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Stone cold
Blabbermouth reports that Joe Lynn Turner will be a member of the jury for the Russian song contest Intervision that will take place in Moscow on September 20, 2025.
Intervision 2025 is a Russian state-sponsored music competition, decreed by Russian president Vladimir Putin in February as an alternative to the popular Eurovision Song Contest, which the country was banned from in 2022 after it invaded Ukraine. The contest’s goal is to “develop international cultural and humanitarian cooperation,” per the decree. The Russian foreign ministry is in charge of promoting the contest.
The brand Intervision was used for a song competition during the Cold War as a counterpart to the Eurovision contest held in Czechoslovakia and later Poland for (mostly) Eastern Block countries. It is being revived now by the Russian authorities for seemingly similar purposes.
Thanks to Blabbermouth for the info.
Unauthorized copying, while sometimes necessary, is never as good as the real thing
the smell of money….
September 19th, 2025 at 23:35**holy crap! he’s been transformed into a Putin/Lukashenka supporter, praising the violent, authoritarian Russian and Belorussian regimes all the time. That person is a total joke, I don’t even know why he’s newsworthy at all.
September 20th, 2025 at 00:41What was that again with oily propaganda on the leaders’ lips? 🧐
And I thought I knew you so well …
September 20th, 2025 at 01:40He is Joe or Yul Brynner in “The Ten Commandments”?
September 20th, 2025 at 07:30Facepalm…
September 20th, 2025 at 08:50My Belarusian woman
She makes me see
My Belarusian woman
She’s so good to me….
Women rule
September 20th, 2025 at 09:42Putinist.
September 20th, 2025 at 10:06bonjour, tout ceci n’a aucun intérêt musical….
September 20th, 2025 at 10:20remember this :
https://www.thehighwaystar.com/news/2011/03/23/dressing-up-for-tea-with-dmitry/
September 20th, 2025 at 10:28@4
“He is Joe or Yul Brynner in “The Ten Commandments”?”
– I had the exact same thought 😄
I was once called a ‘stone cold crazy woman’, but I guess that phrase suits him a lot better than me 😝😃
September 20th, 2025 at 10:32Must we let them fool us, no, no, no
Has he let himself be fooled
I do think so…
What’s that white snake supposed to mean anyway? 🤔
September 20th, 2025 at 12:15@ 8 Yes, Dimitrij Medvedev have totally lost it.. on the other hand members of Purple have denounced him for this. All of them.
September 20th, 2025 at 13:39Rockdoch @8: To be fair, that was 14 years ago and the world seemed a different place. When Medvedev turned into a war effort claqueur, they did distance themselves from him (sending medals back etc).
I’m not one to say the West did everything right following the Cold War end and only Russia is at fault for today’s situation (but it sure has contributed a lot to it), but Joe’s unreflected cheer leader captain role for Vladimir P, who he seems to glorify as some kind of The Sopranos figure, is hard to swallow.
September 20th, 2025 at 14:07@8
But that event took place in another time. You could still hope things would develop for the better then.
September 20th, 2025 at 14:09Now it’s perfectly clear that the Russian regime is a dictatorship that invaded another country and is committing war crimes.
@3 Uwe: Guessing Roger penned those lyrics, which certainly were a step up from “All Night Long.”
@8 rockdoch: A low, perhaps lowest, moment in Purple history. To their credit they’ve disowned Medvedev and released an anti-Putin statement after the latter started a war.
JLT’s wife might hold significant sway over him, which is understandable, but he is a fool, at best.
September 20th, 2025 at 16:11F Zappa said it all long ago – ” We`re only on it for the money , honey ” Shame on him…
September 20th, 2025 at 16:25This ties in nicely, a comparatively recent Russian interview
https://youtu.be/IcaO3pBTCf4
(with an empathetic Russian interviewer with excellent English) with Comrade Joe which – no worries – is not political except maybe some anti-vaxxing sentiment towards the end (which I‘m prepared to forgive Joe given that he has likely spent all his life trying to find an explanation for his autoimmune condition since childhood days) about, inter alia:
– Joe admiring Ritchie as a guitar player already back in his (Joe‘s) guitarist days,
– making Rainbow attractive for women and obtaining eternal thanks from the Rainbow roadcrew for it,
– his love for the Russische Seele and his first contact to it during Glasnost times touring with Yngwie,
– recording then and now,
– his lifelong battle with alopecia (the interviewer‘s 8-year-old daughter suffers from it too and this is where the interview turns poignant because Joe has actually experienced what he is talking about), steroids (to bolster hair growth) and permanent makeup to make up for Lackner eyebrows.
