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A delicate dance
Steve Morse was interviewed by the Guitar Interactive Magazine. Steve talks about the importance of jamming, influence of John McLaughlin, praises John Petrucci, reflects on his years in Deep Purple, and shares thoughts on why he prefers the album format for his music.
Thanks to Blabbermouth for the heads-up.
Unauthorized copying, while sometimes necessary, is never as good as the real thing
Ritchie was always complimentary of Steve’s work.
December 18th, 2025 at 00:56At this point I wish Morse later would form a Deep Purple tribute group to do some shows consists of songs from Mark 7 – Mark 8. There are too many great compositions from those formations. Alternating with his solo band performances of course.
From 2000 to 2020 he was involved with so many other bands beside the hectic-scheduled Deep Purple (Flying Colors, SMB, Dixie Dregs, G3, Angelfire, Living Colors), so I think at his current state he could handle at least two bands now.
Songs like Apres Vous, Time for Bedlam, Throw my Bones, Silver Tongue, Vincent Price, Nothing at All, Haunted, Sometimes I Feel Like Screaming, Watching the Sky, The Aviator, Wrong Man, they were too good to be just for listening experience. Need to be performed live in the flesh, in front of audience.
Joe Lynn Turner basically did his half-Deep-Purple tribute in his concerts which included songs from Mark 2 since long time ago.
Steve Augeri (former of Journey, who replaced Steve Perry) also formed his Journey tribute band years ago and are still performing until today.
So why not Steve?
I ever asked about this idea in Steve Morse Facebook group, lack of affirmative responses as they preferred Steve in his current musical endeavor with his solo band. Surely most of them are Steve’s fans long before he joined Purple so they might not share my idea as a Deep Purple fan. I just feel it a great loss of opportunities to perform those great songs, and it’s also regarding Mark 8 setlist.
December 18th, 2025 at 02:00I absolutely support Andre’s idea of Steve doing at least a partial Mk 7 and 8 tribute act. The songs are too good not to be played live.
What might even be possible would be for Steve to do what Ian Paice does – perform with an already established DP Tribute Band, and specifically dedicate the shows to his time in the band.
It is disappointing to me that Mk 9 is barely playing any of the material made with Steve from his 28 years in the band. If DP won’t do it, then I agree Steve absolutely should, if he wants to.
As to the interview itself – Steve’s comments that a couple of the band members wanted him out for some time because they were tired of all the “fancy crap” he does (Steve’s words, not mine!) and wanted to return to their rock and roll roots confirms two things, imo:
1. That my previous assertion that the other band members were just as responsible for creating the environment that lead to the split was correct.
2. That tensions were building for some time, long before Janine got the cancer diagnoses – and that Steve both left to take care of her and that the other band members forced him out and used his wife’s health as the cover for doing so. It’s clear now that at least two of the other band members did not want him in the band for at least some time, how long we don’t really know, but this interview confirms long standing suspicions of bad blood between Steve and the band I’ve had since his departure.
Steve’s comment of “Things might be different if some of the other band members felt differently” is incredibly telling. It’s not just him wanting to end the band that was the problem, it was also all band members not being able to meet in the middle and come to a compromise with the music. Steve wanted the prog and “fancy crap”, other members (I’m guessing one of them is Ian Gillan based on past recent interviews where he talks about the body rhythms returning to the band and Steve being too cerebral in his playing) wanting more straight ahead rock n roll.
Neither side was willing to compromise, and so, we got the split that we did. It’s incredibly sad, either way, and we do have to accept that both Steve and the band are better off. Whoever those two band members that prevented a reunion show from happening are, I hope that they can let go of their grievances and allow Steve to join the band on stage one day, as Steve seems to be willing to forgive and let bygones be bygones. Hopefully, time will heal all wounds, and we’ll see Steve and Simon on stage together – what a treat that would be!
December 18th, 2025 at 07:19#Andre Sihotang
December 18th, 2025 at 07:36That’s right!
#2: Enough of the tribute bands 🙂 As much as Steve played a big part in writing and performing those songs, they need the original singer (IG) to work. The same way it’s gone too far with Kansas, Foreigner, Journey and now possibly Triumph where other singers come in to emulate the original but falling short on spirit and soul.
December 18th, 2025 at 07:37I don’t really think that there is another singer who could do Ian Gillan’s leftfield lyrics credibly, Andre. You can’t just “sing” them. JLT had insurmountable issues with that (though he is a good singer) and DC/GH didn’t exactly shine with IG’s lyrics and vocal melodies either (and for the record, I don’t think the guy from Purpendicular does a good job either, let’s not even talk about Ronnie Romero who is awful singing Ian’s lyrics).
December 18th, 2025 at 11:03@ 3….I agree Steve should play some of HIS Purple material in his sets but not necessarily a “tribute band”, there’s too much good music that should be played live but it doesn’t sound too promising! I just heard Nothing At All on Ozzy’s Boneyard satellite station played by a guest DJ from the band AVATAR and he raved about the song. They play a lot of Purple on the Boneyard but this the only Morse era I’ve ever heard and it sounded great!! This is what truly talented musicians play in their later years he said! It sounded great but I’m guessing it’s TOO MUCH FANCY CRAP haha
December 18th, 2025 at 12:03@Sihotang
No, for me (and many other fans..), Steve will always be an active member of Deep Purple.
Management and Ian should make a statement if they have any goodwill:
“Steve Morse is always welcome to Deep Purple, band has two guitarists. If Steve wants to perform concerts with a band, we will always have a place for him on stage. This is also true during studio sessions.”
Deep Purple
I now, after this Steve might not return to the band. But the members and fans of Deep Purple need this statement because Steve left the band in a exceptional situation.
Now things have changed. Steve is playing concerts, and I’m waiting for Deep Purple and Ian Gillan statement…
Yes, I’m disappointed and to be angry with how you (my lovely band…) did this after so many years with Steve.
December 18th, 2025 at 13:27I wonder which 2 guys were glad he’s gone? If I had to guess it would be Don Airey and Ian Paice. I don’t think Ian Gillan felt that way and Roger comes across as someone who is very loyal. Roger having been asked to leave back in 73 knows what that’s like and it sucks. Anyone have any thoughts?
December 18th, 2025 at 14:23Steve Morse has incredibly bad luck when it comes to commercial success, but he is one of the best guitarists in the business, an absolute monster, regardless of the musical genre, such a gifted yet down to earth man.And his bassist friend LaRue, phenomenal musicians
December 18th, 2025 at 16:31Andre, what you suggest is a great idea. It does sit in a kind of netherworld, as you note; most Morse fans want his instrumental SMB/Dregs material, not his Purple stuff, and also, most Purple fans really want Blackmore era stuff above all, so such a project sounds great but is a real “niche” idea.
I’d love it. I stopped seeing DP years ago because I was / am tired of their concerts having so many oldies and so few Morse-era tunes.
December 18th, 2025 at 17:35Now I haven’t watched the whole thing, but I read on the site some pieces from the interview (doubt it’s the whole thing).
Of particular interest is the part where he says that two Purple guys were glad he left, since they wanted a more back-to-the-roots approach.
I guess these are the two Ians – I think there was an interview with IG where he said that songs had become really complex with Steve, so Simon bringing simplicity was something he liked (not the exact quote, mind you). As for the other Ian, well I guess at this age a more simple song (no pun intended) would mean simpler drum parts.
But it’s sad…
December 18th, 2025 at 20:38@6
“let’s not even talk about Ronnie Romero who is awful singing Ian’s lyrics).”
December 18th, 2025 at 21:54– no one alive can do justice to Ian’s lyrics! But – mr Ronnie sang his heart out and did a great job 😊 at least 19th of September’25! – in Denmark ☺️
I’m always glad to hear from Steve, one of the nicest rockstars I’ve ever met (and most of the others worked with him). I feel for the cards he’s been dealt, and how difficult it might have been to go through the last three years. He is an amazing musician, he had a great steady job and a wife to care for, and suddenly he didn’t have either.
He sounds a bit confused as to his relationship with Purple in his recent interviews, though. He had been very polite about not talking about his exit (he even looked bothered when asked about it), but recently he’s more open. Sometimes he says he’s glad to leaving the structure of the band, which now allows him to do his own thing, and this time I think it was the first time in which he complained in a bit more of detail about a strained relationship with the colleagues.
I am sorry to hear that because I admire them all, love their music and wished everyone was in good terms with each other, but such is life. At this point in my own life I’ve been through enough to know how it might feel.
Hope this nicest of men and fabulous musician can find his personal peace and musical joy. And I hope someday he and his former colleagues can see eye to eye in a way that has not been possible between them and Blackmore, another musician I admire.
December 18th, 2025 at 22:13All is fair in love and war.
And bands – trust me! 😎
One Purpendicular is quite enough, thank you (and the singer of that is not Ronnie Romero, Karin! 😂), I don’t need Steve Morse with some Yank imitating Ian Gillan, the good Lord forbid! If he wants to play a few Purple tracks with SMB, then so be it, but a full-fledged tribute act? Yikes.
I’ve said it before, but if you think Steve’s departure from DP was under nasty circumstances, then you don’t really know what nasty circumstances are (eg CCR, Eagles, Pink Floyd, Status Quo, Jethro Tull, KISS, Talking Heads, Dire Straits, Supertramp). With DP, departures were mostly very grown-up and not drama-drenched.
And why after 28 years together, someone in a band may not state that he would like the musical focus in a different place than where the lead guitarist is striving to … – what else is new?
