We all love Rush for the great music, good lyrics, and the way Geddy sings it so beautifully. What if he wasn't the singer? Would you still like the band if someone else was lead vocalist? I know Lindy Young (Ged's brother-in-law) sang with the group and there was another man who was the singer when Rush was barely getting started. If they still had the good lyrics and music to back it up, would it still sound great if someone else took over? Would Rush still be here with this person? What are your thoughts?
If they had started out with another singer, then we wouldn't have known the difference, would we?
I'm somewhat ambivalent about it as Geddys voice has been a double edged sword over the years, maybe attracting ridicule, but getting the band noticed, simply because of the unusual timbre of it.
Perhaps a more "mainstream" style of vocalist might not have been such a focal point. Who knows really?
Yah, it's a hard call because with that voice comes the bass player and primary musical arranger who also arranges music to fit his unique voice and style. Hmmm.
Well, it depends on who was the singer, of course. I cannot think of anyone more fitting for Rush's music, but maybe that's because i'm so used to Geddy. If they were to change vocalists now, I'd be a bit weirded out by it, and probably would want Geddy back, no matter who replaced him. I just cant see Rush with a different vocalist.
i think Geddy's voice is what ties the whole Rush sound together without that Rush may not have been where they are today....plus closer to the heart wouldn't sound as cool.
"John Rutsey, who was a viking then, Geddy, who wasn't a viking and myself formed the band as it isn't today to patrol war-torn areas of the Middle-East and to incurr as many debts as possible. This we did with a passion."
- Alex Lifeson
*IF* their original albums had a different singer and Geddy had never been the vocalist at all, I would have ended up liking them much sooner than I did. It took me a long time to get past Geddy's voice, and as much as I love it now for it's uniqueness, there are still times when it kind of makes me cock my head off to the side like a dog hearing something weird. In fact, that's my only complaint about "Feedback" is that they seem to have some kind of processing on Geddy's voice that makes him sound 'flatter' (in terms of TONE, not pitch) than usual.
But if Geddy were to decide he's not going to sing any longer, then Rush would be at an end. I would probably still follow whatever the band ended up becoming, but any change to it's current make up would make it no-longer-Rush (may it'd turn in to "Hurry" or something...).
I remember reading Alex once saying that if Neil hadn't come back to the band, he and Geddy might have gone on to do other projects together, but they wouldn't have been billed as "Rush" because Rush without Neil ISN'T Rush - and I'm sure all of them feel the same way about each member.
One of my grand fantasies, though, would be to have at least Geddy and Alex work with someone like Sarah McLaughin. Even if Neil were playing the drums, it would NOT be Rush to me, but I bet it would be DAMN good - and I'd love to see them explore stuff like that. I think it would be really cool to hear them working with other musicians on occasion or working with different collaboration, just to hear what it would sound like. But anything like that would, in my mind, just be a 'side' project - and that's probably the way it should be....
Lerxst Online - an unofficial Alex Lifeson fan community
Just going by the content of Alex's rants....Ged not singing is just...I mean if Alex...even if Neil still wrote the lyrcs doesn't mean that...Alex would... What would Geddy do?
I know Lindy Young (Ged's brother-in-law) sang with the group and there was another man who was the singer when Rush was barely getting started. If they still had the good lyrics and music to back it up, would it still sound great if someone else took over? Would Rush still be here with this person? 
What are your thoughts?
