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Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition
This is a (part of the) recording of Glenn Hughes’ spoken word appearance at Café de Paris in London on February 25, 2017. Here, Glenn talks to the legendary British DJ Nicky Horne about joining Deep Purple and his days in the band.
Thanks to Ritchie Blackmore Official channel for posting this and to Uwe for bringing it to your attention.
Unauthorized copying, while sometimes necessary, is never as good as the real thing
I guess this interview once and for all debunks the myth how Ritchie and Glenn were supposedly always at loggerheads with each other. In case you still believed that even after Glenn was willing to play (and sing) Rainbow songs with Ritchie during the latter’s Reunionbow plans, Glenn’s joining only scuppered by the later revelation he would be expected to only play bass and not sing. Blackmore (who notably qualified Glenn as “The best bassist Deep Purple ever had.“) and Hughes might have had very different musical tastes, but they always respected each other as musicians and instrumentalists. And if Blackmore went to see Glenn at Trapeze gigs, then he certainly heard enough “shoeshine music” to know what was coming.
The Trapeze guys catching Glenn rehearse Deep Purple riffs in their dressing room before a Trapeze show was a bit unfortunate though … 😂
His DC impressions aren’t too bad either!
I blame the thin air up there where the helicopter flew for Glenn not being able to perform his manly duties to their biological conclusion with the volunteer police officer(ess) post-CalJam. Lack of oxygen or something.
September 26th, 2025 at 01:25Awwww 😍
Nobody indeed doesn’t expect the Spanish Inquisition!
Now I need to see all my Monty Python dvds.
Thanks 🙏🏼
September 26th, 2025 at 11:54the anecdote with Stevie Wonder and Coverdale is incredible!
September 26th, 2025 at 20:20It was already mentioned in the Chris Charlesworth bio in the 8os. And that DC – also a Stevie Wonder fan – was embarrassed when he realized who was watching (well, in a strict sense Stevie doesn’t “watch”) him + who he wanted ousted from the control room.
I read somewhere else that Stevie asked (and was of course granted permission) to touch Glenn’s facial features to convince himself that the Cannock boy wasn’t born black.
Anyway, in the mid 70s Stevie Wonder could do no wrong with pretty much any white or black musician, he was that revered (and later more banal stuff like “I Just Called To Say I Love You” hadn’t tarnished his reputation yet). Heck, even Blackmore owned up to having written Sail Away (to my mind one of the strongest DP tracks ever) in direct answer to Stevie’s Superstition classic.
September 27th, 2025 at 13:19This interview has a few years on it’s back, but the whole “Hall Of Fame” thing seems to be a sour grape with David and Glenn.I only know what I’ve seen from the footage and it looked alright. At least what we’ve been allowed to see looked like it was done in respect of one another. What went on behind the scenes is another thing that I don’t think we’ll ever get to know the full extent of. I don’t think Ritchie would have turned up either way, so that’s a non issue. Whether David and Glenn felt somehow excluded or not being taken seriously is probably more in their own minds. It was what it was, and they were there to share the glory, but the real reason they were inducted was probably that “Smoke On The Water” is a song that can’t be ignored.
September 27th, 2025 at 17:36I think at the core of the RRHoF debacle lies a very different approach to events like this: Roger and the two Ians thought it all somewhat silly, a procedure they had to go through for the belated recognition and their fans who wanted them to be there. But the three Englishmen weren’t really in a celebratory mood about it. The Mk III part of the band however, DC and GH, were totally chuffed about the whole thing and wanted it to be a celebration of the Purple brand they were once part of. Americans – and culturally Glenn and David have long become Americans, they have soaked up the American way of life – like to celebrate in style with grand emotions on full display or at least some good backslapping humor. DC and GH wanted a ceremony larger than life, an American wedding – and Roger and the two Ians wanted to get out of it best they can and have it over with soon. It was inevitable that the two completely different stances would clash and lead to disappointments.
I remember seeing the whole thing and finding it painfully awkward with a total lack of geniality between the camps. (It was, by American standards at least, also badly underrehearsed.) Big Ian did a at best workmanlike job, but really didn’t want to be there. They should have Little Ian as the only remaining original member and as the man who has played in all line-ups from Mk I to IX do the hono(u)rs. I think he would have done a great and warmhearted job, pulling everyone’s leg a little (things like “I picked up this half-drunk Northerner from the train station with my Jag and next thing we know we both have to duck and cover because our guitarist wanted to blow us to hell at one of the largest festivals ever …”). Big Ian, however, stood there like he had been hired for the event – at a not very good fee and had a train to catch home.
If you see Purple as a global brand to which at various times different people have contributed, then the event was awfully handled from a brand management perspective, strictly amateur hour.
And that Glenn and David were invited by Cheap Trick to join them on stage, but not by the band in which they both played for three years, was embarrassing to witness. What would have spoken against DP performing SOTW and Ian offering David and Glenn a verse to sing together? He wasn’t that particular who sang that song when he did his Rock Aid Armenia thing. And that wouldn’t have required even a little joint rehearsal. Or Mk VIII playing Speed King and letting Steve and Don play the Burn riff in their call and response with Glenn and DC doing a verse and a chorus of Burn while Ian could have graciously retreated to banging a pair of congas for two or three minutes? It could have really been something.
September 28th, 2025 at 00:34@6
Uwe, it’s not that I don’t appreciate your thoughts and opinions, because I do, very much, but come on…
You don’t know what happened in Ian G’s mind!
