I heard a version of this rumor in the early eighties that is similar to an early post. The version I heard went like this:
Rush and Van Halen were on tour in the same town, staying at the same hotel, but playing at different venues. After coming back from their show, three members of Van Halen went down to the lobby bar, (Michael Anthony was supposedly passed out drunk) only to find Rush in the bar listening to their own music on a boom box. According to this version, it was David Lee Roth's birthday, and he did not want to listen to Rush on the boom box, so he asked them to turn it off. When Rush refused, a full-on ballroom brawl broke out, with the members of Van Halen being the victors.
This tale, as well as the other versions, reek of urban legends typical of the ones on snopes.com. (This one is not there, don't bother checking tongue.gif) In the early eighties Rush and Van Halen fans were always arguing over which band was better. Die hard Rush fans could not stand Van Halen and vice-verse. The two bands were almost exact opposites as far as musical styles, one being a party band and one a thinking man's band. (You can guess which is which.) Heated arguments always broke out among fans, particularly musicians, over which band was better. It then stands to reason that a rumor like this would eventually manifest itself. It sounds to me like the version I heard probably was created by a Van Halen fan loosing the argument when you compare the bands person-to person, which often happened. Maybe both guitarists are on par, but this is really the extent of where the comparison ends. Especially when you compare both bass players and throw in the fact that Rush does it with three members as opposed to four. So if Van Halen loses the musical comparison then they must be able to win a fist fight, right? (That was a rhetorical question, don't flame me tongue.gif)
