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Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson’s opinion on Van Halen
Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson have been friends since their school days and together with the late drummer Neil Peart, they formed the classic line-up of Rush, one of the most successful Canadian bands of all time.
Blending Progressive and Hard Rock, Rush played a key role in shaping subgenres such as Progressive Metal. Over the decades, Geddy and Alex have spoken about many bands they crossed paths with on the road and one of them was Van Halen.
What is Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson’s opinion on Van Halen
When asked if he preferred Van Halen with David Lee Roth or Sammy Hagar, Geddy Lee's answer was short: "I don't listen to either". That's what he told Rolling Stone when answering fans' questions, including one about whether the story told by Roth was true, that Eddie Van Halen once spilled some beer on a record player by a member of their crew.
“Oh, that’s an interesting memory. We were at a hotel bar in Leicester and one of the guys in our road crew had his beat box playing. And the guys in Van Halen were a little inebriated and we were on our way to getting inebriated. So I think some beer was spilt, yes,” Geddy Lee said.
He didn’t give many details about the story, but according to David Lee Roth, besides that incident, Rush reportedly banned any Van Halen members and crew from one of their shows. Later, at a meeting, one of Van Halen’s security guards allegedly "body-tackled" Geddy Lee when he approached Eddie.
“We gonna go back in time now. Back a year’s time to Leicester, England. You’re gonna have to look that up. It’s spelled with an ‘ie’ or something. We’d just finished playing: great show, everybody’s very up it was Michael’s (bassist Anthony) birthday. We’d come back to the bar and Rush was staying at the same hotel. And as it turns out later – they’d rented the bar with all the booze in it.”
David Lee Roth continued:
“And our guys didn’t know that and they came in and said, ‘What,free booze?! Whoa!!’ And they cleaned the place out, which put their guys on edge a little bit. And Edward was sitting at the table with Geddy Lee. They’d both been drinking a little bit, and Geddy was playing some Rush tapes on a tape recorder.”
“He said something to Ed and Ed’s beer got into the tape recorder. Well that caused a little friction. Jump ahead one year – Las Vegas ( not L.A.) 1981. Rush is playing before Van Halen in Las Vegas and word goes out: nobody from Van Halen is allowed into the show at all. Nobody. No road crew, nobody. Anyways: 1981. The word goes out that nobody remotely associated with Van Halen is allowed into the show.”
He continued:
“As it turns out, a lot of our truckers. We’ve got five or six trucks, gotta have people to driv’em they know other truckers and they know the guys in Rush. They say, ‘Hey c’mon over. Have a beer and a buzz, you’re welcome at our show anytime, and so on. So late word goes out: some Van Halen people – some – will be allowed into the show. And they’ve got some great guys working for them. So the show goes on and everything.”
“We jump ahead now. After the show, we’re sitting in this casino. There’s tables filled with Van Halen people – there’s 47 or 50 of us on the road now. And Geddy feels one way or another and comes up to say something to Ed, and he puts up his hand to shake hands. Now one of our security guards didn’t have the vaguest idea in hell who he was and he came up and body tackled him. Ha, ha, ha. Threw him out of the table and that’s the last I saw of ’em!” David Lee Roth told Creem Magazine in 1981.
Alex Lifeson likes Van Halen and praised Eddie many times
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fuKDBPw8wQA&list=RDfuKDBPw8wQA&start_radio=1&pp=ygUJdmFuIGhhbGVuoAcB
Although Geddy Lee is not a fan of Van Halen's music, Rush's guitarist Alex Lifeson has praised the late guitar player many times. When asked by Guitar One magazine in 1996 which artists and records would be in his essential listening list, Alex mentioned him.
"Any Van Halen album. He's among the greatest, as influential as any of them. His style is so distinctive. Aside from the tapping, which was quite innovative at the time, he has the perfect combination of technique and emotion."
But two years later, the musician revealed he appreciated Eddie as a guitarist but wasn't a big fan of the band. "I certainly appreciate Eddie and what he does and what he's always done. He's a typical example because he's left such a mark on all guitarists. But I don't know if I'd say if Van Halen as a group was something I listened to or something that moved me," Lifeson told Big O in 1998.
Eddie Van Halen said that Van Halen and Rush made different kinds of music
Rush and Van Halen were obviously two really different bands and Eddie Van Halen once mentioned the Canadian group as an example of complex music. When talking about their album "OU812" in an interview with Steve Harris in 1989, he said they never did "metered stuff" like Rush.
"I think what you might be picking up on (album) is that it’s just a little more comfortable. ‘Cause we’ve been together, we did '5150', which is the first album. It’s just a little more solid and comfortable."
"But we’re in a complicated band to begin with. I mean, how many notes you got? You got 12 notes to pick from, right? I mean, we never did out of metered stuff, like a band say like Rush or something. We’ve always been pretty much 1-4-5," Eddie Van Halen said.
Both bands sadly are over since they lost during the past years vital members. Van Halen of course, lost Eddie who passed away in 2020 at the age of 65 and Rush lost the drummer Neil Peart who died in the same year at the age of 67.The post Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson’s opinion on Van Halen appeared first on Rock and Roll Garage.
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