“Big Ian did a at best workmanlike job, but really didn’t want to be there.”
– hey! How do you? Did he write a heartfelt mail to you where he explained himself? Could he have had a headache? Could he have been sad about things no one knew about (and wasn’t anybody’s business!)?
“What would have spoken against DP performing SOTW and Ian offering David and Glenn a verse to sing together?”
– a lot of things actually! I cannot give examples though because I do not speculate 😊
“with Glenn and DC doing a verse and a chorus of Burn while Ian could have graciously retreated to banging a pair of congas for two or three minutes?”
– I guess this is a very good example of how different you and I do our daily work! You speculate, presume, confuse etc, whereas I test and work solemnly from the evidence I find in my measurements.
I would have loved to see you perform at the courtroom, to see you pin your opponent to the wall as a fly that had been cheeky! 😄
And to confuse all those present!
However! In the life outside the law books, where everything isn’t about to win victory among other things to raise one’s salary, it’s not possible to read people’s minds!
Believe you me – there has been several occasions where mind reading would have benefited me a great deal!
Why not just let things be?
No one of us knows why RRHoF happened as it did?
Yes, I know, I adore Purple, especially Ian G, not because how he is as a human being because I really have no idea, but because he has a voice that, well, pinned me to the wall (😉) from the very first time I listened to him, and yes, up to today where he still mesmerises me 🤩 and the lyrics he writes talk to my heart!
And Uwe, my favourite law-guy, isn’t that in the essence what music is all about?
The chills down one’s spine? The goosebumps on you arms when you listen to this one:
https://youtu.be/01-2-7_IRFA?si=jQVqHUFlABWwufWQ
To see the pure joy (even though I know you might think Ian and RB wasn’t the best of friends at that period of time…. Well, what does that concern us?
They did a tremendous job 😍 and I am only concerned a bit of the bags underneath Ian’s eyes (1:48) (😄 sorry, job related concerns) but I don’t let my worries ruin the pure joy of the song 😃
Well, what fun would there be if we didn’t have anything to discuss 😄😁
September 28th, 2025 at 09:07With all due respect, Karin, you’re biased in favor of IG (and admit to be, you call it “loyalty”) and I’m not, my allegiance is to the band as an organism through all eras. You will bend over backwards to always excuse or womansplain anything Ian does, I judge any Purple member on his specific actions at any given time.
Answer me one question: Had roles been reversed and Ian Gillan never returned to DP after 1973 and Mk III would have been the line-up to reunite in 1984 and carried the baton from then on, would you have been happy with DC and GH categorically stating that they would only be performing Burn and a song off their most recent album at the RnRHoF and that if Ian Gillan wants to sing something that evening he can do so at the end with Cheap Trick? Would that have been a fair reflection of his contribution to DP from 1969 to 1973 in your view?
It sometimes helps to put yourself into the position of someone else. And another question: Had IG actually Invited DC and GH to join DP on stage, would that have made him seem smaller or diminished in his pivotal role for DP or would you have said What a class act he is!.
David & Glenn never did anything bad to Ian & Roger in their whole life. They simply were the new guys that entered the scene after both IG and RG had handed in their demissions (and not Jon, not Little Ian, not Ritchie, not the DP management and not the record company had asked them to stay on). Yet IG’s attitude towards them at the RnRHoF was one of at best mild disdain. For what reason exactly?
And I don’t like pinning my opponents against the wall, I like to explore common ground and compromise on differences. If I had one reputation as a litigator then it was not for being relentless in the courtroom, but for being someone who played fair and with whom a settlement could be negotiated even under the most difficult circumstances. I always saw face-saving settlements as infinitely preferable for the concerned parties to a flat-out win of either one of them because life is very rarely black & white.
And perhaps I like Ian Gillan so much as a person that I would have been proud of him had he been more inclusive that night and shown some real appreciation for what all DP members have contributed over the years. The presentation was a hack job, only your countryman, the often much derided Lars was actually in it with his heart. I’m eternally grateful to him for that.
September 28th, 2025 at 14:54Many of those rock ‘n roll hall of shame gala wank fests are just that, as we know. No surprises that some refuse to attend that falsity. Some get off on it and a few others respect the idea of being acknowledged for different reasons and just get on with the ‘showbiz’ side of it. Cringeworthy that it all is at times. Regarding Deep Purple being ‘under rehearsed’, well it is supposed to be rock ‘n roll Uwe. Take it off the top, if you know what I mean. And let’s face it, how many artists (bands) getting together for something like that are well rehearsed. Meaning, musicians who haven’t played together for eons. I realise you are talking about the ‘presentation’ side of that. It was what it was for Gillan, Glover and Paice. We all knew their stand on that, and good on them for having that and also for turning up. It could have been far worse a turnout. It would not have worried me at all if they refused to turn up, I would have enjoyed that too. As we all are aware, the three Brits haven’t ‘sold out’ like Hughes and Coverdale have. As you correctly stated and that sort of says it all regarding the ‘bad blood’ that was obvious on the stage at the awkward presentation moments. At least Lars (although I thought he was too shouty at the time) was as excited as he may have been in the early 70’s going to a gig. And he waved the Ritchie flag all well and good too. Maybe they needed a Grumpy Rick Wakeman cameo to break the ice, as at the Yes ‘ceremony’ that was on full display a year or so later. Talk about bad blood between certain musicians. Or was that before DP. Time gets away on us all. Cheers.
