Fare the Well, Neil Peart... Gone at 67
One of the best drummers ever, a significant contributor to the soundtrack of my youth, dead at 67. He'd been battling brain cancer for the last three years...
Neil Peart, Rush Drummer Who Set a New Standard for Rock Virtuosity, Dead at 67
Peart was widely considered one of the best drummers in rock history, with a flamboyant yet utterly precise style. He joined singer-bassist Geddy Lee and guitarist Alex Lifeson in Rush in 1974, and his virtuosic playing and literate lyrics – which drew on Ayn Rand and science fiction, among other influences – helped make the trio one of the key bands of the classic-rock era. A rigorous autodidact and a gifted writer, he was also the author of numerous books. He was fiercely principled, and never stopped believing in the possibilities of rock and despising what he saw as over-commercialization of the music industry. “It’s about being your own hero,” he told Rolling Stone in 2015. “I set out to never betray the values that 16-year-old had, to never sell out, to never bow to the man. A compromise is what I can never accept.”
“Neil is the most air-drummed-to drummer of all time,” former Police drummer Stewart Copeland said in 2015...
Every year more and more of my youth dies...
"I am allergic to piety, it makes me break out in rash judgements." - Penn Jillette
"I have never killed a man, but I have read many obituaries with a lot of pleasure." - Clarence Darrow
"The man who invented the telescope found out more about heaven than the closed eyes of prayer ever discovered." - Robert G. Ingersoll