#music, Great British Bands, Chapter 15: Deep Purple

(Original members of Deep Purple/Photo from ABC/Unknown photographer)

Now this was one of my faves back in the day, and still is. Their iconic song «Smoke on the Water» (1973) is a super-classic of rock music and really catapulted this band into the realm of legend… In 1970 Deep Purple released their seminal album In Rock and laid the groundwork for what was to be «heavy metal», with the renewed band made up of: Ian Gillan (vocals); Ritchie Blackmore (lead guitar); Roger Glover (bass); John Lord (keyboards) and Ian Paice on the drums…

Deep Purple came into being in 1968 and in Hertford, UK… They were a super-group. Their music included just about all the rock styles, from hard/heavy to Britpop to symphonic rock. They were the main influence of later bands like Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath, among others both in the US, the UK and Europe. Just so you know, throughout their musical journey the band sold over 150 million records…

The band has gone through various changes called Mark I, Mark II, Mark III and Mark IV, and in my humble opinion their best era was Mark II, but you pick yours. And that is not to say that all the other eras were not as good. Because Deep Purple is (because they are still active) and still is a phenomenal band… Planet Rock (UK), after conducting a survey in 2013, placed Deep Purple in 5th place of the most influential bands in rock history…

In 2021 Deep Purple announced the release of their new album titled Turning to Crime, which is an album of covers. They also released the song «7 and 7 Is», as their new single complete with a video clip of the band in studio playing the song. Their second single was «Oh Well«, also with a video. The third single, also with a video, was «Rockin’ Pneumonia and the Boogie Woogie Flu«. The album also included songs like: «Let the Good Times Roll» and «White Room«.