September 28th, 2025 at 22:12@8
Ohh ye of little faith!
You call me biased in favour of Ian!
I have never denied that I am a very great admirer of his phenomenal voice.
But I’m not as single-minded as you constantly claim me to be!
This morning, the sweet post-lady delivered me a book, written of Martin Popoff titled ‘the Whitesnake Story’.
Now my dear lawyer, would I use my hard earned money buying such a book if I was ‘bend over backwards to always excuse or womansplain (really Uwe!?? Womansplain….😳 in this day and age!) anything Ian does…’
I am interested in everything regarding Purole, also the branches, even though I admit wholeheartedly that my main focus is the very best singer! (You know: Ian Gillan!)
But my resourceful lawyer, riddle me this:
How come EVERY single time I have an opinion about, well almost anything, you’re dead against me?
And if someone in this enjoyable forum dares to agree with me, like Max did the other day regarding the Beatles talk we had, then the bullets are not fired slowly from you! You called him my pet parrot! 😜
I guess Max has a very great sense of humor, but you could be limiting the talks in here if someone was afraid of being talked down to… I am not afraid! I grew up with 4 older brothers whose agenda was to tease, torment and belittle me, but they always let me breathe.
And the times where you and I actually agree, re Pet Shop Boys, then you’re not late to claim me being smitten with (or whatever you call it) Neil Tennant!
Just like you’ve been doing re Ian! (and all the other singers I express I like to listen to)
Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy immensely the bantering between us 😄
As long as I can sense there is a little respect left for me from you.
Because I actually respect you a very great deal, I really do!
But Your Eminence, be careful you’re not drowning me in here 😏
You don’t like pinning your opponents to the wall, ohh excuse me while I remove all the pins from my back/pincushion whilst I answer this:
YES YOU DO!
😄 and that is one of the many fun things you do!
But – what’s the need to ridicule Lars?
I don’t know if he is a good drummer or not! According René he is the second best to Ian P, but I don’t know anything about that.
“Had roles been reversed and Ian Gillan never returned to DP after 1973 and Mk III would have been the line-up to reunite in 1984 and carried the baton from then on, would you have been happy with DC and GH categorically stating that they would only be performing Burn and a song off their most recent album at the RnRHoF and that if Ian Gillan wants to sing something that evening he can do so at the end with Cheap Trick?”
– well I wouldn’t think twice about it to be honest! Because I wouldn’t know if Ian really REALLY would like to sing with Purple. unless I saw with my own eyes that he tried to claw the microphone from DC and GH and was violently pushed backwards! If that had happened I might have thought DC and GH were a bit harsh 😄
But as the situation was, I really leave it up to the people at the stage, in the band to decide what they find is best.
As I do in all other aspects of life Uwe!
I’m not busy judging, being opinionated or whatever you can call it, I really love the saying: live and let live!
Just like I suspect you also do.
And Uwe, my dear southern neighbour, you seem like you miss the long days at court where you can let your brilliant mind work overtime. And if that is indeed the case here, then I voluntarily place myself as a target! Fire away brother but mind my eyes 😅😅 I use them quite a lot…
And to end this, feast your ears at this oldie that is quite enjoyable (and now I look forward to you being all positive and supportive 😁😁🤣) (and pump up the volume, cos it’s one of these songs that is better played loudly 🥰)
https://youtu.be/0y-_WGjZgD8?si=372LWXRG9zFWYXa-
September 29th, 2025 at 07:47You either stay away from that whole thing (like Ritchie did) because you don’t like the idea of the whole event, or you attend, you should make it a family event and welcome everybody who was part of the band for some jam. For me that would be the only classy ways to go there as a invited musician. Gillans treatment (or non-treatment) of the whole Mark III and IV period over the years especially feels a little petty considering he left Purple by free will in 73 and then got considered the classic DP-singer over the years by beeing their singer to this very day. This alone should be reason enough for a little more generosity.
September 29th, 2025 at 11:56Bruce Dickinson for example never had a problem even singing songs from both Paul Di’Anno and Blaze Bayley era Iron Maiden and some of them regularly keep appearing on the concert setlists to this day. Those albums are much more seen as a regular part of the Maiden discography. Another example are Slash and Duff McKagan who had many reasons to be angry at Axl Rose (and publicly expressed them) but they couldn’t bring themselves to say nasty things about Chinese Democracy when it came out (because it’s a great album!, author’s note), even when asked and are performing plenty of those songs live since they rejoined Guns N’ Roses in 2015. Axl Rose (who, btw also didn’t attend the RRHoF ceremony when GN’R was intoduced) on the other hand agreed to do a Velvet Revolver song.
I’m not saying Gillan needs to sing Coverdale/Hughes tunes, that’s up to him. But a little more public respect for the other lineups of Purple certainly wouldn’t do no harm.
Lars is a loud- and motormouth, he‘s shouty and his language is superlatives-drenched, the eternal little puppy pissing on the rug in over-excitement no matter how old he is.
But the love and the admiration of the man for DP is utterly sincere. He‘s retained that childlike wonder from when he first saw Mk II with his dad. As such he was a natural choice for the induction speech, more so given how the little Dane has never been shy to get a word – or two – in … 🤣
******************
Have DC and GH really “sold out” by doing full immersion in American culture and society, Herr MacGregor? To some people the US will always be the magical place of promise, David and Glenn fell for its charms early on, so did Ritchie though he always says that it was only tax aspects that made him come and stay in America. Jon, Little Ian and eventually Roger never saw it that way and returned to the UK or at least Continental Europe. Big Ian travelled the US as a teenager in the early sixties first with a Greyhound Bus card – Puget Sound is a lovely song about his experiences – and was of course floored as this English post-WWII kid in the land of dreams, but apparently the US held no permanent fascination and attraction for him.
