Neil Peart Named Greatest Prog Musician of All Time

PROG Magazine recently conducted an extensive poll to determine the top Progressive Rock musicians of all time. In the overall list of 200 selected musicians, all three members of Rush cracked the Top 10 spots.

Alex Lifeson came in at the #9 spot, Geddy Lee ended up at #4, and Neil Peart took the top honors as the #1 Greatest Prog Musician of all time. No argument here.

From the PROG article:

Late Rush drummer Neil Peart has been named the greatest prog musician of all time by readers of Prog magazine.

The magazine had a shortlist of just under 250 figures from the prog world, from which fans were encouraged to vote in an online poll – and it was Peart who came out on top.

"Obviously it's very fitting that Neil Peart's been voted the Greatest Prog Musician ever by the readers of Prog Magazine, given that he sadly passed away this year," says Prog magazine Editor Jerry Ewing. "But he's long been seen as a master of his profession for five decades now, and as the tributes from his peers in the new issue show, this is a more than deserving accolade.

"The poll attracted our biggest ever vote – over 80,000 votes – so people take this stuff very seriously. The poll throws up more than its fair share of surprises but I think it's good to see it's not just the original old guard taking the prime positions. The influx of younger artists across more recent generations shows a healthy and broad range of age groups attracted by the music."

In addition to the overall list, PROG also categorized each musician into a separate list governed by their respective instruments. Alex Lifeson was named the #4 Top Guitarist, Geddy Lee came in at at the top spot for Bass Guitarists and, of course, Neil took the top honors in the Drumming section.

A sample of the issue of PROG can be viewed HERE.

---