It‘s actually a good interview with Joe being more subdued than usual.
Joe‘s unwarranted siding with the current Russian administration makes him an easy target for derision of course, but I‘m not so sure that money and regional fame are the driving factors for him being enamored with the Russian psyche – I think the boy from Hackensack simply found something to latch onto and certainly his Belorussian wife Maya plays a role too (as you would expect in a functioning marriage).
September 20th, 2025 at 19:44“What’s that white snake supposed to mean anyway? 🤔”
When that promo shot came out I took it as carefully administered vitriol for DC’s lowball indignant comeback of “Next thing he will be accusing me of wearing a wig!” after Joe had pointed out that not all of Whitesnake’s live vocals were live. That was a cheap shot on the part of DC – you don’t crack jokes anout how someone looks due to a disease. So I took that snake (an albino boa I believe) to be a hint for “Look David, I’ve just come out, what about you and your dirty little secret?” That actually had some venomous (not that boas are) style to it. 😂
September 20th, 2025 at 21:02Some news about the upcoming Rock Legends Tour, where JLT was supposed to participate: Nurnberg, Augsburg, Rosenheim, München, Dortmund, Karlsruhe, Bremen, Bielefeld and Braunschweig shows are now CANCELLED.
The few remaining shows are moved from the arenas and theaters to the small clubs.
Source: https://www.eventim.de/artist/rock-legends/
September 21st, 2025 at 01:14What is he doing? I mean is this guy that hard u?. I’ve lost all respect for him.
September 21st, 2025 at 04:40Well, I guess it’s difficult to know what really made JLT be a part of that!
Is it the everlasting money monster?
Is it a longing for fame?
Is he afraid of getting old and forgotten? (Well, then he has made sure that being forgotten, even for the wrong reasons, won’t happen any time soon 😝)
I don’t know his real ambitions here, all I know is that I really don’t wanna be a part of that, and I hope a little bit that he awakes with an awful taste in his mouth and heart…
September 21st, 2025 at 13:43Thanks Ggg, I was set to see him in Frankfurt next month, that date has now been moved to 13 November NEXT YEAR! Darn, I was really looking forward to see him, it’s been awhile – he tours Germany only rarely, last time I saw him was with the Hughes Turner Project.
And the inimitable Ms Robin Beck would have been special guest!
https://youtu.be/zC3YxUwFCd4
September 21st, 2025 at 14:19He’s been irrelevant pretty much anywhere but the former Soviet block and kept alive by Putin’s dirty money. Now he’s paying back the debt.
September 22nd, 2025 at 08:25@17 Just a little coming out from me. I am from Belarus and not all of us support the collective madness of our own and Russian governments. No idea what Joe’s missus is up to, but she’s not representative of all of us.
Now on to Joe. I like his Rainbow and Yngwie stuff and some of his solo stuff. HTP, too. I admire his work ethics, too. He says that a singer is supposed to sing and this is what he does, given half a chance. Yet I believe that he could have exercised better judgment regarding when and where to sing. The OTR thing was questionable, and now taking part in a quasi-signing contest with a clear propaganda background is a bad decision, from the artistic and reputational point of view.
One thing that may explain Joe’s behaviour is the fact that the Eastern Europe is a classic rock reservation and washed out classic rock acts like Joe find a receptive audience here. For some people the time froze around 1985. They stick to DP, or LZ or ELP, or whatever they choose and they keep believing that it is still the most relevant thing and nothing happened after it. Nothing had happened before it, either. No wonder Joe stays active in our lands.
September 22nd, 2025 at 08:31#17 Uwe:
you say “I think the boy from Hackensack simply found something to latch onto and certainly” and I think that’s the right summary:
Joe simply found more appreciation beyond the Iron Curtain than in the West.
