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Insecurities and more insecurities
Guitar Player has an article on Ritchie Blackmore based on an interview he gave to the paper version of the magazine circa 1996.
That relentless, almost surgical pursuit of perfection was felt far beyond his own ranks; it reverberated through the generation of electric guitar players raised on his records. As Billy Corgan of the Smashing Pumpkins told Guitar Player in 1995, “Pound for pound, he’s one of the best soloists in history, but he’s such a dick that he’ll probably never get the credit he deserves.”
No one understood the paradox better than Blackmore himself. Asked one year later about his reputation for being difficult, he didn’t deflect. He indicted the entire enterprise.
“I hate show biz. I hate people who confine themselves to the system,” he told Guitar Player. “Why does everyone have to do the right interview at the right time, be on the right program, be politically correct, say the right things and be at the right parties? That gets up my nose. Why can’t I just play the guitar? It’s all I want to do.”
Read more in Guitar Player.
Unauthorized copying, while sometimes necessary, is never as good as the real thing
This:
“ Why can’t I just play the guitar? It’s all I want to do.”
Ohh, so right!
I hear ya mr. Blackmore!
And I have a notion that Ian somehow sees it the same way as RB:
“ I hate show biz. I hate people who confine themselves to the system,” he told Guitar Player. “Why does everyone have to do the right interview at the right time, be on the right program, be politically correct, say the right things and be at the right parties? That gets up my nose.”
– maybe Ian’s just more refined and polite.
It’s such a show… I love it when people are genuine and honest!
February 14th, 2026 at 05:00The pretending to be someone in the spotlight but not at home gets up my nose 😊
Oh my, it’s not too late for a few therapy sessions, Ritchie! 😘
https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/71kVR9T4pLL._AC_UF894,1000_QL80_.jpg
I don’t think that any guitarist worth his salt has ever looked down on Ritchie as an instrumentalist, it’s the idiosyncrasies surrounding his persona that have raised eyebrows (or smirks) now and then. Ritchie might have never attained the status of Jimi Hendrix or EvH, but in the 70s he was always confortably in the upper echolons of British guitarists.
February 14th, 2026 at 05:34Give me Ritchie any day over the others, meaning Hendrix and EVH. It is what is in the pudding that matters. Poor ole Jimi, well he did ok at times and at least he has an iconic riff or two to annoy people in guitar stores. The same as Ritchie and a few others from the most innovative years in rock music. As for EVH, a fine guitarist he was, but seriously, can anyone name a riff or solo (please don’t mention Eruption) that stands alone and the test of time too within an iconic song or arrangement? No I didn’t think so. Billy Corgan surely was joking about Blackers, wouldn’t he love the accolades we think. Maybe not as he knows he would never be mentioned in that league. Blackmore prefers being out of the spotlight, he doesn’t care for all that hyped rubbish that media and others go on about. A lot of genuine musicians don’t. The musicians are not the ones trying desperately to spin a repetative story every day to earn crust. The Media will say anything, as long as it garners sensationalistic attention (even if a false narrative) and of course $ales etc. Cheers.
February 14th, 2026 at 11:42I love Ritchie, but what a naive statement to make.
Ritchie is also free to produce, release and promote his music at his own expense. Then he doesn’t need to give any interviews to promote his albums to the public.
But as long as someone else is footing the bill and investinging in his music, he is part of the “system”.
February 14th, 2026 at 12:55