Frankly, the way David and Glenn are today, I could not imagine them living anywhere else but the US. They are where they belong.
I wouldn’t deny David’s and Glenn’s personal history the observation that they found their true spiritual home on the West Coast. No one forced them there and my guess is that their personal resources would have allowed them to live well anywhere – you know how there are more affordable places on Earth than California and Lake Tahoe!
September 29th, 2025 at 13:45“Ohh ye of little faith!“
😂 Guilty as charged, M’am!
Of course I respect your views, it’s only that they are often put so fervently and adamantly forward that they invite a little challenge from my side!
I’m a great fan of Big Ian’s voice, lyrics and the way he mostly handles himself. Both DC and Glenn offer a lot more eye-rolling 🙄 moments than Ian. But that doesn’t mean that he can’t be self-righteous, arrogant & aloof as well as resentful and unforgiving little twat sometimes too.
As for derision directed against Danish drummers: I’m neither a fan of Metallica nor a hater, I respect their work ethos and their longevity. I find Lars mostly entertaining, having him as a constant band mate though … you’ll need a strong headache medicine prescription!
And who could ever get enough of BTO?!
September 29th, 2025 at 20:58#8 Uwe:
I think there is only one reason:
Ian Gillan considers Deep Purple MKII and that’s it.
Roger & LittleIan fit in with this.
Even though they spent 28 years with Steve Morse, for them Deep Purple are and will always be the MKII.
none of them will ever admit it, but only they know how much they missed Ritchie Blackmore in the chemistry within the band, but unfortunately their paths divided inexorably forever after TBRO.
September 29th, 2025 at 22:00Objectively, you can’t credibly argue that Mk II from 1969-73 was not the most essential of all Purple line-ups and the one most interwoven with its cultural environment at the time. But that doesn’t mean that it wasn’t Mk I who first had a huge hit in the US, not Mk III and IV who played the largest venues and festivals and not Mk VII/VIII that showed the greatest durability.
Little Ian has said in interviews that he would like to perform Burn or other Mk III songs, but accepts the other Ian’s decision not to sing the lyrics of singers who followed him. Roger was at least not above playing Burn in Mk V, it was even their unexpected opening number on their tour.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SlQ16jgbzv8
So Mk II is justly important, yes, but not to the utter exclusion of all other line-ups. I don’t expect Ian Gillan to give Stormbringer, Come Taste The Band or Slaves & Masters a regular spin at home, but when in spokesman mode for the band and its history (as he was at the RnRHoF), he could have been more gracious and genial about the “lesser” line-ups.
September 30th, 2025 at 10:41@13
“Of course I respect your views, it’s only that they are often put so fervently and adamantly forward that they invite a little challenge from my side!”
– 😂😂
Awww ok, well I’m known to be a…. No, somehow I’ll not use that word in here, because that would indeed be misunderstood!
Instead I can say I’m kind and verrrry friendly 😄 Miau…
“I’m a great fan of Big Ian’s voice, lyrics and the way he mostly handles himself. Both DC and Glenn offer a lot more eye-rolling 🙄 moments than Ian.”
– WHAT!?
Just as I thought I had figured you all out!
How come you then over and over again talk against my allegedly infatuation of the guy!? 😃 you know like I’m brainwashed or sum’fin ☺️☺️
Pardon my French, Italian, Spanish and all other languages, because the you say:
“And who could ever get enough of BTO?!”
– What? I mean WHAT!?
I believe it was you (or maybe your clone aka Russ, the meat-conqueror from USA) that talked BTO down big time!
Didn’t you?
Well, I’m certainly not the person holding any grudges so by all means let me link this beautiful piece of music to you 🤗
https://youtu.be/Aq0ybxrD4mc?si=B17YKSFRawpTFww5
And then please tell me if this singer reminds you of anyone?
September 30th, 2025 at 11:31To me he sounds like a Purple family member 😊
@14
“Ian Gillan considers Deep Purple MKII and that’s it.”
– ohhh man, you are right!
See this is amazing! Uwe, the German law-gunslinger and myself use way too many words, and then Fla76 writes one sentence that explain everything!
Thank you 🙏🏼
“none of them will ever admit it, but only they know how much they missed Ritchie Blackmore in the chemistry within the band,”
– well, this is speculation I guess.
I believe we, the listeners, miss Ritchie BIG TIME! He had a way to spice things up! But I’m not convinced that Ian G and the rest of the gang loved it.
I base my assumptions on the numerous interviews I’ve seen and read 😊
But I guess I would have been even more happy about Ritchie rejoining Purple (when they all were younger) than I am about the two Gallagher brothers hugging away at every concert at the moment 😄
September 30th, 2025 at 11:38@15
“but accepts the other Ian’s decision not to sing the lyrics of singers who followed him.”
– Uwe Hornung, all time head roller! Listen to me:
Isn’t it COMPLETELY the singer’s decision the songs he like to sing or not?
I remember in an interview that Ian said when he listened to other Purple singers it felt like seeing his wife in bed with another man..
