revealed that he had been diagnosed with stage IV pancreatic cancer. Despite his diagnosis, Banali performed with Quiet Riot whenever possible. 

In his life, Banali was married twice. In 1994, he married his first wife Karen. The couple would have a daughter, Ashley, on February 17, 1997. Nearly a year and a half after Kevin DuBrow's passing, Karen Banali died on April 14, 2009 from heart failure at the age of 40. As documented in Well Now You're Here, Banali devoted himself to raising Ashley as a single parent. On November 11, 2015, Banali would marry Regina Russell- who directed and produced Well Now You're Here.  

According to Mrs. Banali, further details on Frankie's funeral and the fate of Quiet Riot will all be revealed at some point in the future. 

Banali is the fourth member of Quiet Riot to have passed away. He is pre-deceased by guitarist Randy Rhoads (1956-1982), Terrified era bassist Kenny Hillery (1965-1996) and singer Kevin DuBrow (1955-2007)

So it's been a while

Hey there, readers! Or whoever looks at this blog anymore. I don't know. I still get hits for this thing.

As you might've noticed, I haven't been posting a lot on this blog in recent years. Prior to my obit on Peter Green, I had only posted here once about Neil Peart. There's several reasons why I'm not posting here as much as I used to but I'm still writing. So let's break this down into several parts.


1. Lack of material- in the early years of my blog, I was posting things here like crazy- keeping you all informed about what was going on in the music world. I also used this for ways to promote myself as a writer. As the years have gone by, I've gotten a little lazier or feel that I've posted about my favorite albums and musicians oh so many times. I gave up on anniversary articles because I wasn't getting the hits and because of the amount of work it required. So without those, the blog has become a place for me to review new things and post about when musicians pass away.

2. My other writing job- I've been a volunteer writer for Pop Culture Beast since 2017 after discovering the Rock Solid podcast (hosted by Pat Francis) after Survivor contestant David Wright appeared on an episode. With PCB, I'm able to get thing from the record label to review. Ideally, I'd like to have my reviews posted here too but I'm always afraid to post one article in two places- as WordPress might pick up on it being plagiarism. I figured maybe I could review new things on PCB and come back here to share my thoughts on what's going on in the music world. However, I just never get around to it or feel that once someone posts it somewhere- it isn't worth it.

3. My podcast- since September of last year, I been hard at work with Albums Uncovered, a revamp of my pre-recorded college radio show in which I discussed classic albums celebrating anniversaries. I've really been enjoying it but it's a lot of work.

So that's the easiest way I can explain why I don't post here as much. Though let me get this straight: I'll keep posting stuff here. Perhaps every few months, I can share the links to my posts on PCB or episodes of AU.  I  also want to keep doing the Year in Review write ups as well.

While most of this post has been me rambling about stuff, I just want anyone who happens to stop by here and wonder why the decrease in activity- this is why.

For now, I'll lend you all a few links to things I've written so far this year related to music- along with the URL to AU.

Articles
Melody Makers Movie/App Review
Harry Nilsson's The Point Blu Ray Review
Peter Green- The End of the Game Reissue Review
Sir Lord Baltimore- The Complete Studio Recordings Review
X- First Four Albums on Vinyl Review
Bob Dylan- Rough and Rowdy Ways Album Review
The Residents- Metal, Meat and Bone Album Review

Albums Uncovered Libsyn Website

Peter Green dead at 73

Peter Allen Greenbaum

October 29, 1946 - July 25, 2020

Peter Green, guitarist and co-founding member of Fleetwood Mac, died yesterday at the age of 73. A statement released yesterday says that Green passed away peacefully in his sleep. 