I really appreciated Steve’s time in the band, but he was – like Ritchie, Tommy Bolin and Jon Lord before him – not irreplaceable. Nor does he have to be canonized in the aftermath, we don’t need a St. Morse.
December 18th, 2025 at 23:59@9 George Martin:
Definitely not Ian Paice.
My money’s on Glover and Airey. Glover and Gillan is also possible, but I think Gillan’s comments are more effusive in praise of Simon than negative toward Steve.
Nonetheless, the way they’ve all handled this — save for Paice — is disappointing. They should’ve just kept their mouths shut. Nothing against Simon, who’s a fine guitarist, but though =1 has a few memorable songs to these ears it is inferior to just about all of the Morse-era LPs. If memory serves, Gillan ripped himself off twice, inserting the melody from “Razzle Dazzle” verse into two songs on =1. It was also their safest album since “Perfect Strangers” but without any great songs. The creative spirit of “Purpendicular” is probably gone forever. On top of that, if to the lads’ ears the Morse era wasn’t heavy enough, I ask: “What are you smoking?’’
Thanks, Steve, for revivifying my favorite band all those years ago. You certainly earned the right to take a stand and to have your opinions — musical and regarding the business — at the very least respected.
December 19th, 2025 at 00:03@9 – George: IG for sure.
RG likely the other band member with a preference for simpler music. And the most likely to side with IG no matter what.
Airey probably the least likely to have wanted Morse gone. He has his various side projects, enjoys a musical challenge, and seems to treat DP gig as nice to have for as long as it lasts.
Both Airey & Paice were able to keep up with Morse, chops-wise, and have an appreciation for jazzy music.
December 19th, 2025 at 00:13On that basis, one would think IP less likely than RG to have wanted Morse out.
However IP’s increasingly pared-down playing over the years may suggest that he rather than RG was the other.
#12 Raziel666:
I also think he was referring to the two Ian:
Gillan wanted more melodic progression
Like wanted more groove and speed up the BPM a bit
in a word: more hard rock!
I don’t see anything sad about it, except possibly in the ways in which they separated, in fact I blessed the choice of Purple because for me the cycle with Steve had largely ended a long time ago!
#13 Karin:
Romero is a good singer but unfortunately with an anonymous voice, without personality and without adaptability to other people’s songs like there are many others around.
Steve Lee from Gotthard was for me the only one who could sing any Purple song with dignity (but in general he made any song special with his voice, his range, his modulation and interpretation)
#14 Marcelo:
December 19th, 2025 at 00:34I wouldn’t say that Steve is confused about his relationship with Purple, it’s simply normal that with the passing of time things are revealed that were previously preferred not to be said, it happens in all the bands in the world from the times of the jazz big bands of the early 1900s, to today in all musical genres in the world.
@3: Exactly that
@5 @6: Sure, no one could do Ian’s vocal justice if that’s the case. But for me the more importantly are the guitar and organ. Mk 7 and Mk 8 songs are paradise for guitarist and keyboardist.
@8: I don’t think they will do, with the coward way they handled Steve’s firing. Maybe Roger will respond separately when he’s on his own
@9: When Gillan said a few years ago “Simon is the best thing happened to the band”, I already suspect him long before Steve said “the two members”. In other recent interviews, he also said some comments – subtle, but to me suspiciously disparaging – about the guitar playing
@11: I also now become a casual Purple fan (this current line-up to be precise, still enjoy Mk 1- Mk 8 like before). Simon is a solid guitarist, I’ll give him that.
I wish I ever met Steve and have a wonderful chat, joy of my life. When Purple visited my country in early 00’s I was still in school. Now they will visit twice but with a new banjo player and I had no interest to watch (first, after what they’ve done to Steve, and the 2nd, I didn’t find real fire / magic in the current line-up, neither in the album or live performances I saw on their videos except “Bleeding Obvious”)
From what I could gather about Steve with the never-ending positive, gracious, response from fans, friends/colleagues, and other musicians when talking about him, I could only conclude one thing: “If you have a serious problem with Steve, then the biggest part of the problem might be lying in you”.
And that’s perhaps the case of him with other Purple members (esp. the ‘two’, my guess they’re both Ians).
I’ve made a post here about this exit topic long time ago after Roger’s revealing interview, so I won’t repeat. The line “I still love these guys” by Steve a few weeks after his exit already told me something was not right, the breakup wasn’t amicable. Although I squashed the idea of them arguing / clashing fiercely like what happened with Blackmore. Jon was Steve’s musical brother; Roger was Steve’s closest friend.
As for the fancy craps, in previous interview Steve said about them returning to British rock sound. Perhaps it’s just a polite cover of how distant the musical differences had become at the latter days of Mk8. Whether it happened before or after Bob Ezrin joined the gang..
Reminds me of Queen + Paul Rodgers, both Brian and Roger needed Paul to rejuvenate themselves, back to loving concerts again. But did they continue? No, as Paul said it was not meant to be permanent. 2 big tours and 1 album are enough.
After that they of course continued performing longer with Adam, the American Idol singer who are a much better fit to Freddie Mercury’s singing and operatic style (I just can’t imagine on earth how Paul Rodgers would sing “Killer Queen” or “Don’t Stop Me Now”).
December 19th, 2025 at 03:22“I can’t go across the strings fast enough. It’s very frustrating.” Steve Morse is adapting to playing with arthritis, but says “my time of doing the performance grind is closing” (https://www.guitarplayer.com/guitarists/steve-morse-on-adapting-his-playing-style-to-combat-his-arthritis)
DP tours considerably less today than they used to do 15-20 years ago but they still probably consider themselves a “road band” and next year looks to be quite busy. Perhaps they had different views on how to operate at this stage of their career?
Without having any insight, I doubt the “fancy crap” was the real reason. After all, they’ve made music with Steve for close to 30 years, so a yearning to return to “rock” would likely have presented itself earlier. It’s not as if Simon changed the sound of the band in a radical way. If anything, =1 continued in the same vein as the other Ezrin era albums, with some smaller changes. The band is not more “British” today in terms of sound than they were with Steve. Simon’s main influences are Steve Lukather and Joe Satriani.
December 19th, 2025 at 03:34Simon has probably listened more to Gary Moore than Steve has though. And he does a very good job at covering Still Got the Blues. That probably makes him more “European”. But my point is that the band almost exclusively performs mid tempo songs these days, so any “rocking” from a guitarist standpoint will be limited by that alone. I was watching the Cal Jam on DVD the other night. Paice’s playing is incredible and a show in itself. But his playing style today bears very little resemblance to that. Which is probably one of the reasons the musical identity and character of the band remains very similar even though there has been a change of guitarist.
December 19th, 2025 at 04:07They sure liked him when he saved their asses with Purpendicular…
#6, DC and GH were deliberately throwing away the IG songs. Remember their butchering of Smoke, and DC’s ad-libbing on Highway Star? No way was that a lack of talent, that had to have been deliberate. If RB and JL had put their feet down, DC and GH could have easily done those songs right. My guess would be that RB was letting them get away with it, as a way of sticking it to IG and RG.
December 19th, 2025 at 06:39PS. If they had let Glenn sing more of IG’s lyrics, and kept him from doing all that weird ooh-aah pseudo-jazz squealing, that would have made all the difference.
December 19th, 2025 at 06:47I watched this interview and two things struck me like a freight train:
1) how much older he got via the barrage of issues he was dealing with in last 5 years – take a look how much time he takes to assemble the sentences from his thoughts. Almost like being a victim of stroke, and recovering from it. He always looked and seemed much younger than he actually was and now it seems that his age finally caught up with him and he looks like a man at the age of almost 70. But at least he’s not giving it up, still pushing on through and still smiling – I love to see him smile, he’s such a bright human, has got a lovely appearance.
2) The more he speaks of his split with Purple – the more acrimonious it looks like it was dealt with. The band was accusing Blackmore of doing them “this and that” when he threw the gauntlet and walked away from them – and now they did the same thing to Steve – totally in this style – on the border of disrespect. And it’s visible at the start how much it still hurts him – and no wonder why. To quote Gillan’s “Men of War” – “why did you deceive us – it’s such a shame and disgraceful”… (or “for peace and stillness – they were born to KIIIIIIILLLLL…”)
Steve only mentions Jon Lord by name in the conversation and clearly remains fond only of him. And the mention of “the other two guys” – I bet my boots it’s about IG and IP. They want things done their way – Gillan sees himself as a leader and preserver of DP legacy and Paice wants the business going for as long as it can, without any interruptions. I somehow don’t think Don and Roger were on this side of things – DA has no position to imply and press on anything and Rog simply is a human who by nature couldn’t be vile for any reason, he’d rather stay out of such things… So, without giving names – I read the map of attitudes rather clear (despite Steve’s diplomatic talk). And it’s a shame things stand like that after his 28 years in this position. Having said all that – I don’t think Steve would like to do anyhow the Purple material in his sets, he wants to keep away from it, I think. At least until time heals the wounds. I concur with your calls over the fact that so many of these songs are so good that they deserve to be played on stage and if it’s not Steve – Deep Purple won’t care to play them. But I just don’t think it would happen in foreseeable future. Steve wants a full comfort and peace of mind in his own thing and he’s right on it now, rightfully so (with Dave and Van being his perfect compatriots for it). I wish him all the best!
December 19th, 2025 at 07:24For what it’s worth, my money is on it being the two Ians as well – Gillan because of the interview he gave that I and others here have referenced and also because he does like to have control in the band being the frontman. If he doesn’t like someone because they’re getting in the way of what he wants, and because he’s left the band twice now, I would imagine hed find a way to get rid of Steve rather than leave for a third and likely final time, especially with his age and visual impairments.