His wife may have played a significant role, and over the years it became almost normal for him to support the invaders and stay in contact with them.
but the good things he did with Rainbow, Malmsteen, solo, etc., and his vocal abilities, that doesn’t erase them.
September 22nd, 2025 at 22:52@24 Georgivs, with all the respect, Deep Purple still remains as massive and relevant live/studio arena act in Europe/UK, Asia, South America, sometimes Australia and partially North America too (they’re still huge in Canada and Mexico, struggling in the USA though).
September 23rd, 2025 at 00:25This is Medvedev getting back at Purple for handing back their awards over the invasion of Ukraine. No doubt Putin is giving
September 23rd, 2025 at 03:23Joe enough money to make up for what he lost by getting slung out of Purple .. knowing the band will hear about it
@26 No contest here, Ggg. #1 albums, massive tours, good press, 3/5 of the golden lineup – DP are relevant. Joe is not. He is a washout. That’s my point.
September 23rd, 2025 at 09:04Let’s put things into perspective:
– Gavin, I don’t think Medvedev gives a Siberian saber tooth rat’s humpy ass + tail whether Purple return awards or not, the man is on a mission. Likewise, Joe’s demission from the Purple camp more than 30 years ago does not even play a minuscule part in Russia’s current foreign policy and propaganda.
– Georgivs has a point in saying that 70s and 80s classic and melodic rock holds a special place in the hearts of many East and Balkan Europeans. There are statues for John Lawton of Uriah Heep in Bulgaria, try finding one in Western Europe. There is a special connection there that transcends mere Western popularity of a band. A band like Purple are revered artists in the East and Southeast of Europe, not just another famous band.
– I find Joe’s engagement for a cultural institution that of course also serves propaganda purposes and is supposed to demonstrate how well established Russia still is with other countries notwithstanding Western sanctions highly deplorable, but let’s not get carried away: He’s not entertaining Speznaz units at the frontline wearing camouflage fatigues. And we do have to be cognizant of the fact that the Western view of the Russia-Ukraine War is widely NOT shared in Asia, South America, Africa or the Middle East. That doesn’t make the Western viewpoint wrong, but we’re not alone in this world either. And a look at the map tells me that Russia – under whatever rule – will continue to play a major role in Europe and Asia long after Herr Putin is gone. One day, we will have to rebuild all those economic and cultural ties we had to sever as a reaction to Russia’s attack on Ukraine.
Moreover, had Joe been asked to accept a similar role in the Eurovision Song Contest, he wouldn’t have hesitated for a second. The man is in a stage of his career where you don’t pass such opportunities by.
So Joe’s enlistment for Putin diplomacy may rightfully me criticized, but let’s not character-assassinate the man (I personally find a lot of Joe’s views on many subjects weird and equipped with more than a whiff of populism and conspiracy crap) or denigrate his musical contributions which you may or may not like. I for one like this:
https://youtu.be/IXQ7___4chE
It’s good American music like only they can do it.
September 23rd, 2025 at 12:34If you want to know more about the Intervision: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cre5vv0x31po
September 23rd, 2025 at 14:30A pack of dogs is chasing a wolf – the story is as old as the world. The main thing is to participate in the chase and kick and/or bite the wolf.
Joe has just found his new home in the most dangerous country across the globe, and he lives there not surrounded by the government, but among the people.
And believe it or not, he likes it very much, as does thousands of other immigrants from the West. Yes, imagine, thousands and thousands of them. What do you know about his inner thoughts and his life? Who are you to boo him sitting on the fence?
Just be wider in your ideas about the world. BBC cannot be the single source of information. Kremlin state media can be source as well. Critical thinking is our/ your everything.
I may be banned, and my post may not be published, but that’s okay. I’m pacifist myself, but seeing people canceling someone who can’t even say a word makes me feel sad. I weep for the future as Saul Goodman (Bob Odenkirk) would say.
September 23rd, 2025 at 20:14That was helpful, Svante, danke.
One is delusional to think that art is politics-free, all government systems employ it for their purposes except the Taliban who for whatever reason hate all kinds of music.
