10 Rock Bands That Had A Really Shaky Start
6. Rush
Most of Rush's catalog is among some of the best prog rock that the genre has to offer. While other acts like Emerson, Lake and Palmer and Genesis were making waves around the same time, this Canadian power trio had the most muscle of any other prog act, with riffs that were almost metal in their construction. If they had stuck to their guns though, there was a good chance that we wouldn't have seen any prog elements at all.
For the first Rush album, the man behind the stool was original drummer John Rutsey, who fashioned himself more of a rock and roll purist. As such, most of this album doesn't fit into the prog rock genre, instead being a pastiche of the run of the mill blues rock acts of the day like Led Zeppelin and Bad Company. Though Working Man did find its way onto the charts at the time, change was in the air once Rutsey was let go due to health concerns.
With Neil Peart now providing the backbeat and working on the lyrics, things started to branch out into much more heavy topics. Right from the start of Fly By Night, the difference between the two animals are like night and day, as the chemistry of these 3 guys compliment each other perfectly. Whereas Rutsey might have been a decent enough fit, it would have been a crime if we were robbed of Peart's talent.