I agree that Paice is likely the other person because he is more musically conservative and values simpler music – remember that he did not like Bleeding Obvious when Don and Simon were working on it and told them they were nuts? That tells me something right there about his musical values.
Don is not likely since he loves making progressive music and continues to make progressive music within the band, and seems to now be the chief instigator of “fancy crap” within the band.
Roger is definitely out for the simple fact that he is the only band member to remain friends with Steve. He wouldn’t be friends with someone who wanted him gone, plain and simple.
Therefore, based on interview comments and process of elimination, the evidence points to Ian Gillan and Ian Paice. Gillan, with all his control issues, doesn’t surprise me. Ian Paice however does surprise me, and I guess the evidence was there all along regarding him valuing simplicity and I was unwilling to see it.
Long story short, when Jon left, the band lost their mediator between Steve and the two Ians, and things began to slowly collapse over the next two decades. It was Steve who brought the band back together, and it was Jon Lord who kept them together for the duration of Mk 7. When Jon left, a split was inevitable. Incredibly sad, and it just goes to show that nothing lasts forever.
December 19th, 2025 at 08:04And here we go again, with everyone creating their own narrative from some quotes in some interview. People really need to stop thinking professional bands that has been running for many years, frequently changing members, are bands of old friends meeting in school and being best friends. Some members may be, some may not.
Are you best friends with everyone at your job, just because you have been working together for 20 years? If you leave your job, and then jokes, “I bet most people were happy to se new leave”, would you think it was a reasonable thing to do if people around you started making up stories about how you and your old colleagues hate each other?
December 19th, 2025 at 08:06@ 25 – Svante, thank you for being the voice of reason here 🙂 A good call, overall. Still, it’s somehow relieving to just post an opinion, and that’s how I treat this discussion. I don’t claim being right or wrong on what went out there. As Steve says at one point: “people observe, read all these little signs and see if you’re into something or you’re not”. That’s all. We all might be kind of idealizing our favorite band – hence sort of putting them on the position of a holy communion, probably more so than they really actually are. It’s just coming across more and more, that when it comes to the reality – it’s just business – like you say, like a daily job, when you’re actually usually not friends with everyone. I might be biased here – since I work for 10 years now in the company where many of the relations are close on human level – despite us just being in a company together. But I’m aware of how rare and uncommon this setup is.
As idealistic as it may be though, I still just feel that the way DP dealt with Steve is something that could have been done in a better, more discussed way. It’s just how I feel, and honestly, it’s the only place I allow myself to let it out. I hope I still can? 🙂
December 19th, 2025 at 08:30Karin, could it beyou’re messing up Ronnie and Robby here? Ronnie Romero did IG songs with Rainbow… good singing as such but…well..a bit reidiculous at times. Robby Thomas Walsh – the singer for Purpendicular – does a very fine job singing Ian’s tunes as far as I’m concerned. I’ve no idea why Uwe keeps putting him down. The man sings CiT and it does sound great. You don’t get this every day.
December 19th, 2025 at 08:35Interesting. When I reviewed =1 I observed that despite the rhetoric, there was nothing, stylistically, that I could not have imagined with SM. In other words, I expected the change to be greater. Maybe the next one will display a greater shift in style?
December 19th, 2025 at 10:04@15
🤣🤣🤣
I know Uwe! I was just checking if you were too busy with x-mas preparations to actually read everything in here!
Of course you are not! You let your darling wife doing all the hard work, don’t ya? 😄
Robby however did sing his heart out! Not Ian Gillan-esque, but in his own right.
And Svante is completely right, btw – because no, not everyone are always besties. It’s only in fairytales, when the ugly witch is gone, from the Grimm bros and my very own H.C.Andersen that such phenomena take place 😃
But hopefully the musicians and vocalists are professionals so they can work together without killing each other too often 😁
And re fairytales, I find it rather comforting that H.C.Andersen stopped his fairytales just before the princess killed either herself out of pure boredom or killed her husband, the ever spoiled prince!
Re bands that are amicable: Thunder, that adorable hard rocking band where Danny the vocalist sadly had a head injury, is a never ending source of joy for me at the moment.
December 19th, 2025 at 10:15Uwe please listen to this:
https://youtu.be/AZ31DQyuWv4
Apparently the bassist wasn’t as kind as the rest of the band had wished for, so he was replaced with this smiling and dear guy: (3:20 – 3:30)
https://youtu.be/-q9kuejj1xA
– yeah I know, I have linked to this a couple of times, but it has been on hot rotation in my home the last days!
No Danny does not sing as angelic as Ian, but man he was energetic and charming!
And the drummer! Ohhh my – Ian Paice is my favourite but Harry James is amazing! (IMHO and all that 😄)
@18
“Steve Lee from Gotthard was for me the only one who could sing any Purple song with dignity”
– thank you Fla76, I don’t know him. Can you recommend some songs?
December 19th, 2025 at 10:17I’m glad Steve and Jon got to play together!! Trying to guess the “two” is pointless, it doesn’t matter All bands do have their personnel changes, but most of us are on this site every day and feel a connection with Purple and when something goes amiss we take it to heart Steve has had a trying last 5 years and dealt with it so professionally on the outside at least It is sad the way it ended, there were obviously difference of opinions on the direction moving forward They will always be my favorite band and here’s wishing Purple and Steve the best!!
December 19th, 2025 at 11:44Duh, I remember stating here upon Simon’s joining that all Mk VII-VIII material would soon be phased out from the set – and you guys almost hanged me for it! 😎 And now you howl around that – aurprise, surprise – it is happening/has happened.
Re the current conspiracy theories on who “the two assassins” were, I find those mildly amusing, like an Agatha Christie story or KNIVES OUT!!!
Really? What is unusual or deplorabable aboout musical differences developing in a band over a period of 28 years? Steve wasn’t going to change his leopard spots and other members were entirely free to say they wanted a musical change after that long a time. Ritchie woke up one day and said “I don’t like Roger’s bass playing anymore, we need someone else, and Big Ian just isn’t bluesy enough, does anyone have Paul Rodgers’ phone number?” And two years later he woke up again: “I think David’s and Glenn’s love for Black Music has gone a bit far, I’m taking a nine-year-vacation with people I can finally order around!”
But since everyone is speculating, my money is on Big Ian and Don. IG has never been impressed by sheer musical chops –> look at what happened to IGB, the band with the most virtuoso and sophisticated playing in the Purple universe. And Don has played Jazz Rock with Colosseum II, yes, but for the most part of his career he has been the foil to dyed-in-the wool rock guitar heroes: Gary Moore, Ritchie, Michael Schenker, Randy Rhoads, Jake E. Lee & Uli Jon Roth. I have no doubt that he thinks Steve is technically ace, but he never considered him inspirational in a way someone like, say, Randy Rhoads was inspirational. Don has repeatedly said in interviews that he like a real rock guitarist to rub off in a band situation because these people give something to the music he can’t, fair enough.
I’m amazed no one here mentions the obvious: In 2016, Big Ian undertook an Eastern Europe tour with Don and Simon and for the first time in a long time heard how DP songs would sound with a guitarist with a background different to Steve playing alongside Don. I think it was already back then that seeds were sown – Big Ian is like that, he lets himself be inspired by real life occurences, nothing wrong with that.
That said, I think if Janine hadn’t become tragically ill and Steve been able to continue to support the DJ juggernaut touring machine, he might very well be still with DP today. While he might not have been an object of devouring passion within DP to some of his band colleagues anymore, he was a good citizen, reliable, could play the music well and I don’t hink anyone would have rocked the boat so late in their career. But when Janine fell ill, the band was itiching to play again after being grounded so long during COVID, and IG still had the lingering memory of Simon playing these songs in 2016, the stars aligned/the situation was ripe.
But unlike most people here I just think that is life and not some horrendous crime against Steve. He had a good ride with Purple, paid for his hay farm and hobby airplanes (plus the best medical treatment money could afford for Janine) and saw the world with DP. His popularity was enhanced by his Purple tenure and he leaves behind a legacy both he and the band can be proud of. I’ve heard of more depressing fates. In the meantime …
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E1iaemRAeAo
December 19th, 2025 at 11:58@27: You are allowed to say anythnig you want, within reason. And opinions are one thing, speculations something else.
December 19th, 2025 at 13:49@28
Max now and then I’m a bad person! I just wanted to test if Uwe is as perceptive as he claims to be!
I saw and heard Robby the 19th of September this year, and you’re right, he is a very good singer. Not Ian Gillan good, but very nice indeed. And ohh boy he sang his heart out, gotta love that 🤩
I don’t know either why Uwe is putting him down?
Hey, let’s ask him:
Uwe Hornung, why do you put Robby Thomas Walsh down?
And as you so often have accused me for doing: Ian doesn’t get better by putting Robby down 😄
So Max, now we just wait and see what he answers 😃
December 19th, 2025 at 14:13@26 Svante
If Steve answered the question about ever playing with them again “you never know”and then just let it go no one would think anything of it. However, after hearing Steve say a couple of the guys were glad he’s gone that can’t make you help but wonder who the 2 guys were. It’s human nature to wonder about things that interest you. Deep Purple are one of the biggest bands ever in the world and to hear this really makes me wonder. As far as myself goes I worked for the same corporation for over 40 years and yes there people I got along with and people I didn’t but the difference is nobody gives a dam about me. I could die today and nobody here would ever know or care. You can’t compare the average guy to a member of Deep Purple. Deep Purple to me is the greatest band ever, always has been and always will be. All I said was if I had to guess it would be Airey and Paice. I didn’t give any reason for them to want him out it was just my thoughts. Again, it’s human nature to wonder about things and nothing more. Just my opinion.