In 1970, Blood, Sweat & Tears toured behind the Iron Curtain on behalf of the US State Department – with a little prodding via visa issues their Canadian singer had …
https://youtu.be/gdmk7zt0FIk
https://youtu.be/GsIvmS9_pTU
Of course rock music also carried a pro-Western, anti-communist message on that tour.
And since the Russian singer Shaman has been mentioned so often …
https://youtu.be/f4KfqWybD_c
… it really isn’t too different from Eurovision fodder is it?
Casablanca, the 1943 movie, is rightly regarded as cinematic art
https://youtu.be/MF7JH_54d8c
but it was also a propaganda movie designed to , inter alia, distill resistance of Vichy France authorities to change sides and be part of the resistance against the Nazi occupiers as the tide of the war was turning.
Not to forget my favorite here:
https://youtu.be/rdvtsM6P8_U
September 23rd, 2025 at 20:41@24
Georgivs, I hear you.
September 23rd, 2025 at 21:06Andrew, where is Joe (or you) being cancelled here? He gets the same exposure any ex-DP member receives and he has his – sometimes vocal – fans here too.
The Russia/Ukraine conflict is one of the great divisive subjects of our time and I myself have meanwhile formed the opinion that all options to end it will be varying shades of ugly, yet end it must, it’s a dangerous conflict, not only for the people of Ukraine or Russian soldiers not knowing what they are doing there.
That Joe didn’t fall in love with a Belorussian woman, marry and have a child with her to tell her how crap and inferior to the West her culture and heritage is kinda strikes me as relatable. And of course Russia’s cultural heritage is great. It’s also historically a significant power and previous attempts to write Russia off have surprised many since Napoleon. Unfortunately, and this comes with a certain geographical expanse I fear, Russia as a state also has imperialist leanings & longings (throughout its long history, not a Putin invention). Likely not worse than the US, China or India, but troublesome still, especially for us Europeans as we are rather close to them.
I will not damn JLT for his views/allegiances, but I understand anyone who is taken aback by them. Hackensack boy is taking a stroll in a minefield.
September 24th, 2025 at 13:37@34
Herr Hornung!
I have been reading your posts for many years and always mit große Freude. You would have called me der Spätaussiedler, but I stayed in my Vaterland, so I’m just Russlanddeutsche.
Thank you for your reply. I understand and respect your POV, but I meant a bit of a different side of an issue.
Correct me, please, if I’m wrong, but I always believed that this virtual space is a place for communication between people connected by one cultural code – all things Purple. It is absolutely clear that we are all different, our political preferences may be polar, but! There is at least one criterion of the above-mentioned cultural code – love and RESPECT for the people whose music brought us together here.
Judge not, lest ye be judged – that’s what David Addison of Moonlighting saw in blessed 80s on a bumper sticker.
I didn’t even talk about my being cancelled. To be honest, I don’t care. All I wanted to say that the discussion in this thread resembles not a discussion, but The Inquisition of Dark Ages. And no one (almost no one) even wanted to get into the essence of the situation and understand what Joe has been driven by. I get it – none of us loves rabbit holes. Or afraid of?
September 24th, 2025 at 20:02Joe has been found guilty because he was/ is guilty. He is guilty, therefore he is guilty a priori, working for the “criminal dictatorial cannibalistic” regime.
I’ll put it this way: any description or interpretation of any political events is always beneficial to the CURRENT political regime in any country. Years will pass, as will the interpretation. That’s how propaganda works, whether in the West, in the East, in Antarctica or on Mars.
I still remember (my age allows) the way New York Times and Moscow Pravda reacted in sync on Black Sabbath gigging in Sun City: both newspapers ripped the band to shreads for “supporting apartheid”.
I still remember that many years ago the High Assembly here on this website ridiculed Russia for allegedly fining Messrs. Gillan, Blackmore, Lord, Pace and Glover for performing their own songs. Everyone used a vocal gymnastics at its finest form to laugh at moronic bear. I had to explain what really happened, and it had nothing to do with the catchy headline of the news.
We all know history always repeats itself: first as a tragedy, then as a farce. Yes, indeed. Nothing changes.
I’ll finish with this passage from Rudyard Kipling.