Born in a Jewish family in Peckham, London, England, Green started playing guitar professional by the age of 15. After playing in and out of bands throughout the 1960s, he landed a spot in John Mayall's Bluesbreakers- replacing Eric Clapton in October 1965. By 1967, Green left to form his own blues band- with Bluesbreaker bandmate drummer Mick Fleetwood joining him. Along with guitarist Jeremy Spencer and bassist John McVie, Fleetwood Mac were formed- with Green taking the name from the band's rhythm section of Fleetwood and McVie (although at the time of their formation, McVie wasn't ready to join just yet- technically making bassist Bob Brunning the original bassist). 

Shortly after the release of their debut album, the band brought in a third guitarist Danny Kirwan. As a five piece band with three guitarists, Fleetwood Mac stood out amongst their peers. As a musician, Green would write several of the band's early hits such as "Oh Well," "Albatross", "The Green Manalishi" and "Black Magic Woman"- with those last two later being covered by Judas Priest and Santana respectively. However, Green would leave the band in May 1970. In March of that year, the band were on tour in Europe. While in Munich, it's been said that Green attended a party at a commune- where he took LSD. Many see this point as Green's decline in mental health. Soon after leaving the band, Green would released an instrumental debut album The End of the Game in 1970.  In the years after leaving Fleetwood Mac, Green found himself in psychiatric hospitals. There was also an incident where Green held his accountant David Simmons at gunpoint.  In the late 1970s, Green was diagnosed with schizophrenia and underwent electroconvulsive therapy. 

In 1979, Green went back recording- starting with In The Skies. In the late 1990s, Green would form the Peter Green Splinter Group- with some help from musicians Nigel Watson and Cozy Powell. The band would perform and record from 1997 to 2004. For the rest of his life, Green kept a low profile while also agreeing to the occasional interview. 

In his life, Green was married once to Jane Samuels from 1978 to 1979. They would have one daughter, Rosebud- who was born in 1978. 

Neil Peart dead at 67

Neil Ellwood Peart

September 12, 1952 - January 7, 2020

Neil Peart, drummer for Canadian power trio Rush, passed away earlier this week on Tuesday. The news was confirmed by spokesman Elliot Mintz- who is also known for his association with John Lennon and Yoko Ono. According to Mintz, Peart died after a private three and a half year battle with brain cancer. Peart was 67. 

Peart was born in Hamilton, Ontario to Glen and Betty Peart. He was the first of four children- with Peart's siblings being Danny, Judy and Nancy. At a young age, Peart had an interest in music. When Peart was 13, his parents bought him a pair of drumsticks- with Peart's parents promising their son a drum kit if he was still practicing after one year. By age 14, Peart had earned his first drum kit. Peart struggled in finding any success in his first few years as a drummer. At 18, he moved to London for a year and a half but with no luck. In 1974, Peart was asked by a friend of his to audition for a band called Rush. Their original drummer, John Rutsey, had just left the band and they were looking for a replacement. Peart auditioned for future bandmates bassist Geddy Lee and guitarist Alex Lifeson. In the end, Lee and Lifeson decided to hire Peart- officially joining the band on July 29, 1974. For the next four decades, this line-up would stick together. In Rush, Peart contributed his top-notch drumming skills to complicated pieces such as "2112," "Tom Sawyer," and "YYZ" just to name a few. Peart also served as a lyricist for the band, with his influences coming from the work of philosopher/author Ayn Rand and science fiction. 

While Rush's classic line up would stay together until 2015, there was brief hiatus between 1997 to 2001. In 1997 shortly after the band's Test For Echo tour had concluded in August 1997, Peart's 19-year-old daughter Selena was killed in a single-car accident. Just ten months later in June 1998, Peart's common-law wife Jackie Taylor succumbed to her battle with cancer. Given his tragedy, Peart took a sabbatical and traveled around America for a long time- which was documented in his book Ghost Rider: Travel on the Healing Road. By 2002, Rush were back with their next album Vapor Trails. The band would continue to tour until 2015 when the band quietly retired. 

Peart is survived by his wife of 19 years Carrie Nuttall and their daughter Olivia (born 2009).