December 19th, 2025 at 14:54Karin, the Robby guy from Purpendicular has an aura I just don’t like – from the first second I saw/heard him. At an audition, I’d turn on my heels and leave if I met him as the singer of a band. It’s a chemical thing. And I have doubts whether he even likes DP, I think it’s just a convenient living to him – but then I tend to be harsh with most tribute bands, I think they are a bloody waste of time and talent (of the musicians playing in them).
And as regards Thunder, I do have half a dozen of their albums, but they’ll always be a poor man’s Whitesnake to me. Danny Bowes is a nice man, it’s tragic how he has to battle with his health, but as a vocalist and frontman he defines “a-v-e-r-a-g-e” to me, sorry. There is nothing to this band that excites me in the least though they are all nice chaps. Thunder as a band eludes me just like Iron Maiden and Marillion (without Fish) do.
December 19th, 2025 at 15:25@37
Fair enough Uwe 😃
I like Robby, I saw him close up and he seemed pretty nice. But what do I know?
I do of course get what you mean: ‘a chemical thing’, chemistry between people is not easy to explain, and I also know of people I simply don’t like, they have never done me wrong, I just don’t trust them.
I like his voice and even though I’m used to hear Ian’s magnificent voice singing Purple tunes, it didn’t hurt my heart, soul and skin to listen to Robby.
Re Thunder! A poor man’s Whitesnake 🤣
Alright then…. I love Thunder and Whitesnake and even though I’m not wealthy in any way I cannot hear the difference.
The guitarist, Ben Matthews, is my favourite together with the drummer, and Danny of course.
I melted a tiny bit when I heard this riff:
https://youtu.be/H6iDXeVWdwY
Or maybe it doesn’t even qualify as a riff, but man it’s nice 😍
However I can’t wait until I can feast my ears to Ian Gillan Band and their terrific jazz fusion music 😃 ohhh boy, that’ll be the days of my life 😍😄😄
December 19th, 2025 at 17:33Uwe, Robby seems to know the DP catalogue plus the spin offs very well, there’s often little bits and pieces in the set that an average listener would not come up with – or recognise. Brought a smile on my face quite a few times during the gigs. Purpendicular are a lot of fun live.
Thunder… to call Danny average is quite brave…but then again tastes differ. In their heyday they blew you away live. Remember even DC sang their praise and joined them on stage.
December 19th, 2025 at 21:08The albums Luke & Danny recorded together outside of the band are ace. So underrated. Btw: I played Thunder to a lot of people that didn’t know them – and they all ended up convinced. Funny enough we had a Stammtisch conversation about them last week.
@26 and @36:
Agree with the other George M. We wouldn’t be wondering at all if they’d kept their traps shut or just stuck to the script. I’d be amazed at Steve’s restraint if it wasn’t common knowledge that he’s a great guy.
As fans, we have a right to speculate. I recall Paice stating around the start of “The Long Goodbye Tour” that he hoped Steve would be Deep Purple’s last guitarist. I’m most convinced Glover is one of the two, based on his comments.
Their parting of ways with Steve is their, and our, loss. They should’ve, as Steve apparently wanted, recorded more frequently and toured far less often. These days they’re better in studio than live.
They should be doing more of the “fancy crap” while insisting that Gillan stay within his greatly reduced range. C’mon, they’re 80 or pushing it. They are talented musicians who still have a lot to say, but hearing Gillan croaking out Hard Lovin’ Man live is an earsore that only damages their reputation. I’d rather hear five obligatory classics live — HS, SOTW, PS, Lazy, Hush — with, say, The Aviator, Nothing At All, Above and Beyond, Fingers to the Bone, Well Dressed Guitar etc. in the set.
But that ship has sailed, sailed far away.
December 19th, 2025 at 22:03#37 Uwe:
the poor man’s Whitesnake is a good definition!
Yes, Thunder were a good, honest band, but in those years there were much more creative hard rock bands.
#31 Karin:
You can start with the various Purple covers that Gotthard played, or Child in Time and the parts of the Concerto for Group & Orchestra that Steve did with maestro Lord, but in general there is not a single song to recommend to you, all the songs that the late Steve Lee sang became gold thanks to his incredible voice.
#29 Juri:
December 20th, 2025 at 00:24I don’t find it strange, after 28 years of playing and composing with Steve in a certain way, it’s normal that you still feel that kind of stylistic approach afterwards.
even if in =1 the riffs are back, the melody is back, and the sound is harder!
Kerrang! lauded Thunder back in the day, trying to sell them like hot cakes, great white hope of British rock, all that. I really tried to get into them and their music isn’t bad, just strangely insignificant. I guess I would call it “unquirky”. I like qirky and weird stuff more. Or at least a little outrageous and flamboyant like The Struts (a band not totally unsimilar to Thunder) – something I totally miss with Thunder.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0mZkE6RapFY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PpAJvj0BXEI
As regards Purpendicular, their live sets have become more and more stagnant. But I just don’t go for tributes of any type, so it’s an uphill battle for them with me. I’ve seen them four times to diminishing returns, at one gig I even fell asleep for a song or two. It doesn’t grip me seeing people pretend that they are Jon Lord and Ritchie Blackmore and while I see the benefit for Little Ian of staying in shape with them, I think he is selling himself a little short in that environment. When I saw them one time with Neil Murray, I really felt sorry for him, the great former WS bassist playing in a Purple tribute. Is this what you end up with?
December 20th, 2025 at 02:43@39
“Thunder… to call Danny average is quite brave”
– Ohh boy you’re right Max!
And if I may add: Danny’s voice was kept in perfect shape until he was forced to stop.
Even though I now have learned to appreciate David’s voice, he wasn’t kind to himself and as a fact: he couldn’t sing at the end of his career.
I seem to remember you wrote in here Max that you heard him sing or say something far away from the mike and I believe you said his mouth was closed at the time.
Danny however… what a voice, no not as magnificent as Ian’s voice, but he could indeed sing!
And what I like is that I cannot tell if it is a studio record or if he is singing live! That is really an accomplishment 😊
This one:
https://youtu.be/Rm-J4OWyucY
I cannot find a lot of differences from when he was a young man and till that period of his life.
Another guy that hasn’t been saving his voice:
https://youtu.be/UqCRB3ajw-U
But he also sang his heart out 😊 – that clip is from the time when they were in Denmark.
I read an interview with Dan Baird where he claimed his voice wasn’t good. Well, maybe technically it lacks some but woah how he gives himself completely 💙 gotta love that!
His clothes has never been from a fashion show and yeah, he may not be handsome and all that, but when he sings he means every single syllable 😃
Really hope he recovers 😊 well both of them: Dan Baird and Danny Bower
December 20th, 2025 at 06:51@41
Thank you so much Fla76, I will use some time in the holidays to dwell into that 🙏🏼
December 20th, 2025 at 06:55@26 and others:
If I may add some female perspective here:
You see I have been thinking re Steve Morse and his comments about leaving Purple.
John McCoy was very hurt when Ian ended Gillan (the band 😉) and understandably so!
Sadly I have never met the great Ian Gillan (I’m not sure I would want to, I might faint and everything ☺️) but he seems to be a great guy, no sorry – a GREAT guy!
So when he of course can’t have time enough to keep friendships with all the people he has met in his life, some will surely be hurt and sad.
I have known types like Ian in my life, you know those persons that appear to be ‘larger-than-life’ – and you just never want them to disappear out of your life and mind.
And when they do disappear you are left a bit saddened and feeling quite sorry for yourself. And that sadness isn’t far away from anger…
Just saying!
Steve Morse seems to me to be a stand up guy! But his latest thoughts re Purple scream hurt feelings, at least in my ears.
That’s all gentlemen 😊
December 20th, 2025 at 07:06May you all have a lovely weekend, and may the never ending grace of Purple shine upon you forever (oh and the branches too of course 😄)
lets just sat purple shouldnt have got steve in the first place…he was always my favourite player along with ricardo in his day….steve is much to classy and intricate a player for purple they are good musos but cant touch steves level…they have now a guitarist who fits ie…blues rocker ..not to flash enough said….steve made them try to keep up and obviously couldnt play a lot of his ideas….
December 20th, 2025 at 09:24@George M.
> I’d rather hear five obligatory classics live — HS, SOTW, PS, Lazy, Hush — with, say, The Aviator, Nothing At All, Above and Beyond, Fingers to the Bone, Well Dressed Guitar etc. in the set.
I have a weird feeling that the people who don’t like Steve are the very same ones making decisions about the “classic” setlists. 🙂
December 20th, 2025 at 09:47I have Bob Ezrin down for influencing the band to replace Steve Morse, I think he treated Steve as a session player. I wish they had stopped at “Now what” maybe “infinite” . I didn’t particularly like “whoosh” and I think “=1” is a bit overrated.
December 20th, 2025 at 11:08I think they could have waited for Steve, all that “the band is on fire” “momentum” nonsense when they have had a year off this year.
This year’s tour is huge for a band of their vintage, good luck to them but I am not sure I would enjoy watching them in Manchester come November.
