Ritchie Blackmore always thought Deep Purple’s breakthrough was lame
Sometimes, you have to simply do what it takes to break through into the spotlight, and if it means doing something that you’re not totally on board with just because that’s what people want to hear, then you might have to put up with it. Ritchie Blackmore of Deep Purple, however, was not happy about settling for this.
They’d struggled to gain any attention with the first incarnation of the group on their first three albums, and as a consequence, they found themselves coming to something of a crossroads as members of the band chose to depart and pursue other projects. Original frontman Rod Evans was dismissed from the band after he expressed a desire to move to the US and work on something more pop-adjacent, while founding bassist Nick Simper went on to form the short-lived prog rock act, Warhorse. Their respective departures made way for Ian Gillan and Roger Glover, but there was still work to be done to transform the band.
Symphonic and classically-influenced prog rock was never going to help the band hit the big time, as it was the sort of music reserved for those with more niche musical interests, but attempting to pivot to becoming a much heavier act wouldn’t exactly be easy either, considering the background that the members of the group had all come from. As classically trained musicians, they were seemingly best suited to playing in this style, but there were definitely things that they could achieve as a group if they utilised those skills in the right way.
They ended up having a reasonable amount of success with their Concerto for Group and Orchestra record, the first album with the new lineup, which was released in late 1969, but this wasn’t exactly where Blackmore wanted to go. With the new recruits now seemingly fully embedded in the creative side, he attempted to guide them in a specific direction that would lead to them becoming heavier.
In Rock was the resulting record, and it pushed Deep Purple to an even higher level than before. They’d clearly found their rhythm much quicker with this new lineup, and things were working for them in trying to get more attention as a hard rock act. However, they’d still managed to get there off the back of an orchestral album, which didn’t please Blackmore much.
In a 1991 interview with Guitar World, Blackmore reflected on the breakthrough that came as a result of Concerto, and claimed that this was far from what he’d imagined he would do with these new members.
“I became tired of playing with orchestras,” Blackmore confessed. “In Rock was my way of rebelling against a certain classical element in the band. Ian Gillan, Roger Glover, and I wanted to be a hard rock band – we wanted to play rock and roll only. So off we went in that direction.”
Blackmore continued by criticising the record and its sound further. “I felt that the whole orchestra thing was a bit tame,” he argued. “I mean, you’re playing in the Royal Albert Hall, and the audience sits there with folded arms, and you’re standing there playing next to a violinist who holds his ears every time you take a solo. It doesn’t make you feel particularly inspired.”
Perhaps he should treat Concerto with more respect, considering how it gave the band a platform to create a more daring and heavier record as a result. That said, there was only so far they could have taken the symphonic sound, and hard rock was young and ripe for experimentation and adventure, which was just what Blackmore, Gillan and Glover seemingly wanted. Blackmore might see it as a blunder, but it was one that got Deep Purple exactly where they wanted to be.
