Classic Rock has posted the second part of their interview with Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson where the pair reflect on the history of Rush. They had posted the first part where they discuss the early years of Rush up through 1975 last week, which you can check out here. In this installment they discuss the period from 2112 through Hemispheres. Here's Geddy on the story behind 2112:

... My memory is that Neil (Peart, drummer and lyricist) had this idea for 2112 and that was the starting point for the whole record. He wrote the story for 2112, based on Anthem by Ayn Rand - an anti-totalitarian science fiction story. Neil and I had also read another of Ayn Rand's books, The Fountainhead, and that was an inspiration to us. The Fountainhead is a story about an architect who was determined not to compromise his aesthetic, his vision, and he would do just about anything, even radical things, to stand up for his art and his right to be an individual. That spoke volumes to us while we were making 2112. It gave us confidence, in a way. We felt we were being pressured to compromise our art. People don't like it when you term hard rock or prog rock as art, but to us, as creators of that music, it is our art. ...

You can read the entire second part of the interview here and read part 1 here. Presumably they'll continue to post subsequent portions of the interview in the coming weeks. Thanks to RushFanForever for the heads up.