#31 Karin:
here’s perhaps something to listen to with the Christmas atmosphere in a world increasingly devoted to war, the right album by Gotthard is the unplugged D-Frosted, lots of good vibes from those songs and from the genuine spirit that permeates Gotthard
December 20th, 2025 at 12:35@ 37. Uwe, I can understand that Thunder’s music does very little for you but to call Danny’s voice ‘average’ is very odd. His range is incredible (listen to ‘Don’t Wait For Me’ or when they played ‘Love Walks In’ at Donington in 1990 – the footage of the latter is on YouTube) and he has a wonderful tone. I saw him sing with Glenn on a song and his voice was the more powerful of the two, while Glenn relies too heavily on falsetto (pretty much always the same wailing note these days). Glenn is a great singer and bassist, but I have found him increasingly irritating as time goes on, which may be more about me having less patience with his pretentiousness, but he just rubs me up the wrong way. Robby isn’t my cup of tea either, but it’s a good live vehicle for Paicey to play material he doesn’t get the opportunity to do these days, and keep his chops up when Purple isn’t touring.
December 20th, 2025 at 13:59Mein lieber Uwe, that’s exactly my point with Purpendicular: noone in the band is trying to be Jon Lord or Ritchie Blackmore. I have seen several line ups, oone ever acted like anyone in DP, no throwing shapes, no copying the style. The guitar players came from various backgrounds. One was clearly in favour of Steve Morse, others not so – but they never even tried to sound like DP. They’re aband in their own right, releasing albums and some songs fitted in nicely between the DP ones. They pick the rather funky stuff (One night in Vegas) – I guess IP likes just that. Their bassist Nicky Fyffe played with DP when RG couldn’t. And hey, they do some ealry WS stuff as well. What’s not to like? Always a great night out.
Have you seen Demon’s Eye? Now here’s someone trying to be Blackers for ya!
Enjoyed them anyway but a whole different approach, less party.
You mean quirky and weird …like in Status Quo?
December 20th, 2025 at 15:482 band members wanted Steve out. They should be “proud” of themselves as they are one of the main reasons we got the crappy =1. I put it on a few days ago after not listening to it for a long while to see if I was wrong about the CD when it first came out but to my mind, it is the worst and most boring DP album of all time. I know most folks here disagree with me but, so what?
December 20th, 2025 at 18:35I have nothing against Thunder, I just find them unexciting. I find AC/DC unexciting too, can’t help it.
I just knew you would bring up Status Quo, Max! 😂 No, they’re not quirky like Be-Bop Deluxe or Sparks, I’m just emotionally attached to them since teenage days. And if I listen to this
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VqCTb8RFMHg
and this here
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dEKueUG3FfU
then I hear a musical development within eight years that Thunder has yet to match, just sayin’.
As for Purpendicular, I don’t hear a lot of feel in how they play the Purple stuff and they eschew reinventing the music via radical new arrangements as well, it’s not like you hear Manfred Mann’s Earth Band covering Bruce Springsteen. Nor did I witness any great band chemistry, Little Ian was the only one who seemed to be enjoying himself, Robby is their financial director and everyone els is just interchangeably hired hands. I’ve never been to a gig of theirs where they played more than two of their own songs. I’d welcome it if they played more, believe me.
I don’t really like it if other bands play DP, it is something I have always avoided for myself too, it ruins the magic for me. Playing in a Purple tribute would kill the enjoyment of Deep Purple for me, no thanks.
I’ve seen and heard Nicky Fyffe with DP when he deputized for Roger. It was interesting to hear and proved how pivotal Roger’s “driving the bus”-approach is for Purple’s overall sound. Nicky must be a good bassist, because you have to be when you’ve played with Jamiroquai, but he has zero rock feel: At the gig I saw in Cologne, Purple’s whole backbone was missing. Yes, there was a bass playing in the mix, but it didn’t steer the ship, it was playing along. Roger’s contribution to the Purple sound is severely undervalued.
People always want to drag me to tribute band gigs of various classic rock bands: DP, Dire Straits, Pink Floyd, Status Quo, Fleetwood Mac, Judas Priest … I avoid them all like the plague. I think the emergence of dedicated tribute bands and their prevalence on the club circuit is a horrible trend. Call me arrogant, but I’ve seen Pink Floyd with Waters and enough David Gilmour and Roger Waters gigs in the flesh – I have no desire to see a band trying to emulate them as closely as he can. All this tribute stuff is cheesy to me – like Elvis impersonators.
That said, just to see Little Ian, it is likely that I will suffer through a few more Purpendicular gigs in the future and I of course have all their albums.
December 21st, 2025 at 00:45#52 Leslie:
tastes are tastes, for me 1= it’s much more hard rock, much more direct, much more alive than what Purple have done in the last 15 years!
#51 Max:
December 21st, 2025 at 01:06about being or not being like Purple, for this Christmas I’ll let you enjoy everything with this gem from the 60s/70s, the most famous Italian tribute band of DP:
Ladies and gentlemen, Emmaretta & Hallelujah
https://youtu.be/mn9wLw2cyY0?si=_xTV7EELtgE7_–J
https://youtu.be/xYvCYEwnb3c?si=uEMMbpv8TyWZCMLx
and finally a tribute version of SKOW to the best live album ever!
https://youtu.be/4R5m9iteHFE?si=6FlLAF8XHN01vHr0
#51. I am looking at the setlist for the most recent Purpendicular show. One track of their own, the rest DP/WS. Surely this means they are a DP/WS tribute band? In which case it helps to have a singer with a vocal style reminiscent of IG and/or DC. There are shades of “Rainbow” in the band’s musical delivery.
December 21st, 2025 at 05:12I feel the same about tribute bands, Uwe. But for me it’s different with Purpendicular because it’s Ian playing. This band may just have the best drummer in the world after all! And they are fun because they got that lose Rock’n’Roll feel that DP with SM had missing.
While THUNDER didn’t invent the wheel they do what they do very good, with feel and energy. They’re much more varied than ACDC. Organ, piano, accoustic guitars, horns….have you checked out their unplugged album Please Remain Seated?
December 21st, 2025 at 08:32@52
I would not call =1 a bad album, it’s fairly an OK one. But listening to =1 made me appreciating Slaves & Masters much more than I think, not to mention Come Taste the Band. Joe Lynn Turner injected all he got as the new member and making the sound new and powerful, no more “Call of the Wild” things.
I just don’t understand the hype over =1, other than beautiful Bleeding Obvious. It was like ‘Hey, we get ride of Morse’ celebration lol.
The first song unveiled, Portable Door, to my year it’s a modification of Pictures of Home. Lost opportunity, they could have relied more on guitar, as I believe Simon was one of Gary Moore’s ‘disciple’ (I wish the music could be like Gary Moore in the 1990’s).
December 21st, 2025 at 09:07They said =1 a harder/stronger album, I said what? There are heavier songs on Abandon or even Bananas than =1
@Hedger
For me =1 is one of three strange, DP albums. All of these albums were made during the disintegration band era, and two do not have… a sequel.
I only love the album with Bolin – in my opinion, one of the best Deep Purple albums.
December 21st, 2025 at 09:19Fla76…now we’re talking! 😁 Thanx for the linx, never heard of them.
December 21st, 2025 at 10:26Regarding the band members who wanted Steve out, my guess would be Gillan and Airey. Gillan simply because he is the boss and has the final say over band decisions.
December 21st, 2025 at 12:28Don may seem like an odd choice to want Steve out. I’m sure him and Steve got on fine, and musically they were very compatible. But I think once Don heard Steve talking about Purple ending, I think that definitely caused negative feelings. Don as great a keyboard player, before Purple was basically a session man, never in one place for very long. I’m sure looking at other well-known British keyboard players- Lord, Emerson, Wakeman, even Ken Hensley, he longed to be a member of a well-recognized band. He finally got it with Purple. I remember when he joined, I thought he would be in the band 2-3 years, for a couple albums and tours and move on. Happily, he proved me wrong, and being in Purple now for over 20 years Don wants to continue with the band for as long as possible. Also, Simon was playing with Don’s solo project, so I think that’s even more proof that Don liked to see Steve leave.
#57 You are correct. Some reviewers on YouTube were stating that =1 was their best album since Perfect Strangers!! Were they ever hyping it up LOL!!
December 21st, 2025 at 13:02@53
You find Thunder unexciting!?
Well, that’s of course your entitled right 😃
But Uwe, if you really want me to inherit that coveted drumstick you have in your cabinet with your basses and whatnots, then please listen to this and admit, at least to me, that Thunder is very exciting:
https://youtu.be/C7HZC3YL0gc
And this Uwe, this is pure joy:
https://youtu.be/UaaFWKKxl4g
And they can get the public’s attention 😃
This one is my favourite:
https://youtu.be/B2wZxCRy6CA
You cannot deny Danny’s voice is soulful and amazing! Not Ian-esque but he certainly can sing in his own right here and he has a glint in his eyes that are adorable!
But this one Uwe, this one is gut wrenching:
https://youtu.be/APlRZzR2lrk
The good way that is….
AC/DC has made a handful of decent songs, however Thunder has made A LOT! 😃
December 21st, 2025 at 17:07Well, I do not think it matters too much who and why. I only want to say two things. Steve Morse was an otherworldly giff to DP. And the second is my worry listening to Ian Gillan saying that equals one was their best selling album since 1984. I do not think we or them need an equals two.
December 21st, 2025 at 18:13@57,58 et al. Exactly. What would you put on your gramophone in 25 years?
December 21st, 2025 at 18:48#57 Andre:
It’s true that there were harder songs on Abandon, but it’s the rockiest album of the Morse era, and there’s nothing wrong with that.
December 21st, 2025 at 19:04Bananas was already softer, from ROTD to Whoosh onwards hard rock has faded more and more…
Thunder is to me like fourth generation Free —> Bad Company —> Foreigner —> Thunder.
Wonder Days from 2015 wasn‘t a bad album though. They put in an effort with that.
