I was inspired to do this after I misspoke a overplayed glam rock staple for one of the greatest songs of all time, Child In Time that is...
Ok, seriously. If your gonna talk about metal in the 70's, three names come up in a matter of seconds; Led Zeppelin, Sabbath, and Deep Purple. Deep Purple obviously is the least discussed of these three. This band is so underrated, even I don't own that much of their stuff. I only own a greatest hits album and "Machine Head," but what lies within those two albums were the building blocks for a new generation of a genre. There's also the fact that all of the members (well of the Mk II lineup) are legendary musicians. Ian Gillian: holy fuck could this guy sing! Check out the aforementioned Child In Time! Sure Robert Plant may have sung higher notes, but they weren't controlled blasts of fucking destruction. Also, for all his blues worship, at Plant sound a little too English sometimes(to be singing the blues, calm down!), whereas Gillian had all the power and swagger that any respectable black blues singer could have.
Roger Glover and Ian Paice are always revered in classic rock musician circles, and Roger seems to have made for himself in production (he produced Priest's Sin After Sin, and those are all the credentials I need). Both as individual masters of bass and drums, respectively, and for being a great rhythm section for an ensemble.
Nextthere's Keyboard player Jon Lord and guitarist Ritchie Blackmore, so fucking underrated and legendary they deserve threads on their own, but regardless. It is these two musicians who are single handedly responsible for the birth of power-metal (well, Dio too). But a critical difference between these bands and Purple, is the first few times you hear them, you're gonna think its a twin guitar band, only with two different tones! That's how fucking heavy Lord's keyboards are. The intro to Space Truckin sounds as if its Ritchie showing off another one of his legendary riffs, but its in fact Lord and Glover playing together in unison! And the first few times I heard the duel solos of Highway Star, I couldn't tell whose solo was whose! Kinda sucks that most power metal bands chose to use the keyboards for more "lighter purposes" than adding tons of fucking weight to them, but oh well.
Then Ritchie; so fucking great, the man makes me want to pick up the guitar and learn all the tricks just so I could say how fucking great he was! So many riffs, so many great solos, it annoys the fuck out of me the lack of credit the guy gets. I was watching some college rock band play live once who had an electric violinist in their band; and his playing sounded exactly like Ritchie! I went up to him after the show and told him that, but I don't think he knew what I was talking about. So for those of you aspiring guitarists who have never listened to any Deep Purple (or Rainbow for that matter), get your fucking act together.
and of course, no Purple tribute would be complete with out DUN, DUN, DUN! DUN, DUN, DU-DUN! DUN, DUN, DUN, DUN, DUUUUUUN!
Best Album: Machine Head
Best Songs: Smoke On The Water, Child In Time, Highway Star
