There’s always been a connection between Rush and Foo Fighters, with Dave Grohl citing the Geddy Lee-fronted band as an inspiration many times across his career, maintaining that their 1976 track ‘2112’ changed his life for the better. Rush also reciprocated this sentiment, with Lee and guitarist Alex Lifeson performing live with Grohl at the Taylor Hawkins Tribute Concert in London.
In April 2022, when appearing for an interview with the Toronto-based radio show House of Strombo alongside Lifeson, Lee reflected on Hawkins’ death, describing it as “heartbreaking — just heartbreaking”.
“That really broke my heart, his passing,” he continued. “[He was] so full of file. I remember when he presented the [Rock And Roll] Hall Of Fame award to us in 2013 and we came up on stage, he was literally jumping up and down like a two-year-old — he was jumping up and down, he was so happy — and that was him. He was so full of admiration and rock and roll joy juice. And it just seems wrong that he left us.”
Clearly, Geddy Lee understands Foo Fighters deeply. In fact, he once revealed the title of his favourite Foo Fighters album to fans. When speaking to Jam!Showbiz in 2001, Lee picked out 1999’s There Is Nothing Left to Lose as his favourite by Dave Grohl’s band, simply saying: “That is a great piece of work.”
One of the most well-received Foo Fighters records, their third studio album boasts singles such as ‘Learn to Fly’, ‘Stacked Actors’ and ‘Breakout’, and is credited with marking the start of a new chapter for the band. After all, it was the first to feature Taylor Hawkins and has a more melodic, experimental, and ultimately softer sound than their previous two efforts. Grohl himself has disclosed that it might be his “favourite album that (they’ve) ever done”.
Explaining the significance behind There Is Nothing Left to Lose, Grohl said in 2006: “It was all about just settling into the next phase of your life, that place where you can sit back and relax because there had been so much crazy shit in the past three years. At that point it was me, Taylor and Nate and we were best friends. It was one of the most relaxing times of my whole life. All we did was eat chili, drink beer and whiskey and record whenever we felt like it. When I listen to that record it totally brings me back to that basement. I remember how it smelled and how it was in the Spring so the windows were open and we’d do vocals until you could hear the birds through the microphone. And more than any other record I’ve ever done, that album does that to me.”