December 21st, 2025 at 22:54While they all draw from FREE, Foreigner never reached the class of Thunder in any way IMHO. Both of them, Jones and Morley, deliver great hooks…but Thunder is much more varied, much harder and grounded, more interesting, humorous. Working class heros…not flamboyant, granted, and I would not send their albums in outer space as a testament of the music of mankind (as I would do with MiJ) but they are way above most contemporaries. I guess DCwould have loved a writing partner like Luke. Very versatile, just listen to that body of work, including The Union and his solo stuff. And Danny may be the last one that came close to the likes of Rodgers or Coverdale…even if he didn’t reach them But who does?
December 22nd, 2025 at 07:36@60 sidroman.
I agree. I also don’t think there was animosity between Steve and Don but perhaps Don needed/wanted the money more than Steve and the others and was most reluctant to see Purple call it a day or greatly reduce touring schedule.
I’m sticking with Glover and Airey, with Gillan not glad that Steve is gone but not disappointed with the switch. Haven’t read one negative word about Steve from Ian Paice.
Here’s hoping the next LP is more memorable than the last one.
Cheers
December 22nd, 2025 at 14:35@66
Well Uwe, what can I say?
Taste is individual 😊
I love Thunder, I like Danny’s voice, I find the lyrics cute and funny – they are not like Ian’s lyrics – but who can write like him?
And the colours in my head are: breathtaking!
Greetings from a tiny, dark and cold country 👋🏼
December 22nd, 2025 at 16:12Funny how these threads fly completely off their orbits and we debate Thunder where we’re supposed to discuss Steve Morse.
Well, I’m up for the challenge. Uwe called Thunder a poor man’s Whitesnake. I’d call it a thinking man’s Free. A simple comparison:
Music diversity: Thunder 2 : WS 1
Lyrics meaning: Thunder 1 : WS -1
Image/stage persona: Thunder 1.5 : WS 1.5
Game, set, match Thunder.
Overall, Thunder comes off as a band, which is able to come up with better, more nuanced and emotionally mature music based on the same classic heavy blues than WS. Personally, as I grow older and lose my hair, I relate much more to what Danny’s got to say in his humble, funny, bitter, sarcastic and very British way, than David’s screams of an aroused animal anxious to mate.
December 22nd, 2025 at 19:11@66
I forgot completely Uwe, look at this:
https://youtu.be/q-VjTc-Ndrg
I’m thinking of the drummer extraordinaire! Woah man he is almost as splendid as Mick Tucker 😄
December 22nd, 2025 at 20:13And of course not as phenomenal as Ian P, but I really dig him!
@70
“Funny how these threads fly completely off their orbits and we debate Thunder where we’re supposed to discuss Steve Morse”
– Georgivs, you’re right of course but the persons are all musicians 😄
“I relate much more to what Danny’s got to say in his humble, funny, bitter, sarcastic and very British way, than David’s screams of an aroused animal anxious to mate.”
– alright then!
However I do like David Coverdale, which I haven’t all my life, but now I do!
What I really like about Thunder is the humour they seem to have in abundance 😃
And they do put on a splendid show. Sadly I never saw them live, but I really like to watch videos at YouTube.
I am not sure, but I guess Luke, the left handed guitarist, are the lyricist…. Guess the expert in here know more about that:
Juhu Max, do you know who wrote the lyrics in Thunder? 😊
December 22nd, 2025 at 22:00For my money, Thunder never came up with a stone-cold classic quite at the level of “Slow An’ Easy” or “Here I Go Again.”
On the other hand, they maintained a consistent level of quality throughout their career, with the bonus that – as Karin mentioned – Danny was able to retain his entire vocal range. Unlike Whitesnake, among whose later material there were some valleys to be found among the peaks, compounded by the fact that even on the strongest songs DC’s voice had lost a lot of its youthful vivacity.
On the face of it, it seems rather odd to compare the two bands side-by-side since they came from different decades. Akin to comparing late 70s / early 80s groups like Van Halen, Ratt, or Dokken to late 60s / early 70s acts like DP, Zeppelin, and Sabbath. Or comparing Jimi Hendrix with Bill Haley – each were of their respective, quite different, times.
The “poor man’s Whitesnake” may be a fair comparison, though, since by the time they emerged, Thunder’s sound already had a bit of a retro / revival feel. Whereas WS had helped define the sound of the previous decade.
Maybe that behind-the-times aspect is why – despite their hooks, humor, and strong singer – Thunder played to a niche audience and had such a stop-and-start career.
December 22nd, 2025 at 22:24Purple-people I have a little treat for you all:
https://youtu.be/TrV2Nrp8f7w
You’re welcome 😃
December 22nd, 2025 at 22:28@41
Fla76! Thank you 😃 I mean for presenting me for Gotthard and Steve Lee.
Just listened to this:
https://youtu.be/VOIGDZjZjBA
My girlish heart is touched 💚
This one:
https://youtu.be/n1VmXng7Ch4
I had heard it already but wasn’t aware of the singer’s name… I am now 😄
Of course no one on this green earth can sing it like this guy:
https://youtu.be/OorZcOzNcgE
But Steve Lee is not bad at all.
December 23rd, 2025 at 06:13However when Ian sang it, every single time I listen to it, little treacherous tears appears. Don’t know what Ian is doing compared to Steve Lee, but man Ian – sigh….. he puts his soul on the line here, and in these days where wars are been fought, this song means even more to me 💔
@41
He he he, of course I linked wrong when I linked Burning Bridges…..
So sorry! It’s a lovely song, but I meant this one:
https://youtu.be/_QjSghf1L0s
But Nic is very good too.
December 23rd, 2025 at 06:18Hi a little Christmas fun (not about Christmas):
Japanese medley of DP songs
https://youtu.be/SlYiZR6BsnY
Merry Christmas all
Janbl
December 23rd, 2025 at 06:49It was probably Ian Gillan. Steve Morse poured a bowl of spaghetti over Gillan’s head and we know how he never forgets banjo payers doing that to him. McBride should be ok for a while as these sort of things seem to develop over a long period of time. Oh the drama of it all. Cheers.
December 23rd, 2025 at 06:59@72 Juhu Karin, Luke Morley writes all the songs in THUNDER. Tunes and lyrics. Danny’s just the singer – and a brillant one.
December 23rd, 2025 at 10:29@79
Thank you Max!
Yeah, Danny was brilliant. Really hope he’ll get his health back.
Just got a live dvd with Thunder…. I have to say: woah! And: oh boy how sad I am I never got to see them live.
But life goes on, have I mentioned I’m attending two concerts with Purple next year 🤩🥳
December 23rd, 2025 at 10:44#74 Karin:
This video of the Tour Bus is very nice, I had never seen it before!
Ian always finds a way to make a joke here and there.
happy listening:
December 23rd, 2025 at 10:54https://youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_mZH34aH8GTnoEBtAmdy1D1WLjKCajSzeI&si=OzMSMeZ25QH-2x8n
and enjoy the view:
https://youtu.be/VTCLNCGB6Ko?si=Qa36r-NbVsHLUmzD
@73 Well, Senator, I must agree with on many of these points. The “behind-the-times” positioning and probably some lack of business instincts held them back. Although one may argue that their multiple Top Ten albums in the UK and strong following in the continental Europe (hello Karin ;)) somewhat redeem them commercially.
BTW, my fav Thunder album is Shooting at the Sun, the one that did not chart and had only a limited release. When I play it to my friends some of who are much better music connoisseurs than me, they normally go ‘Wow! Who’s that? So surprisingly good!’. In my book, musically Thunder have accomplished more than they get credit for.
December 23rd, 2025 at 12:11@78 MacGregor. Nah it was probably Glover, who told Morse: “It’s not personal. It’s just business.’’ Now where would he have heard that? That’s it from me on this one. What’s done is done. I’d join the other conversation taking place on this page but I haven’t a clue who Thunder are. Happy Holidays to all. Thanks to those involved in keeping this website running.
December 23rd, 2025 at 22:37@82 Georgivs – You’re right, Thunder’s success in the UK and Europe was nothing to sneeze at. On the other side of the Atlantic, nothing after their first LP got any play, which probably skews my perpective.
Played Thunder’s first four records a lot back in the day, the later ones not so much.
Thanks for the reminder that Shooting At The Sun is a good one too. Lots of Stonesy and grunge-y guitar stylings, showing that Morley & co. were capable of more than standard hard rock riffing. Though they were good at that as well.
“Out Of My Head” is my favorite song. Nice contrast between the heavy guitar solo and the poppy chorus. Which reminds me of the opening track on this Trickster record for some reason.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-nGOseWKc-Q&list=RD-nGOseWKc-Q&start_radio=1
Vale!
December 24th, 2025 at 03:12@81
Yeah Fla76, that is what I like so much about Ian: his never ending glint in the eye and ohhh man how his songs are filled with funny lyrical memes 😁
I will link to this song because it means so much to me, and no matter how secure and in peace we are, please let us not forget those who are in danger 🥺😢
https://youtu.be/OorZcOzNcgE
I send a hug to you all 🤗
December 24th, 2025 at 07:46@82
Well Georgivs I really appreciate Thunder 😄
Danny has a lot of what I appreciate so much in Ian too: making jokes in a sublime way and that glint in the eye I love so much 😃
If I may link to this lovely song by Ian:
https://youtu.be/3IrGLvkqUDM
I giggle every single time I play it 😄
And this with Thunder:
https://youtu.be/AZ31DQyuWv4
Please notice: 1:15 with Danny’s little move 😃
And this one:
https://youtu.be/rrISpBSWN30
1:07 – not a lot of singers wanna do what Danny does there 😄 making fun of himself!