I don’t know about you, but I’m no fan of listening to former escapades from my current spouse! And I would certainly not indulge in watching him going on with another woman (yeah there you have it, the Scandinavians are not as free minded as claimed to be!)
So I completely get what Ian is saying! And I cherish that the rest of the band allow him to feel like this.
“I don’t expect Ian Gillan to give Stormbringer, Come Taste The Band or Slaves & Masters a regular spin at home,”
– somehow I can’t see that either…
I had a little chat once (couple of years ago) with the kind and dear woman who is mending his fb, and she told me that no, Ian will never ever (…ever…) sing songs from that period.
I then asked her how come at a greatest hit-album, with indeed Ian at the cover, there was a song performed with another singer (who sounded neet, but wasn’t Ian) and the sweet lady answered: the record company decides everything!
So I’m happy Ian by now can decide for himself 🤩
And somehow Ian wouldn’t be a great match for this one, but DC certainly is:
September 30th, 2025 at 12:22https://youtu.be/uEFChMd8-7U?si=bEAZSlNfKnrN0V0v
Huh, I was already listening to BTO when you were still wondering why your Barbie doll wasn’t getting pregnant from Ken, Karin! Always liked that band, part of my musical schooling in the mid 70s at TASOK, where the Canadian Mormons‘ cheerful pop hard rock was very popular.
I wouldn‘t call BTO a major band in rock history, but they were good fun! Just like Three Dog Night were.
September 30th, 2025 at 14:32Couldn’t have said it any better, Sonny!
September 30th, 2025 at 22:22“I remember in an interview that Ian said when he listened to other Purple singers it felt like seeing his wife in bed with another man.”
I know the quote, very dramatic, yawn. Don’t really see the comparison unless things went on in DP’s dressing rooms we all don’t know about. Fact is that Ian handed in his resignation because he didn’t want to play with a DP led by Ritchie anymore. Why that should preclude DP from getting another singer – they did exist before Ian joined – is beyond me. Don’t remember Ian asking for permission from Rod Evans when he joined.
Herr Gillan, behind all the outward self-deprecating modesty, can feel very entitled about some things.
September 30th, 2025 at 23:23#9: How have DC and GH “sold out”? DC sold his publishing rights and is now retired, having finished his last box set (Forevermore). Glenn currently plays his own solo material in clubs and leads a more underground existence, if anything. IG, RG and IP know what it’s like to be on the outside looking in (ie, outside of Purple having to play clubs), and has held onto the DP name through a majority, allowing them to stay in arenas and make more money than they would have otherwise. A clever decision, since the brand is everything in the music business. Their classic past still dictates their setlist, even though the two main driving musical forces behind it, are no longer in the band. As such, they cave to what they perceive to be public demand. Everyone sells out to a degree. It’s the music business after all. As fans we can choose which approach we prefer.
October 1st, 2025 at 06:08@ 9 – it is a term that has been around for many a year. Certain people moving to another country and quickly adopting a style of narrative that pretends to be the one of the new land of hope and glory. Mixing with royalty, the rich and famous etc and carrying on like the proverbial ‘pork chop’ as the saying goes. It happens, whether for good or bad, some enjoy it, some do not and get the hell out of there really quickly. Plenty of Australians have done it too, to either side of the pond. Hopefully most do not forget their roots, heritage, upbringing etc etc. If it is genuine and not so pretentious, it is deemed ok. However the more false it appears, well, enough said there. Cheers.
October 1st, 2025 at 08:01I do get why a previous successful singer has a reluctance to have to sing another vocalists songs, especially when it follows all the hard work they have put in to establish the band in the first place. It depends on the ego too I suppose, or the pride, same thing. Is the other material that came after the fact relevant to the original or successful earlier material? Some vocalists don’t mind doing that, some don’t go there at all. It does look a little selfish in a way, but I still see why they don’t want to go there. It isn’t their music or lyrics, they don’t have a connection to it at all. So I support Ian Gillan and also Jon Anderson in not singing the Yes album Drama (1980) songs at all. Hence the other guys in Yes eventually getting in tribute band vocalists to sing anything they have done. Of course the replacement unknown lead vocalists will do that, that is their job and let’s face it, they don’t have anything to lose do they? Original vocalists of the known and successful material do have a right in my book, to call the shots in that sense. And don’t forget in DP’s case, Roger Glover may not to want to go there either. After the JLT era of Purple performing the song Burn. He probably didn’t have a choice there either, who knows. Cheers.
October 1st, 2025 at 08:26Would Ozzy ever be expected to sing other Black Sabbath songs from the next line of vocalists in that band? What about David Byron, according to Mick Box he approached Byron in the early 1980’s to rejoin Uriah Heep. Would Byron sing someone else’s ‘dribble’ or ‘drivel’. JLT’s words, not mine. I couldn’t see Byron doing that, he was an ego driven individual and proud of his tenure in that band and rightly so. Not to mention Ozzy as well, no way would he do that. Speaking of those JLT comments re joining Deep Rainbow back then, does Karin know about that comment. Uh oh, I hope I haven’t just let the cat amongst the pigeons. JLT resides not that far from Denmark, as the crow flies, does he not? Run JLT, run to the hills. Perhaps that comment was meant for ole Coverdale and even Glenn Hughes and NOT the right reverend Mr Gillan. Or was it meant for all of them, even including poor ole Rod Evans. Oh for the want of an ego or three. Stay tuned folks for another exciting episode of ‘spot the vocalist’. Cheers.
