Creativity Quote by Geddy Lee

Geddy Lee is doing a very rock-star thing here: acknowledging legacy without sounding like he’s polishing his own trophy. The sentence starts with a little self-check - “I would be naive not to recognize” - a hedge that signals humility while quietly insisting on a fact: the influence is real, it’s measurable, and other musicians keep bringing it up. He’s not claiming impact; he’s reporting a chorus.

The subtext is also a defense against the caricature of Rush as a niche, brainy, prog-rock outlier. By invoking the testimony of “the number of musicians,” Lee reframes the band’s reputation from cult obsession to professional lineage. This is influence as peer-reviewed scholarship: if working players cite you, you’re in the canon, whether critics liked you at the time or not.

Naming “Alex and Neil” matters, too. It’s not just courtesy; it’s an ethical stance about authorship. Rush’s virtuosity was often reduced to Lee’s voice or bass theatrics, but he pulls the spotlight back to the full machine: Alex Lifeson’s harmonic imagination, Neil Peart’s compositional drumming. The phrase “positive influence” is tellingly modest - not “revolutionary,” not “greatest” - because the goal isn’t dominance, it’s usefulness. He’s talking about craft passed down: techniques, discipline, permission to be ambitious.

Even with the accidental “sight me,” the intent lands: legacy isn’t ego if it’s corroborated. It’s just the receipt.