While Rush is one of the standard bearers of progressive music and one of the most successful rock bands of our generation, that wasn’t always the case. In fact, footage has surfaced of a 17 year-old Alex Lifeson arguing with his parents about the direction of his future. The guitarist and his parents took part in a 1973 documentary called Come On Children by Allan King.
The film invited five boys and girls from 13 to 19 to live on a farm for ten weeks and be filmed. A year before Rush’s debut album was released, Lifeson’s Serbian immigrant parents beg him to choose a more secure profession instead of dropping out of 12th grade to be a musician. His parents have a point – he already had a son by his girlfriend (who became his wife in 1975). And a snippet of the film is shown in Rush’s documentary, Beyond the Lighted Stage, where Lifeson admits his parents were right. But as jittery and nervous as Lifeson is in the 1973 documentary, he sticks to his convictions. And what nobody in the film knew at the time was that Rush would still be around over 40 years later. Looks like he made the right decision.
[youtube]http://youtu.be/Q7zLCw5xy_w[/youtube]
[via Dangerous Minds]