(Yeah! I like to go for the details 😃)
And to make one thing clear: Purple are my band forever! Has been since I was a young lassie, will be till the day I die.
December 24th, 2025 at 08:01But Thunder are very very good too! 😊
@82
Oh I forgot Georgivs!
Please take a listen to this:
https://youtu.be/H6iDXeVWdwY
Live –
And this:
https://youtu.be/AZ31DQyuWv4
Studio recorded
I cannot hear the difference in his voice! I mean between the live version and the studio recorded version 😃
I guess a lot of the pro’s in here can, but I cannot.
And the drummer, Harry James, he really is something else!
December 24th, 2025 at 08:14Of course my number 1 is Ian P, but Harry James and Mick Tucker (Sweet) share the second place 😊
Hi All,
I don’t like hearing that Steve feels he lost his job to take care of his wife and that two guys didn’t like his style. It’s part of life, but Steve is not only a fantastic guitar player, but also a wonderful human being. I saw him several times with the SMB, with the Dixie Dregs, not only with Purple (I’m a Purple fan first of all…). I remember him playing in 2012 with his son after the Outstanding in their field album . Amazing.
After said so, I bought Triangulation from Bandcamp, and I didn’t like it that much. I mean: great technique, but far from the freshness of Split Decision. And John Petrucci may be celebrated worldwide , I just saw him with DT, but to me remains insanely boring. It’s enough to compare Richie’s solo in Stargazer and Petrucci’s solo…
Anyway, Long Live Rock’n’roll, Long Live Purple !
Alessandro
December 24th, 2025 at 14:21I Love Steve Morse as a musician and he a lovely man, I listened to some of the new album, and it is really not my cup of tea, unless you are guitar afficionado and a play the instrument. I like him better when he is part of a band
December 24th, 2025 at 15:24@87 Karin, both versions are great. I can hear some differences though. On the live version, Danny’s voice sounds a bit rougher but one can expect it from a live recording, unless it is Rob Halford singing, hehe. Danny stays close to the studio original anyway and to me this consistency is one of the marks of his superb professionalism.
December 24th, 2025 at 18:36@90
Yes Georgivs I agree, but what I meant was that his voice wasn’t beautified in any way!
What you heard was what you got!
I truly find all the members of Thunder highly professionals 😊
December 25th, 2025 at 15:06I severely doubt that had Thunder already existed in the 70s, they would have been put into the same class of even only B league hard rock acts such as UFO, Nazareth, Golden Earring, Bad Company, Scorpions, Uriah Heep or Thin Lizzy, let’s not even talk of the A league with DP, Zep and the Sabs.
Bluesy hard rock bands were a dime a dozen back then, anyone remember Bandit who supported PAL and had Jim Diamond on lead vocals?
https://youtu.be/Sd2cXaVzvvg
You probably know the singer from here a few years later:
https://youtu.be/8j-O3dI31ps
Beckett also ploughed a similar field to what Thunder would do a dozen years later:
https://youtu.be/pJ272g3Xjlk
Make no mistake, I’m not saying that anyone in Thunder is anything less than an accomplished musician. Perhaps my issue with them is that I found them lacking in the charisma/larger-than-life department. That Luke Morley can write a tune or two is beyond doubt, but Danny Bowes is to me not a frontman in the DC, Phil Lynott, Ronnie Dio, Freddie Mercury, Ozzy or Robert Halford mode, he doesn’t have that mystique to make an act really stand out.
December 28th, 2025 at 03:54@92
Uwe, Thunder started in the 80s, while the grunge thing was happening, so good, pure and decent rock’n’roll was despised big time.
But Danny can explain it much better:
https://youtu.be/UhUNd1clNDA
He is still a cutie, maybe not mysterious but that is right down my alley anyway ☺️
December 28th, 2025 at 13:02There is a new interview of Steve in a greek podcast (I was not aware of it, even though I am greek) :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZbNVOXCKwh8
I have not watched it yet, but it looks interesting and there is also discussion about DP, so I share for people here
December 28th, 2025 at 14:47The lack of Mystique as you call it Uwe is the main problem with Thunder indeed. The y’te more the boys next door. But very good at it. Timeless quality guarateed.
Bad Company…B league? Hello? Anybody home?
December 28th, 2025 at 19:08#93 Karin:
Karin, let me straighten out part of your statement:
It’s true that grunge in the US underground began in the second half of the 80s.
but until 1991 with Nirvana’s Nevermind and Peal Jam’s Ten the movement didn’t explode either in America or in the rest of the world.
on the other hand the English Thunder were almost ignored in America, and were overwhelmed by the grunge tsunami in 1991 as were 95% of the “old-old” or “young-old” bands that played hard rock.
paradoxically, if the Thunder had not been British, but Scandinavian or German, they would have survived better.
In Great Britain, after grunge, Brit pop also arrived, and for the poor Thunder, for the very talented Ten and other English hard rock bands, they were very difficult years
December 29th, 2025 at 01:09@92 O mein Gott! Uwe, you’ve got it wrong. All wrong. The whole hard rock universe of the ’70s wrong. Completely and utterly wrong! It’s not the frontman with the mystique, it’s the guitar player. A sexy outgoing frontman surrounded by laughing flirting girls AND a guitar player with mystique (could be substituted by a keyboard guy (Keith, Ken etc.)). That was the creed established by some ecumenical council of rock’n’roll and those deviating from it were officially anathemized. I thought you knew…
@95 Honest boys next door. My view exactly.
On Bad Company, musically not in the same league with DP and Sabbath and… but sales and recognition wise definitely League A.
December 29th, 2025 at 08:29Gee, rating bands into A and B grade……………….. Anyway, at least the ‘holy’ trinity made it into the ‘A’ grade listing. If Zep didn’t make that, there would have been HELL TO PAY, he he he. Serious now, well sort of, that Bandit band and Jim Diamond heavily influenced there by Bon Scott. And even more influenced, the lead vocalist Terry Wilson-Slesser in Beckett, a Percy imitator or what, both vocally and in mannerisms. I quite enjoyed their music though and of course I have never heard of them before. Thanks for the links Uwe and for also dragging me out from underneath this rock. There is a much bigger world out there, at least in rock music. Jim Diamond and Tony Hymas with PhD and their hit single was nice to hear, been a loooooooong time since I have heard that. Simon Phillips on drums, a nice song it is. Cheers.
December 29th, 2025 at 08:53@96
Thank you Fla76 😃
I was simply referring to other people’s statements.
In that period of time all I listened to was Purple 😊
I would have loved for Thunder to be Danish! And then UK could have dealt with Aqua 😝 😄
Do you know Aqua? Barbie Girl was, and I’m ashamed to say this: their one great “hit”….
When we moved into our house the blackbirds whistled that tune – and no matter how much Smoke on the Water I played very loudly, those birds were all plastic-fantastic 😄
December 29th, 2025 at 09:11@99 Karin, do I get it right that you’ve never heard Aqua’s other megahits ‘Doctor Jones’ and ‘My Oh My’, have ya? My gosh, you Danishers don’t value the treasure you’ve got… If we had a band like that in my home country, we’d erect the bronze statues of the musicians and be selling pilgrimage tours to those, Santiago de Compostela style.
December 29th, 2025 at 13:08It’s not so much a quality thing differentiating the A from the B League as having the grace of a good headstart and perhaps a magnetic front man figure (not necessarily the lead singer): Purple, the Sabs and Zep were well-established by the early 70s, the other bands I mentioned were somewhat later.
Had mercurial Schenker not left UFO and had Thin Lizzy’s drug-related life style not derailed them again and again, we might have seen both bands climb the ladder further. Bad Co of course did extremely well in the US right from the start and gave Led Zep, Purple and Sabbath a run for their money, but they never had the same success outside of North America.
And of course I didn’t classify bands such as Grand Funk Railroad, Aerosmith, BÖC, Triumph, BTO, Ted Nugent and/or Foghat (who were British, but only famous in the US) who all did extremely well in the US too.
There is also a C League of Brit hard rock bands, that is where I would put Trapeze, Budgie, Heavy Metal Kids, Black Widow etc. Again not in terms of musicality but in commercial saturation of the record buying market.
December 29th, 2025 at 17:12Max, come on, Bad Co was watered down Free. Commercially well executed and strong songs, but already following a template and playing it very safe.
Georgivs, to me a strong frontman need not necessarily be the singer though he naturally often is. But with Led Zep, it was a tie between Page and Plant and one could argue that Ritchie was the guitar frontman of DP though he never spoke on stage. Even Jon had a frontman role of sorts too. Same with Sabbath, Ozzy was the crowd pleaser and court jester jumping about, but I think Iommi dominated the stage.
December 29th, 2025 at 17:25Except Uriah Heep 1970 and Golden Earring were around well before the 1970’s, more commercially known a tad later on, early 70’s. Same with the Scorpions I suppose, but technically speaking they were formed in the mid 60’s too. Am I splitting hairs again, yes it appears so, however we have to get a few things correct don’t we Uwe. You did ‘teach’ me to research much more, he he he. Still, if we can now get Karin to get off Facebook and do some research, another disciple is born eh? Ouch! Cheers.
December 29th, 2025 at 21:11Uwe, Come On…the WS song…sure owes a lot to Bad Co. You are right in your analysis but I’d rate them first league. Their first 3 albums are brillant and the other ones still carried some good tunes.
