There’s a lot of talk about Black Sabbath being the godfathers of Heavy Metal, and I cannot disagree. ‘War Pigs’ is still a favorite of mine. ‘Sweet Leaf’ and ‘Paranoid’ run a close second. My brother and I argued incessantly about Ozzie Osbourne. I told him if they got rid of Ozzie and got a good singer… Sabbath would be a great band. He said, without Ozzie, there was no Black Sabbath! My brother turned out to be correct, but in my mind, they were just one of three bands who created Heavy Metal.
I think of the ‘Godfathers’ of Metal as Deep Purple, with Ritchie Blackmore, Jon Lord, Ian Paice, Roger Glover, and Ian Gillan, which was the original lineup. ‘Strange Kind of Woman’ and ‘Smoke On the Water’ featured the original lineup, with Ian Gillan on vocals. These songs made the band.
Though DP had many singers over the years, Joe Lynn Turner, Rod Evans, & David Coverdale took Ian Gillan’s place, periodically. Nick Simper & Glenn Hughes replaced Roger Glover on bass variously.
When Glover and Gillan quit, Deep Purple signed on David Coverdale and Glenn Hughes and the song ‘Burn’ became anthem.
Tommy Bolin (Come Taste the Band) filled in on guitar for Ritchie Blackmore. ‘Lady Luck’ and ‘Dealer’ were two favorites from this period. Although I love Ritchie Blackmore, he always had an attitude. Gillan and Blackmore were two powerful personalities.
Blackmore soured on the musical direction and went off to form ‘Rainbow’ with Ronnie James Dio (formerly of Elf), then Graham Bonnet (later of Alcatrazz, a killer band that featured, Yngwie Malmsteen and Stevie Vai on guitars), and finally, Joe Lynn Turner on vocals. Tony Carey played keys for Rainbow and later on a solo effort called Planet P recorded ‘Why Me’, easily one of my favorite all-time radio hits (although it has absolutely nothing to do with Deep Purple).
Finally, as years transpired, Joe Satriani (later of Chicken Foot with Sammy Hagar and Michael Anthony from Van Halen) played guitars for a bit until Deep Purple settled on Steve Morse, former Dixie Dregs guitarist (who also played guitar with Kansas, in place of Kerry Livgren) ‘Purpendicular’ features Morse on ‘I’m Not Your Lover’ and ‘Ted, the Mechanic’ , which are really slick. I saw Morse with the Dregs at UCLA Auditorium in LA and it was the best concert I have ever seen!
So many versions of Deep Purple, multiple line ups, drugs & alcohol, death, years on the road, and the band STILL kicks arse!
