Rush: The Tragic Death Of Drummer John Rutsey

The lift and death of Rush drummer John Rutsey

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I cite my sources and they may differ than other people's accounts, so I don't guarantee the actual accuracy of my videos.

Rush’s original drummer John Rutsey was 55 at the time of his death in 2008. Following his departure from the band in 1974, after the release of their first album, Rutsey would be out of the rock n’ roll spotlight, all the while his former band would become one of the biggest acts in the world. This is his story.

John Rutsey founded Rush in 1968, in Toronto, Canada, along with guitarist and childhood friend Alex Lifeson, and future Red Rider bassist Jeff Jones, who was the band’s original frontman. The three musicians would use the band name Rush last minute, right before playing their first show, after struggling to come up with one during practice. Author Bill Basiniewicz wrote about how they’d eventually get their name in his 1988 biography on the band, Visions.
“The band was excited, but they had a big problem. While they had been dreaming of playing, they had neglected to come up with a name for their group. So, a few days before the gig, they sat around in John's basement trying to come up with an appropriate moniker. They weren't having much luck when John's older brother Bill piped up, 'Why don't you call the band Rush?,' and Rush it was," he’d say.
Rush’s first performance with Jeff Jones was successful, but on their next one, he would pull a no-show. Jones would leave the band and was replaced with Geddy Lee, another childhood friend who John and Alex knew from their time as students at St. Patrick’s School. Rush’s first roadie, Ian Grandy, who was with the band until 1983, discussed a temporary direction Rutsey had them pursue, in a 2009 interview with Guitar International Magazine:
“John led the guys as far as being 'glam rockers', with really flashy jackets and pants, and eight-inch high boots," Grandy would then mention an anecdote about him and Rutsey catching up at a now-legendary Toronto club.
“One time, he was speaking to me at the Gasworks and I said, ‘Didn’t we used to be the same height (5’8”)?’ He laughed and said ‘Well, maybe a long time ago!’”
In fact, Rush wouldn’t always be a trio. By 1971, the band also experimented briefly as a four piece, incorporating Mitch Bossi as second guitarist. But that didn’t satisfy John Rutsey, who sought a different direction for the band. On the podcast In Conversation with Chad Smith, Alex Lifeson said in 2013:
“John wanted to [do] more of a Bad Company or Small Faces sort of thing. That’s the kind of music he was really into…the English bluesy kind of thing,”
“We went for a while, for a few months. I remember we were at a rehearsal, and we told Mitch that it wasn't really working out. He picked up his stuff, and he left,” he’d say.
For a brief moment, it seemed as though Rush’s early efforts were about to pay off, but they’d hit another dead end. An episode of the podcast series Full in Bloom in May of 2020 featured Epic Records A&R Tom Werman talking about his attempt to sign Rush back in the early 70s:
“I heard a demo, and I went up to Toronto to see them, the manager picked me up - Ray Danniels, I think he managed Van Halen later on, I can't remember.”
“I went backstage and said, ‘This is incredible.’ This was very artsy. This wasn’t your standard rock ‘n’ roll, and I thought this would be a really great signing for me because it’s high-class, you know, and it’s differe
But Rutsey’

Sources:

Bosso, Joe. “In Conversation: Chad Smith with Alex Lifeson - Part Two.” MusicRadar, MusicRadar, 20 May 2013, https://www.musicradar.com/new....s/guitars/in-convers

Daly, Skip. “Ian Grandy Interview: Rush's First Roadie.” Guitar International Magazine, 16 Sept. 2009, http://guitarinternational.com..../2009/09/16/a-talk-w
“The National Midnight Star #138 (Rockline Radio interview excerpt).” The National Midnight Star - Digest Archives, https://www.pelstudio.com/tnms/0138.html.

Reed, Ryan. “The History of John Rutsey and Rush.” Ultimate Classic Rock, 25 July 2015, https://ultimateclassicrock.com/rush-john-rutsey/.

“Rush: Tom Werman Talks about Trying to Sign the Band in the '70s.” SoundCloud, Full In Bloom, 22 May 2020, https://soundcloud.com/fullinb....loom/rush-tom-werman

Trunk, Eddie. "Hangin' With: Rush" Interview. YouTube, VH1, 2005, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e2An_Ww1oCo. Accessed 6 Oct. 2021.