I'm biased because Ritchie Blackmore is my favorite musician ever, but I feel like Deep Purple is a more successful Velvet Undergound, in that there weren't legions of fans, but those that were fans went out and formed bands of their own.
Purple was
- metal without the religious undertones;
- rock without the ridiculousness;
- prog without the pretentiousness;
- classical without the boring.
It is also worth noting that for the most part (at least with the core members) there wasn't a lot of drug-related drama, and there wasn't a lot of misogyny that came along with a band like Led Zeppelin.
Seriously? Ian Gillian always came across to me as a player. Who wrote the lyrics for Knocking? ....and half a dozen other songs I could rattle off. EDIT - Some of their songs rival even Gene Simmons’ stuff.
Well, he often tells the story of "getting head under the keyboard" during one of Blackmore's longer solos, but it sounds apocryphal to me. I think the thing with Gillan is more the "proud story of rock and roll" more than a serious woman addiction. He is a fan of the innuendo of acts like Little Richard and Elvis, and "Speed King" is almost entirely an homage to 50's and 60's rock lyrics. He is also an observer. On his website - Caramba! I think it's called - he has a "Wordography" where he posts official lyrics and an explanation (more or less) of the song. A LOT of his work is observational.
Topic: Is Deep Purple a band with a huge impact in hard rock and metal? (Read 1987 times)