The two Jimi Hendrix songs that inspired a Deep Purple classic
When Ritchie Blackmore was talking about his favourite guitarists, he mentioned three people above all else. All of these guitarists resonated with the Deep Purple lead on some level, not just because of their ability as individuals but also because of the way that they could incorporate their technical ability into whatever music they were making as part of a collective.
The first of his favourites was Jeff Beck, who he loved because of his unique and emotive playing style. “I first heard ‘The Shapes of Things’ with Jeff Beck playing, and I thought, ‘My God, who the hell is this?’ This shouldn’t be allowed, it’s too good,” he said, “Jeff cheats on the guitar because he has notes that I don’t have on my guitar.”
The second was Eddie Van Halen. Blackmore had a love of love for him because he had an innovative playing style and was able to incorporate that style into making excellent songs. “Eddie Van Halen was a brilliant guitarist who started a technique of guitar playing which was emulated by a whole generation of guitarists,” he said, “He was one of the nicest musicians I ever met in the music business. Very shy and not all conceited about his ability as a guitar player.”
While both of these guitarists had a big influence on Ritchie Blackmore, there is no escaping that one of his biggest inspirations when it came to making music and wearing his influences on his sleeve was Jimi Hendrix. This is clear because while he might have felt somewhat inspired by Beck and Van Halen, Hendrix’s work directly influenced what he did with Deep Purple.
When speaking about Hendrix, he admitted that he saw Deep Purple as a band taking over from him and utilising a similar playing style. “We were just taking over, in a way, from someone like Hendrix,” said Blackmore, “Very musical, very bombastic, but we tried to develop certain riffs that we had, and we did borrow from Hendrix a lot.”
Blackmore then began speaking about their classic track from the In Rock album, ‘Speed King’. He said that while that song had a great deal of originality, they also took some ideas from Jimi Hendrix’s work. Two songs in particular helped him craft the initial layout for the song.
“’Speed King’… That was based on ‘Stone Free’, Jimi Hendrix,” said Blackmore, “I really liked his stuff at the time. And it was a little bit of ‘Fire’. Do you remember ‘Fire’ by Jimi Hendrix?”
Blackmore wasn’t the only person who learnt a lot from Hendrix. He was an absolute tour de force when he initially landed in the UK. When he began making music, he took an approach towards guitar playing that was completely unprecedented. He and his instrument were extensions of one another, as he played in a way that was both emotive and fluid, leading to long improvised passages that people were accustomed to in rock music. He also had an incredibly captivating stage presence, so that during these long passages, people remained engaged when watching him as he moved in a way that was alien to anybody else.
One of Blackmore’s other influences, Jeff Beck, admitted that the first time he saw Jimi Hendrix, it was an incredibly moving experience. “I was embarrassed because I thought, ‘God, that should be me up there’,” he said, “I just hadn’t had the guts to come out and do it so flamboyantly, really. He just looked like an animal, played like an animal, and everybody went crazy.”
