The commercial failure of their next album Caress of Steel, released seven months after Fly by Night, resulted in the band nearly getting dropped from their then-record label Mercury Records.

The band saw their furthest commercial success throughout the 1980s and 1990s, with most albums charting highly in Canada, the US and the UK, including Permanent Waves (1980), Moving Pictures (1981), Signals (1982), Grace Under Pressure (1984), Roll the Bones (1991), Counterparts (1993), and Test for Echo (1996).

Lee and Lifeson have continued to periodically work together since Peart's death, including performing at the 25th anniversary celebration of South Park and tributes to then-recently deceased Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins in 2022.

[13][14][15] The band was formed in the neighbourhood of Willowdale in Toronto, Ontario, by guitarist Alex Lifeson, bassist and frontman Jeff Jones, and drummer John Rutsey, in August 1968.

[16][17][18] Afterward the two stuck together and brought in Jones to form a new group; their first gig was in September at the Coff-Inn, a youth centre in the basement of St. Theodore of Canterbury Anglican Church in Willowdale; they were paid CA$25.

Some critics said Caress of Steel was unfocused and an audacious move for the band because of the placement of two back-to-back protracted songs, as well as a heavier reliance on atmospherics and storytelling, a large deviation from Fly by Night.

Beyond instrument additions, the band kept in stride with progressive rock trends by continuing to compose long, conceptual songs with science fiction and fantasy overtones.

As the new decade approached, Rush gradually began to dispose of their older styles of music in favour of shorter and sometimes softer arrangements, due in part to the band's exhaustion from recording Hemispheres.

The lyrics up to this point were heavily influenced by classical poetry, fantasy literature, science fiction, and the writings of novelist Ayn Rand, as exhibited most prominently by their 1975 song "Anthem" from Fly By Night and a specifically acknowledged derivation in 2112 (1976).

[50] Peart's lyrics on Permanent Waves shifted toward an expository tone with subject matter that dwelled less on fantastical or allegorical storytelling and more heavily on topics that explored humanistic, social, and emotional elements.

Moving Pictures essentially continued where Permanent Waves left off, extending the trend of accessible and commercially friendly progressive rock that helped thrust them into the spotlight.

[62] While Lee's synthesizers had been featured instruments since the late 1970s, keyboards were shifted from the background to the melodic front-lines[63] in songs like "Countdown" and the opening track, "Subdivisions".

It was Peart who named the album, as he borrowed the words of Ernest Hemingway ("Courage is grace under pressure"[68]) to describe what the band had to go through after making the decision to leave Brown.

[69] Musically, although Lee's use of sequencers and synthesizers remained the band's cornerstone, his focus on new technology was complemented by Peart's adaptation of Simmons electronic drums and percussion.

Hold Your Fire represents both an extension of the guitar style found on Power Windows, and, according to AllMusic critic Eduardo Rivadavia, the culmination of this era of Rush.

Mixed by producer Paul Northfield and engineered by Terry Brown, it is a three-disc live album featuring recorded performances from the band's Counterparts, Test For Echo, and A Farewell to Kings tours, dedicated to the memory of Selena and Jacqueline.

[86] Vapor Trails was released on May 14, 2002; to herald the band's comeback, the single and lead track from the album, "One Little Victory", was designed to grab the attention of listeners with its rapid guitar and drum tempos.

[92] The planned intercontinental tour in support of Snakes & Arrows began on June 13, 2007, in Atlanta, Georgia, coming to a close on October 29, 2007, at Hartwall Arena in Helsinki, Finland.

[93] The 2008 portion of the Snakes & Arrows tour began on April 11, 2008, in San Juan, Puerto Rico, at José Miguel Agrelot Coliseum, and concluded on July 24, 2008, in Noblesville, Indiana at the Verizon Wireless Music Center.

[137] Those appearances fuelled speculation over a possible Rush reunion, with Paul McCartney (who attended the Hawkins tribute shows) urging Lee and Lifeson to tour again,[138] and Smith commenting, "Those guys are so happy to be playing again...

[148][149] In the tradition of progressive rock, Rush wrote extended songs with irregular and shifting mood, timbre, and metre, combined with lyrics influenced by Ayn Rand.

[157] Rush have been cited as an influence by artists including Alice in Chains,[158] Anthrax,[159] Dream Theater,[160] Exciter,[161] Fates Warning,[162] Fishbone,[163] Foo Fighters,[164] Iron Maiden,[165] Jane's Addiction,[166] Living Colour,[167] Manic Street Preachers,[168] Megadeth,[169][170][171] Meshuggah,[172][173] Metallica,[160] No Doubt,[174] Pearl Jam,[175] the Pixies,[176] Primus,[177] Queensrÿche,[178] Rage Against the Machine,[179] the Red Hot Chili Peppers,[180] Sepultura,[181] the Smashing Pumpkins,[177] Elliott Smith,[182] Soundgarden,[183] Stone Temple Pilots,[184] System of a Down,[185] Testament,[186][187] Tool,[188][189] and Steven Wilson.

[213] Lee's style, technique, and ability on the bass guitar have been influential to rock and heavy metal musicians, inspiring players including Steve Harris,[214] John Myung,[215] Les Claypool,[216] and Cliff Burton.

[217] Lee is able to operate various pieces of instrumentation simultaneously during concerts, most evidently when he plays bass and keyboards, sings, and triggers foot pedals as in the song "Tom Sawyer".

[221] To adapt to Lee's expanding use of synthesizers in the 1980s, Lifeson took inspiration from guitarists like Allan Holdsworth,[221] Andy Summers of The Police and The Edge of U2, who gave him models for rethinking the guitar's role in Rush's music.

[229] Incorporation of unusual instruments (for rock drummers of the time) such as the glockenspiel and tubular bells, along with several standard kit elements, helped create a highly varied setup.

[247] It was with this technology that the group was able to present their arrangements in a live setting with the level of complexity and fidelity fans had come to expect, and without the need to resort to the use of backing tracks or employing an additional band member.

[248] The members' coordinated use of pedal keyboards and other electronic triggers to "play" sampled instruments and audio events was subtly visible in their live performances, especially on the R30: 30th Anniversary World Tour, their 2005 concert DVD.

[citation needed] A staple of Rush's concerts was Neil Peart's drum solos, which included a basic framework of routines connected by sections of improvisation, making each performance unique.

There were also autographs by band members from Depeche Mode, Tool, the Fray, Judas Priest, Pearl Jam and more, as well as signatures from Ricky, Julian and Bubbles from Trailer Park Boys on a rare Epiphone guitar.