Let's start from scratch. The band took form in 1968 at a Toronto suburb called Sarnia. By that time its members where still attending High school classes. It is said that the band's first live appearance took place on a September's Friday night and the line up was consisted of Alex Lifeson (guitar), John Rutsey (drums) and Jeff Jane (bass/vocals). After a while Geddy Lee, a friend of Alex who used to lend his amplifier to the band for its needs, became a member, too. So with this last addition they start to think of music more seriously, influenced in the beginning by bands such as Led Zeppelin, Cream, The Who and Yardbirds. In time their musical and composing abilities became more than obvious and this was the ticket for their first big live appearance, at Toronto in 1973 as a New York Dolls' supporting group.

With Terry Brown as their producer, who was also the producer of the groups Procol Harum and April Wine, they released their debut album under the label Moon Records, (which was more Terry Brown's unofficial label rather than a regular one). At the same time they also released a 7'' single with the song "Can't fight it" and a cover on Buddy Holy's "Not Fade Away". They sent a copy of the 7'' single to Donna Halper's radio show in Ohio's Cleveland and from there they gain a $200.000 contract with Mercury label for 2 albums. So they re-release their self-titled debut album in August 1974, but soon after that John Rutsey decided to leave the band and handed over the drums to Neil Peart. This was surely on of the most important changes in the band's line-up because Neil contributed in the writing of the lyrics, which was probably the best aspect of Rush.

On 15 of February 1975 the album "Fly by Night" was released followed by "Caress of Steel" 7 months later, together with a four-month tour in the States with Aerosmith and Kiss. By that time the press and the reviewers characterized "Rush's" music as "thinking man's rock". But this was only the beginning… The talented Neil Peart was responsible for one of Rush's best albums and their first concept one. This is no other than "2112" which was released in March 1976 and the story of the lyrics is about a man that is leading a musical rebellion, a concept inspired by the science fiction writer Ayn Rand.

On 29 of September 1976 came the release of the live album "All the World's a Stage" on double vinyl format, which was recorded in Toronto's Massey Hall on 11,12 and 13 of June the same year. So this album, together with "2112", closed the first chapter of Rush's history, regarding their sound. And this is because their next album "A Farewell to Kings", a real masterpiece, which was released in September 1977, opened a whole new musical era due to Rush's sound enrichment with more keyboards, percussions and 12-strings guitars, all of them in perfect unison.

In next year's October came the release of "Hemispheres", another concept album influenced by the book "Powers of the Mind", in which the two hemispheres of the brain were named after Dionysus and Apollo, two Ancient Greek Gods. "Hemispheres" picks up from where "A Farewell to Kings" left beginning with the song "Cygnus X-1, book 2 Hemispheres", an epic song divided into 6 parts. In January 1979 the Canadian government designated them as "ambassadors" of the country's music.

Near the end of the 70's decade and more specifically on 1st January 1980, Rush releases "Permanent Waves" a rather experimental album that reveals the band's constant effort to find new paths of musical expression. "Moving Pictures" which is released in February 1981 clearly indicates their new musical direction. It becomes their greatest commercial success and it has affected hundreds of groups ever since. At this time their second period is finished with the release the double live album "Exit…Stage Left" in October 1981, which was recorded in G. Britain and Canada.

"Signals" that was released in September 1982 ends Rush's cooperation with Terry Brown behind the console. Their sound became more electronic and this change introduced them to a new audience. "Grace Under Pressure" (released on 12 August 1984) was a result of their cooperation with Peter Hendersson and, as in the past, it is also an experimental album full of masterpieces. In October 1985 came their next offering called "Power Window" that was produced by Peter Collins and it can be considered as Rush's most mediocre album. As a follow-up to this, they released in September 1987 the "Hold your Fire". Despite the fact that they where aiming at a commercial success with this one, the admirable backing vocals of Aimme Mann from the group Til' Tuesday and its decent songs, make it a very good album.

On 9 January 1989 their third double live album is released, under the title "A Show of Hands", that was recorded during Rush's live shows and tours from 1986 until 1988. At the same year (1989) a major transition took place. They separate ways with Mercury, after 15 successful years, and move to Atlantic, with which they recorded and released "Presto" in November 1989. This time they have "hardened" their sound a lot and have inclined once again to a more "progressive" approach, something that became more obvious with "Roll the Bones" (3 September 1991).

When "Counterparts" came to light, on 19 October 1993, it revealed their new fresh progressive hard rock sound with many metal elements. I'd like to point out here that for the first time the word love is found at the title of a song (Speed of Love). On September 10 they released "Test for Echo" a remarkable work, declaring that Rush could contribute even more to the genre.

In 1998 their triple live offering, titled "Different Stages" is consisted of 2 cds with live recordings from 1994 to 1997 and a third one, that mostly refers to the bands die-hard fans as it contains a live recording from the London's famous Hammersmith Odeon that took in 20 February 1978.

Just before the end of the century, and to be more specific in 2000, Geddy Lee releases his personal album called "My Favorite Headache" under the label Atlantis, that has nothing to do with Rush's typical sound as it has a modern approach, with Ben Milk on the guitars and drummer Matt Cameron (ex-Soundgarden). On May 2002 one more long expected album becomes reality, titled "Vapor Trails". In 2003 they offered us three more releases: The Greatest Hits album called "The Spirit of Radio" a live cd called "Rush in Rio" and the dvd "Rush in Rio".