Pulling down barriers: Neil Peart, autobiographical confession and negotiated rock celebrity

This article examines the confessional (using Redmond’s conception of the celebrity confessional discourse) and autobiographical writing of the music celebrity Neil Peart, the drummer with the Canadian rock band Rush. Examining Peart’s now-extensive corpus of professionally-published writing, the article explores the perception of a subcultural celebrity’s self-reflective view of fame and fandom and how this celebrity status is renegotiated into a position of professional work. The article explores the concept of the parasocial relationship with regard to Peart’s negative attitude to direct fan contact and his printed revelations that his craft skills as a musician within the arena of the rock concert form the limit to his relationship with fans. Therefore, the article examines self-perceptions of celebrity status as an unwanted by-product of musical success and renown, and as such provides the analysis of a celebrity ‘insider’ view of fan adulation and the negative consequences of celebrity culture.