Rush has been using a snippet (fair use) form Spirit of Radio for years. They haven’t been relevant since the Big Money days. Not eve I, who had Slingerland make a copy of the Black and Brass drum set Peart used on Farewell to Kings bother to put them in the tape deck. The last time they were in the news. Alex Lifeson beat the crap out of some guy.
He’s also said that all the bump music is paid for via the music licensing services. I don’t know how it’s done these days, but radio stations pay to play music, and talk stations apparently do also, even if in the limited (fair) use application.
You’re right. Similar to “My City Was Gone,” where they didn’t care that he used it for years and years until something came up.
On New Year’s Eve 2003, Lifeson, his son, and his daughter-in-law were arrested at the Ritz-Carlton hotel in Naples, Florida. Lifeson, after intervening in an altercation between his son and police, was accused of assaulting a sheriff’s deputy in what was described as a drunken brawl. In addition to suffering a broken nose at the hands of the officers, Lifeson was tased six times. His son was also tased repeatedly.