October 1st, 2025 at 10:08Glenn addressing the HOF induction ceremony last night: https://youtu.be/eTHJsZVaAFM
October 1st, 2025 at 16:06@21
“ I know the quote, very dramatic, yawn. Don’t really see the comparison”
– well, I do!
To me it screams out loud how important Purple was to Ian!
“Fact is that Ian handed in his resignation because he didn’t want to play with a DP led by Ritchie anymore.“
– ohhhh my!
Have you never ended a love-liaison where you were so much in love but you couldn’t go on?
I totally get what Ian was hitting at!
But maybe you have been so privileged your whole life that EVERYTHING was handed to you no questions asked and no payment required!
No, I know of course no one has lived a life like that.
But believe me Uwe, you can actually turn your back to something really important and valuable in many aspects, because it will end up killing you.
“Herr Gillan, behind all the outward self-deprecating modesty, can feel very entitled about some things”
October 1st, 2025 at 18:39– and he can do exactly what he likes, because he has earned the right to it 😃
@25
“does Karin know about that comment“
– no, I can’t say that I do 😃
(Psst: what comment MacGregor? I’ve been a bit busy these last days ☺️)
But I have been listening to this a lot of times lately:
https://youtu.be/-RYmt3I4gGQ?si=fiTDw8LR8lRzfRBE
RB is completely FANTASTIC 😍 and DC very very neat too!
October 1st, 2025 at 18:44on the other hand Ritchie, after being a young session musician, would never have joined another band to play someone else’s songs, at most he did covers within Purple & Rainbow….
I don’t understand one thing about David & Glenn:
especially after the RRHOF if I had been in their shoes I would have said to myself “Hey why don’t we make an album, you and I, Coverdale-Hughes and show everyone what we can still do together!”
They could have done it until Coverdale’s near retirement from the scene, and above all they could have done it after the Hall of Fame, they exploit the media wave!
October 1st, 2025 at 22:23I’ve just watched Purple’s induction again and I can’t see Ian Gillan being disrespectful at all. He shakes hands and chats with Coverdale, he mentions all the members and thanks the fans.
I don’t understand how Coverdale starts moaning about how Purple stopped Ritchie coming when Blackmore never intended to attend the ceremony. It was Gillan who phoned Coverdale beforehand and said that David was a gentleman. Yes, David and Glenn didn’t perform, which was a shame, but I believe Purple wanted to make a point that the lineup at the time was incredibly important, and that Steve and Don should also have been inducted. David and Glenn do appear to be big ‘huggers’ but I don’t think Paicey, Gillan and Glover are like that, they have that British reserve. David and Glenn clearly felt snubbed by those three chaps but I don’t believe it was intentional.
Glenn didn’t even talk about any issues on the night until years later, and I don’t see why he bothered after all this time. Those that have worked with David and Glenn have noted that they can be difficult, especially David, so I think everything should be taken with a pinch of salt.
October 2nd, 2025 at 10:14Thanks Daniel – seems they play a lot more Purple numbers as the tour carries on!
You Keep On Moving with organ from the roadie’s laptop … 🙄
https://youtu.be/6MmrahlBve4
… that gives new meaning to the term “heresy”! 😂
I think we can leave it at that David and Glenn rightfully felt snubbed, but that it wasn’t perhaps Ian’s and the other’s intent to do so. I understand that they would have liked to see Steve and Don inducted too, but was it David’s and Glenn’s fault that they weren’t? And would have Steve and Don refused to play the Burn riff for them? I don’t think so. IG was being overly protective of the current Purple brand which had him appear erasing parts of DP’s rich and varied history.
October 2nd, 2025 at 23:02@ 28 – at 52.40 Karin, JLT talking about singing in Deep Purple. Cheers.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_-SziEOBxM&t=3173s
October 3rd, 2025 at 03:36@27
“…no payment required”
He’s a lawyer, payment is always required with his ilk. 🙃
October 3rd, 2025 at 05:48#31. It’s the classic DP set for the shows in Norway and Finland, rescheduled from last year, and they have a keyboard player for those shows. Lisa Mueller from Germany. The Chosen Years tour resumes in the UK shortly.
October 3rd, 2025 at 07:31As we know Ian Gillan and Glenn Hughes both tend to speak the truth. Their truth at least. (Empty halls on the 93 DP tour anybody? Average age of folks showing up at DP shows 18 yo? Bass player with substance issues being the universe or at least the best white singher in said universe?)
Watching the footage of the RRHOF Affentheater I could not detect any disrespect either. And if GH complains about it years later… not giving the royal treatment…? Well telling everyone Big Ian’s voice was shot might not have helped, dude. Sorry. Universe of course.
October 3rd, 2025 at 12:51@30
“I’ve just watched Purple’s induction again and I can’t see Ian Gillan being disrespectful at all. He shakes hands and chats with Coverdale, he mentions all the members and thanks the fans.”
– RB, this is for you: ☕️ and this: 🥃 and this: 🍭 (because I don’t know your age or if you have kids 😄)
“David and Glenn do appear to be big ‘huggers’ but I don’t think Paicey, Gillan and Glover are like that, they have that British reserve“
– well, I know this English bloke, and he is a big hugger! Whereas René, Danish of birth and upbringing, HATES all kinds of public display of affection, so one can’t point out a nationality and say they are huggers or not, and several ladies at Ian’s fb claimed to have had rather, ahem, personal contact and experiences, so maybe it depends of the person in front of him ☺️ (on the other hand: stereotypes are also people 😄)
And as far as I know, DC is indeed British too! 😊 and if I’m not mistaken so is Glenn Hughes!
