industries

Rush-ing Into Business

The iconic Canadian band Rush will be accepted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in April, largely because of their business savvy. Today, I’m saying to heck with traditional business. There is something far more important going on. Rush has finally been accepted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

By Tony Wanless /

Rush, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame | BCBusiness
Canadian band Rush will be memorialized in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame after 40 years of success in the music business.

The iconic Canadian band Rush will be accepted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in April, largely because of their business savvy.

Today, I’m saying to heck with traditional business. There is something far more important going on.

Rush has finally been accepted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Yeah, Rush. That Canadian band of the weird songs and soaring scores, the band who put together the experimentation of the ’60s with the wall of sound, hair farmer bands of the ’70s and developed a style uniquely their own.

But mostly I think we should talk about them because they’re great businessmen.

Rush — Geddy Lee, Alex Lifeson and Neil Peart — have been playing on stage for close to to 40 years. They’ve sold 40 million albums globally, including 25 million in the U.S.

That’s good business and Rush was good at it.

Consulting guru Peter Drucker said the life of a business today is less than 20 years. So there’s Rush still pumping out those loopy sci-fi lyrics when most businesses have gone belly up. And they’ve made pretty good money at it even though they remained in Canada.

Rush’s success is a good lesson for many in Canada. Do what you want to do, work hard, do it well and success will come eventually.