Rush1500x1000.png

(Chris Morris, The Plain Dealer)

Rush fans had one word when they found out their heroes were to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame:

Finally!

And, it’s possible those fans can take some comfort in the knowledge that their fervent support may have had something to do with ensuring that bassist and vocalist Geddy Lee, guitarist Alex Lifeson and drummer Neil Peart will stand on the Nokia Theatre stage in Los Angeles on Thursday night.

For the first time in the short history of the Rock Hall, an online fan vote equaled a single vote on the voting committee. Though the Rock Hall won’t reveal total numbers, at least a quarter of those who voted checked the box next to Rush on their online ballots.

"I think the outcry or the outpouring of support of our fans was noted by the voting committee," said Lee, in a call from Beverly Hills earlier this week. The band has been eligible since 1998.

"I don’t think it was enough to turn the tide, but the noise and support from our fan base made the people on the committee take notice."

Ed Stenger, founder of the Shaker Heights-based fan site rushisaband.com, is convinced that the site he founded in 2005 "played a small role in their induction."

Stenger, a website developer for the Marcus Thomas marketing agency, has more than 10,000 subscribers to his site. It’s a pretty safe bet that they voted. Rush fans are nothing if not loyal.

"I think it’s a hard thing to explain," said Lee, when asked about the passion fans have for Rush. "A lot of it has to do with how they came to our music.

"In some ways, people come to our music at a time when they feel they need something our music has in terms of comfort or inspiration," he said. "It’s kind of a life experience for them. It gives them solace when they need solace, and that forms an emotional bond with the music."

Then there’s the rebellious aspect.

FYI

2013 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony

What:

The Class of 2013 will be inducted in the Cleveland-based Hall of Fame.

Performers



Rush

Heart

Randy Newman

Public Enemy

Donna Summer

Albert King

Ahmet Ertegun Award for Lifetime Achievement winners

Lou Adler

Quincy Jones

When and Where:

10 p.m. Thursday, April 18, at the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles

Live coverage:

Rock fans can visit

for live coverage starting at 9 p.m. and continuing throughout the event. The coverage will include tweets from Pop Music Critic Emmet Smith from inside the ceremony in Los Angeles, a live chat, photo galleries, video, stories and more. And edited version of the show will be broadcast 9 p.m. Saturday, May 18 on HBO.



Advance coverage:

Look for daily profiles of the inductees through Thursday.

Coming Monday:

Randy Newman.

"There’s also something of a guilty pleasure, with Rush not being a mainstream band overtly," Lee said. "I think within our fan base, it’s something of human nature to champion something not everybody has heard of."

That’s the sort of intellectual analysis you might expect from a man who is one-third of what arguably is the most famous of prog-rock bands. Rush’s sound — a union of Lee’s melodies and Peart’s lyrics, aided and abetted by Lifeson’s multiple-personalities guitar — is hardly the one-three-five of a blues band [although they did start out playing blues, and have dabbled in it over the course of their career], nor is it the typical and constant four-four time signature of most pop and rock bands.

Rush segues from time signature to time signature, from effect to effect in songs that force the mind to work almost as much as they do the heart. Tunes like "Subdivisions," "Tom Sawyer," "Superconductor," "The Spirit of Radio" and "Caravan" are almost musical lassos, encircling and ensnaring any who listen.

Even drum solos — a staple of 1970s arena rock bands — take on a thinking-man’s perspective when Peart does them, employing everything from roto-toms to a glockenspiel to electronic drums. They’re not so much driving, chest-thumping exercises as they are hypnotic rhythms that morph into melodies.

A long career with ups and downs

Mainstream or not, since forming in 1968 and releasing its first, self-titled, album in 1974, when Peart joined, Rush has produced 24 gold records and 14 platinum albums — and three of those platinum albums have gone DOUBLE platinum, meaning sales of 2 million or more.

"Our career has been up and down," Lee said. "We’ve been around for 40 years. Not every one of our records has been happily received, but we set a goal in music not to have a couple of hit records and retire. Sometimes, you take one step forward and two steps backwards."

Three guys who have been friends and co-workers since 1974 will be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on Thursday. From left are drummer Neil Peart (sporting a rare smile), guitarist Alex Lifeson and bassist-keyboardist-lead singer Geddy Lee, collectively known as Rush.Â Â Â

Part of that is the band’s willingness to adapt — in some ways — to the music of the day, and yet maintain its own signature sound.

"You have to be willing to absorb the new music going on around you," Lee said. "That’s part of being a contemporary musician. You can’t stay trapped in the ’70s. We’re very much like sponges. You’ve got to pay attention to what’s going on around you."

To that end, over the course of the years, Rush has dabbled in everything from the blues to new wave, and put its own spin on all. Lee, Lifeson and Peart probably could cover "Mustang Sally" and it would come out prog. And don’t put that past them.

"We do all kinds of things when we jam," said Lee, laughing at the prospect of taking prog-rock fans on a ride, Sally, ride. "Sometimes, Alex takes the mike and gets really stupid."

That’s one reason Rush has been able to stick around so long.

"We’re lucky because we LIKE each other," Lee said. "We’ve stayed sharp in terms of our playing ability. The fact is we still write music the way we want to write music, and we still enjoy the creative process. It keeps us interested in it, and we try to make sure there’s a heavy quotient of creativity and fun in it."

For Rush fans, the word fun may be a bit of an anomaly, given the band’s predilection for somber, complex music. But the guys do like to have fun, and not just onstage. Lee recently threw out the first pitch in the Indians season-opening win against Lee’s hometown team, Toronto.

"It was a bit of a breaking ball, a fake curve," he said, laughing again. "But it WAS a strike."

It’s not the first time Lee and the Indians have come together. Bart Swain, director of baseball information for the Tribe, is a huge fan.

"When Mark Langston was with us back in 1999," Swain said, "he surprised me one night. He knew I was a big fan. I met him in the lobby [of the Tribe’s Toronto hotel] that night and Geddy Lee picked us up and we all went out."

They headed for a place called the Orbit Room .¤.¤. which just happens to be owned by Lifeson.

"I was there with Geddy and Mark and all of a sudden, Alex shows up, so it’s the four of us," said Swain, whose first Rush album was the seminal "2112," purchased when he was 17 in 1987, 11 years after its initial release.

"It was the greatest night of my life."

Lifeson picking up the tab was just a small part of the reason.

"There was a house band called the Dexters," Swain said, "and Geddy and Alex disappear. Ten minutes later, they’re onstage, with Alex on guitar and Geddy singing and doing ‘In the Mood’ and ‘Working Man.’ It was beyond unbelievable."

A ‘very odd’ omission

Like a lot of fans, Swain wondered why the band wasn’t in the Rock Hall already.

"It just seemed very odd, given some of the credentials of the bands that were getting in there," he said.

"There are a lot of conspiracy theories," said rushisaband.com founder Stenger. "There was a certain camp in the Rock Hall nominating committee that just didn’t like Rush, and they’ve prevented them from getting in all these years."

As for Lee, he couldn’t care less. Though glad finally to be in, he has his own way of looking at things. Perhaps it’s that the Rock Hall may be mainly for artists who’ve coiled their guitar cords and traded their drumsticks for knitting needles.

"We’re still functioning — touring and writing," Lee said. "We’re still young."

With no rush to quit.