“taken with a pinch of salt.”
October 3rd, 2025 at 14:08– what is the worst? Having no salt for your egg, or having no egg for your salt? (Have always wondered…)
@32
Thanks MacGregor 😃
Aww he has to make his own footsteps…. 🤭
How is the winter in your part of the world?
I prefer summer, but winter time invites to indoor ‘hygge’, music, coffee, candlelight 🤩
This is a typical winter song in my country (ok ok in my home 😄)
https://youtu.be/r47MetoXNfs?si=umnMy7nEr75La4AU
I know so many of you in here adore this phenomenal singer 😂😂
October 3rd, 2025 at 14:15@33
Well Russ, as I mentioned in another thread, I will let the light of grace shine upon hi, eternally 😃
That is really something when you think about it:
https://youtu.be/PSoOFn3wQV4?si=NiaffS-BluPPQse-
😄 as far as I remember, several of you gentlemen in here were sighing and drooling about the main vocalist 😁
October 3rd, 2025 at 14:24@35
“Their truth at least.”
– yeah Max, but doesn’t that go for everyone? 😊
“And if GH complains about it years later… not giving the royal treatment…? Well telling everyone Big Ian’s voice was shot might not have helped, dude. Sorry.”
– no one ought to talk bad about the best voice in the universe! Just saying 😃
Btw: talking about beautiful voices, this one is something else:
https://youtu.be/W60tNHc-CaU?si=PQH_4S02CCTztD2F
Ohhh so so so so sorry, completely wrong link! Here is the right one:
https://youtu.be/0-zg-JWfLJg?si=5jnYic9t48447y-5
I prefer Neil Tennant any day compared to the other bloke, I just can’t remember his name…
October 3rd, 2025 at 14:33His widow is coming to Randers, 21st March, ‘26! If anyone should be interested 😃
And I always thought Neil Tennant was gay and alive, now he all of the sudden has a widow and is dead according to Karin …
October 3rd, 2025 at 23:56@40
😂😂😂😂
Uwe, my dear German neighbour, I was of course talking about the buttertenor of them all. Which you would have known had you seen the video I linked to!
Priscilla is arriving in Denmark March next year, I guess you’ll be first in line to shake her hand?
Neil Tennant is indeed gay, and I’m glad to say he is very much alive 😃
‘Always on my mind’ with EP has always made me feel so depressed whereas the same tune with PSB is lively, fun and danceable 😄
Hey but as far as I remember you also like PSB!
What do you think of this:
October 4th, 2025 at 10:20https://youtu.be/Wn9E5i7l-Eg?si=r-0jt1qxQkdBUNma
Which btw is a question I often ask myself when I over and over are ridiculed in here! 😁
The voice of ms Springfield indeed suits the voice of mr Tennant.
Really good interview with Glenn. I would like to be arrested by a female cop on an airplane too. For now I’m off to listen to Stormbringer (Stevie Wonder part), my very first deep purple album bought on my own. Together with among others, Till Lindeman. My big brother introduced me to Purple giving me Burn, love him for that.
October 4th, 2025 at 17:13Liking Sparks, but not liking the Pet Shop Boys is like saying you like eggs, but not omelettes.
BN did a terrible version of an Elvis song, I dunno what Ritchie was thinking …
https://youtu.be/-1BJbJWye5E
October 4th, 2025 at 20:49Stormbringer with Till Lindemann, you must be a child Micke! 😆
October 4th, 2025 at 20:51Neil Tennant and Priscilla? I thought this was a DP forum.
October 5th, 2025 at 07:23Karin has now officially become worse than Uwe in sending links without any warning at all. Here I was innocently going to hear Dusty Springfield singing with The Pet Shop Boys and then I am suddenly being sent into a whirlwind of scantly clad showgirls. Now I don’t even remember hearing Dusty’s voice at all, let alone the pesky PSB. Something a little cryptic Karin in a heads up as to what might be in the video would be nice, thanks. If Uwe can be brought to doing just that, surely you can too. Cheers.
October 5th, 2025 at 08:30@43
“BN did a terrible version of an Elvis song, I dunno what Ritchie was thinking …”
– it is AWFUL 😄😂😝
Ratepif! (Even the bt sounds better…)
I have to admit something: I’m not a fan of her voice. It’s too fluffy for me. She sounds like my mom when she sang lullabies for me 😄 (and yes I was also covering my ears in the cradle..
I’m sure you’re dead against me, and that’s ok 😊☺️
I wonder if the guys in Sparks are of the same sexual orientation as the guys in PSB?
Not that it matters one bit to me, it’s because that ‘someone’ in Denmark (not me but someone I know) says that all musicians making that kind of music are indeed homosexuals.
I really don’t like stereotypical perceptions of people ☺️
October 5th, 2025 at 10:30I’ve taken a lot of spitefulness because I’m a mature (😂 I still giggle over that comment by your countryman) woman, blonde, no kids and love to wear dresses and skirts, but I adore rock!
Apparently I look like someone only digging classical music. And I do! But certainly also rock, in the harder genre 😃
@45
😂😂
Ohhh it is Daniel! But we also exchange recipes, discuss other musicians and singers, (Elvis Presley has been quite an interesting phenomenon in here) and now and then we take time out to comfort each other in this hard and cruel world…
And someone, I’m not telling you who, but someone in here is very great at teasing other people!