Let it be clearly understood that the Russian is a delightful person till he tucks in his shirt. As an Oriental he is charming. It is only when he insists upon being treated as the most easterly of western peoples instead of the most westerly of easterns that he becomes a racial anomaly extremely difficult to handle. The host never knows which side of his nature is going to turn up next.
We are half-humans, half-beasts in your view. So it was, so it will be.
Joe just started thinking differently.
By the way, I was at his gig in March 2025 in one of the Russian cities.
And it was superb multiplied by magnifique equals 11 out of 10. A cosmic performance I must say fellas.
You were taken aback by his views/ allegiances?
My badness! We’ll never understand each other, and this drives me nuts.
One more thing -– I would have taken all the hats off in entire Universe and around to express my gratitude to this website team — this is comparable to a feat! Thank you!
Now allow me to take my leave.
Russlanddeutscher 😎, you migh thave noticed, I am neither a JLT nor a Russia hater. I try to retain a semblance of objectivity. Russia is here to stay and it is a large part of Europe, I tend to think in periods longer than just a couple of years, we will have to live as good neighbors sometime in the future again, never mind how the current air space provocations are playing with fire. I will forever be thankful for the Red Army battling down the Nazi scourge and I haven’t forgotten who liberated Majdanek and Auschwitz and put an end to the murdering there.
My grandfather, a Wehrmacht Kradmelder, was in Soviet Union POW captivity from 1943 to 1949. Needless to say, it wasn’t a pleasant stay, but he realized what got him there and I never heard him say anything hateful or disparaging about Russian or Soviet Union (he also fought in Ukraine) people ever. But he remembered the potatoes Siberian women (whose men had not returned from the war) covertly slipped to him and his starving buddies when he did forced labor in a camp there.
This isn’t a political space, but of course when Joe lends his face as the token American and former rock star to an official cultural event in current Russia, THAT IS POLITICAL and we can’t just ignore it. But I don’t jump to quick or easy conclusions.
I saw one of Joe’s performances in a Russian city on YT – I even posted it here – and was impressed both by him and the Russian band. I’m hardly a Turner era Rainbow fan (I’m more gentle with Turner era DP in fact), but that performance was expertly done. I also admire his kudos to have gotten rid of the wig, and if his wife Maya supported him in that, then things can’t be too bad between them.
And I never thought of the people who gave us great literature, philosophy, music & classical ballet as “half-humans, half-beasts”.
https://i.makeagif.com/media/3-09-2016/vFTrvX.gif
What a crap thing to think.
September 25th, 2025 at 00:27First of all, calling Russia’s unprovoked attack on Ukraine a “conflict” is a misunderstanding.
September 25th, 2025 at 18:03Facts:
1. Russia has committed crimes against humanity in Ukraine.
2. It’s bombing Ukrainian cities and civilians.
3. It has kidnapped hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian children and taken them to Russia.
4. It’s spreading disgusting propaganda full of lies and total nonsense.
5. About 70% of the population supported Putin’s policies and that’s based on independent research, not regime-made polls.
And that’s just the beginning, there are tons more examples. Given all that, what Turner’s doing is either just plain stupid or something even worse. Either way, there’s no excuse for it.
Ok, that’s it when it comes to discussing any conflicts or wars here. Keep it to the music. We all like DP as much as each other, no matter where we live and what our governments do.
And I can add that when Rainbow and JLT played the same year at Sweden Rock Festival a couple of years ago, JLT’s set sounded much more Rainbow than Rainbow. A really good concert.
September 25th, 2025 at 19:24@38
Thank you Svante 😊
And of course I will certainly never mention any drones….
No seriously, we NEED music and to dwell into our musical- and vocalist heroes, to forget about the humdrum life!
I for one appreciate to visit in here, read all you nice people’s interesting thoughts and to comment on a very rare occasion 🤓
September 25th, 2025 at 19:37Yes, that is why we call you “the silent one”, Karin.
Karin is the sort of person that creates issues when considering wedding party seating: If we place Aunt Karin here, no one else will get a word in …
September 26th, 2025 at 23:54@40
😄😄 yes I do know what you call me….
Just tell me to:
https://youtu.be/u1kZ9zYr7kk?si=JmMSVGgy1LM5hx6b
And you won’t hear a beep from me again!
September 27th, 2025 at 17:21