I’ll admit I love it all 😃
But I will certainly always talk about Purple!
Do you include the branches? I think of course of the brilliant Whitesnake 😄
Sometimes ‘someone’ is also drooling about Taylor Swift, Black Sabbath, Led Zep etc! I guess you can say we are including people in here 🤗
October 5th, 2025 at 10:41@44 Lindemann actually stated that Stormbringer and Welcome to My Nightmare were the first two albums of western rock music he got his hands on, living behind the iron curtain as a teenager
October 5th, 2025 at 18:34I remember reading that, right!
If truth be told, I don’t find Rammstein that vastly different from DP in their rhythm approach. Those straight chugging eighths that are the basis of many DP songs too. DP influenced early Judas Priest, Judas Priest left a mark on Accept and Accept of course left a mark on Rammstein. It’s just a couple of generations removed. But I hear more similarity of some Rammstein songs to, say, something like Strangeways than to any Zeppelin number – Page mostly avoided that chugging rhythm guitar sound, he liked to fool around whereas Ritchie was often happy to be minimalistic playing rhythm, leaving the full chords to Jon.
DP were huge in East Germany (where the Rammsteiners stem from), so huge they even had the honor of an official GDR only compilation in 1977:
https://www.discogs.com/release/383046-Deep-Purple-Deep-Purple
It was an unusual mix of three songs from Stormbringer, two from WDWTWA and one each from In Rock, Fireball & Machine Head.
I got my copy by trading three regular West German DP albums against it – the poor East German first didn’t want to give it away (it was a limited edition and rare even in the GDR), but you know how the lure of capitalism and its abundance of goods corrupts everyone. He initially only wanted two western albums in exchange, but I added a third because I felt guilty! I still have, my DP Amiga pressing with its hilarious official liner notes declaring DP – in the 70s a band of perennial tax dodgers – to be “opponents of the capitalist system”. You bet. 😂
https://media.gettyimages.com/id/84883708/photo/united-states-usa-photo-of-ian-paice-and-deep-purple-ian-paice-posed-aboard-starship-1-plane-on.jpg?s=612×612&w=gi&k=20&c=JDFjPdbCOq30MWUtHZiayeMIGZk_ZhTK6ScDiVWuxWA=
October 5th, 2025 at 23:24@47
“I wonder if the guys in Sparks are of the same sexual orientation as the guys in PSB?”
I currently reside in Sparks, NV and can assure you that I that I am straight as an arrow from the top of my head to the tip of my…
…toes.
As for the other 57,000+ guys you’ll have come over here and ask them yourself as I am too busy to do it for you.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljGK7GP8K_s
October 6th, 2025 at 06:55@47
Oops… pasted the wrong link. Supposed to be this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZWDtC-RHDN0
October 6th, 2025 at 07:03😁😁😁 If memory serves me right, the teutonic commies even turned the glamourous 1987 WS into some revolutionary working class heros. They added some surprising thoughts to the Amiga-edition as well ask Tillythemax for details.
In the still of the night I hear the wolf howl honey…a metaphor for capitalism, no doubt. Spit it out … your anger about the state of the labouring masses! Take me with you…to that promised land (aka Arbeiter- und Bauernstaat) where milk
October 6th, 2025 at 11:01and honey flow….
@51
“As for the other 57,000+ guys you’ll have come over here and ask them yourself as I am too busy to do it for you.“
– well it wasn’t the population in your hood I was asking, but hey I’m game, send me a ticket and I send my assistant over to you to check you all out. Guess you’ll like him, he also adores Elvis like you lot!
Thanks for the link! I actually knows this lady who, ahem, talked a bit with Johnny afterwards…. He is a mighty fine talker she told me ☺️
October 6th, 2025 at 16:09@52
Ok both links are really nice!
Here is a little song for you:
https://youtu.be/ILT6ZEo6WO8?si=Xb_o7htfq8304O4A
I really like the voice of Andy Scott, much more than Brian Conelly’s actually. Andy S sounds like he is a, well, man 🫣
October 6th, 2025 at 16:12The really piercing high-pitched voice in Sweet came from Steve Priest, not Brian Connolly.
https://youtu.be/1ntFSFw2Quo
Brian had a trademark sound voice, but he was never much of a technical singer with a wide range and his vocal parts in Sweet were mostly not very high. Certainly nothing in the range of Ian Gillan or Glenn Hughes.
Andy Scott could actually go quite high too!
https://youtu.be/Zh7j7jiIsOU
Whether one or both of the Sparks are/is straight, gay, incestuous or simply asexual is one of the best-kept industry secrets. They sure do attract an LGBTQ audience though, likely due to them eschewing any male insignia except when being satirical.
October 6th, 2025 at 18:55@56
Uwe, it’s actually Andy Scott that had the highest pitch! (Well according to himself anyway)
Ok, thank you for clearing that up re Sparks…..
October 7th, 2025 at 14:37You‘re actually right, I always assumed it was Steve because he so often harmonized with Brian in the lead parts. Learning from Karin.
October 8th, 2025 at 23:30@58
And Andy Scott being the only survivor of Sweet, he still sings (of a sort)
If I could have anything to say in this universe, then the quantum theory should be extended to all our favorite musicians: they should never get old and die!
October 10th, 2025 at 09:05(Yeah, childish assumption I know!)