December 29th, 2025 at 21:21In hindsight and looking back into the early 1970’s and there was shift of sorts in regard to radio friendly rock music. Wily ole Peter Grant could see that and pushed Bad Company along. Bachman Turner Overdrive had already appeared with that straight harder rock style, melodic and very much in demand. BC had the ex Free lead singer songwriter and Mick Ralphs on guitar, also a songwriter as such and from Mott the Hoople. So there wasn’t a surprise when both of those bands became rather popular by the mid 70’s. Of course CCR had previously excelled with that short melodic guitar driven rock song format with their success, but we all know how quickly they disappeared, if you know what I mean. Good guitar driven rock songs from all of those bands at the time. I have always considered BC as more of a studio band and I have yet to hear any live performance of them because I was never interested in how they delivered in concert. It always had a ‘studio’ only feel to it. Uwe has rightly commented on this before. At least BTO were a little raunchier and more pedal to the metal, so they would have kicked out live in concert a little more I would think. Plus Paul Rodgers and his ‘baby’ affliction always annoyed me, still does. Cheers.
December 29th, 2025 at 22:03@100
Indeed I have Georgivs, but well… I do adore Purple! And in my mind Purple and Aqua are as far apart as the east are to the west (psst: two points never meet)
Have you ever listened to DAD?
https://youtu.be/h-Q6yQsXUr4
A very nice Danish rockband 😊 with lots of charm and glint in the eyes 😄
December 29th, 2025 at 22:47My dear Purple-people 😃
To end all these very interesting debates regarding Thunder and even Aqua, may I ask an innocent little question regarding the singer who immortalized the song that this fine website is named after?
Of course those of you who have a head of hair like this fine gentleman has, maybe will be able to satisfy my endless curiosity with some heartfelt personal experiences, but regardless, please enlighten me!
How can he sing with that amount of hair in his mouth?
https://youtu.be/F00xG7szj2Y
Thinking of 0:41, 1:17, 1:59, 2:20 – 2:35
And what happened to his tongue 😱 1:30
Well of course some would argue that the whole experience is playback, and to that I agree, but playback or not, the poor guy still needed to breathe….?
Well, he is Ian, he can do whatever pleases him 😃
And maybe a little too early, but please dear ones: safely enter 2026 ☺️ 🥂🍾
December 30th, 2025 at 07:29…and as we speak of FREE … Of course Bad Co had a lot of them … 2/4 exactly – with KOSS sadly missing. And speaking of him and discussing SRV someplace else: Paul Kossoff’s playing was soulful and sublime I’d say. He’s easy in my top 10 when it comes to guitar players. So much more moving than all those six string wizards with the painful faces.
December 30th, 2025 at 09:43@107: That performance is playback. He is not singing live, he is miming to a recording.
December 30th, 2025 at 13:39@109
Thank you Svante 😃
See I knew that already!
And if I may quote myself:
“Well of course some would argue that the whole experience is playback, and to that I agree, but playback or not, the poor guy still needed to breathe….?”
I just wondered how he copes?
I would go rather hysterical 🫣
So to be watching Ian with that enormous lion mane, I wonder how he can go on?
Actually in this video:
https://youtu.be/eMbBtWdklxI
More specific 0:35, he talks about getting a rabbit out of his mouth, but clearly he has not as much hair there as the other video in @107
Well ok, it has been a slow day, so excuse me for go into details so mundane 😄
December 30th, 2025 at 15:47@103
MacGregor, please explain:
“Still, if we can now get Karin to get off Facebook and do some research, another disciple is born eh? Ouch!”
Why do I need to get off FaceBook? We have a blast in there 😃
And what kind of research do you need me to do? If it has anything to do with coffee and the effect on the human mind, body and overall wellbeing, I’m all for it 😃
If it has anything to do with champagne and the upcoming December 31th, I politely have to decline ☺️ because I take care of animals at my home so all I enjoy is a lovely coffee and maybe a single glass of something alcoholic… I don’t know yet.
Luckily Anton is completely indifferent to fireworks, as he is to thunder (not the band, that music he loves, I’m thinking of the phenomenon that often occurs during the summer time, at least in my country)
If it has anything to do to with music, well of course I have been reading yours, Uwe’s and Max’ interesting conversations, but you gentlemen are so high above me in intellect and knowledge, that I’m lost beforehand…
May I instead invite you to listen and watch this fine tune 😊
December 30th, 2025 at 16:05https://youtu.be/tZ-0PwWhGMs
@ 111 – It seems like Karin has good reasons to communicate electronically, on any platform. I was joking Karin. It was in reference to Uwe giving us a hard time occasionally over some of our comments, technically speaking that is. In regard to your ‘higher intelligence’ comment. I don’t look at anyone being higher or smarter or anything else. It is a level playing field from where I see it. The only differing points are different tastes in certain music, artist etc and that is a good thing. So keep on posting electronically, don’t send anymore letters Karin, unless inside a bottle cast at sea. Cheers.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-12-31/denmark-postal-service-ends-letter-delivery/106188988
December 31st, 2025 at 02:38@ 111- thanks Karin for the Uriah Heep ‘Sympathy’ song. Here it is live in concert, 2001 same (1977) lineup plus current singer and keyboard player. Free n’ Easy as the encore. The Magicians Birthday Party reunion. Cheers.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87ZZ7MQN-04&t=3s
December 31st, 2025 at 05:04@112
MacGregor!
“don’t send anymore letters Karin, unless inside a bottle cast at sea”
– ha ha very funny!
I can tell you, Anton is not amused 😄
December 31st, 2025 at 11:55@113
You’re welcome, and thank you for the link 😊
I found this little gem:
https://youtu.be/P2KnD7sfpoA
I have a soft spot for FF, and this song with the little guy behind the drums really touch my heart.
December 31st, 2025 at 11:58#102 Uwe:
competition, bad company never had the swing that early Whitesnake had.
despite the fantastic Blue Öyster Cult (part of the second division league) I have always considered them cold and perfect, but a recognizable and unique coldness, not in a wrong sense… the Bad company are perhaps the very good group, but with the least feeling that America ever produced in the 70s/80s, so I put them in the third division league.
I saw Paul Rodgers with Queen in the early 2000s, a great professional, but I never understood what Ritchie found in his voice that was so particular, precisely because I always found BC’s mixes aseptic, perhaps he had seen him live in the 70s and it was incredible for Ritchie’s eyes and ears
December 31st, 2025 at 13:14Ritchie was into Free, not BC I would think. That really early Paul Rodgers vocal. It wouldn’t have lasted two nano seconds though. Ritchie was dreaming…………………myself I preferred the early BC, only the first couple of albums though. I thought The Firm were quite good in places. I have the first album on cd, replacing the vinyl of which I owned both albums. It makes us wonder what Ritchie may have thought of his ole mate Page ‘nicking’ Rodger’s? Although that was a decade later of course. Cheers.
December 31st, 2025 at 21:04#102 Uwe:
January 1st, 2026 at 01:41“competition” it slipped through my fingers!
I wanted to write in “agreement” (with you)
Well Fla76, Paul Rodhers is rated one of the best – if not the best – voices in Rock’n’Roll. Not only by RB but by many other musicians, critics and fans. As far as I am concerned : for a reason. His voice is breathtaking indeed. Not all of his work since the mid 70s is essential but whatever he sings sounds good. Queen chose him for a reason. RB wanted him. Page got him.
January 1st, 2026 at 14:17I remember many many decades ago the media term ‘the voice of rock’ being placed upon Paul Rodgers. And even then I thought that was not really correct, but I knew what they meant in that sense. However, unfortunately Glenn Hughes became the medias attention to that once used phrase. I don’t know, maybe that was even used before Rodgers was endowed with it. I do think Rodgers is much more suited to that, if we were going to be serious about that sort of thing. I still remember the absurd one used for the Stones, ‘the greatest rock ‘n roll band in the world’. Oh dear. Cheers.
January 1st, 2026 at 21:33“Luckily Anton is completely indifferent to fireworks, as he is to thunder …”
And there you have it, she turned the poor critter deaf with her incessant Gillan worship!
************************
Paul Rodgers has a great natural voice, never overstretches himself (in that way much like RJD) and the warmth in his vocal cords appeals to many people. But his vocal melodies are unadventurous as hell – making people like Plant, Gillan and even Ozzy – or Freddy Mercury for that matter –
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZSaMYkjIkf8
sound like daring innovators. I find his vocal style at times unbearably conservative and plain boring. The real musical force in Free was quirky Andy Fraser, and it was him that set Free apart from Bad Co’s meticulously planned conventionalism for the American airwaves:
https://youtu.be/TB3zj8jrZHs
But I can immediately see, why Blackmore was attracted to him. Very similar in their musical conservativism.
January 1st, 2026 at 22:01Can’t see how Bad Co. were a lesser band to Free.
BC were more overtly commercial, certainly, but Mick Ralphs also brought a harder-rocking, less strictly “blues” aspect to their sound.
Boz Burrell’s bass playing was outstanding, as good in its own way as Andy Fraser’s, and very distinctive owing in part to his extensive use of a fretless instrument.
Simon Kirke may not have “swung” like a jazz-influenced drummer in either group, but “grooved” like someone well-versed in soul music. And was much better-recorded in Bad Co.
Agree with the general consensus that Bad Co.’s first two or three LPs were their best.
Interesting to observe that on their early records the Ralphs compositions were more to the fore, albeit recycled from his Mott days in some cases, while later on Rodgers’ compositions dominated. Maybe that had something to do with it. Nonetheless all of their records had at least *some* good songs.
Too bad there have been so few archival releases. The band used to change up their setlist frequently, and especially in their early years used to play quite a few old soul and blues numbers that weren’t on their albums.
If Ian Hunter hadn’t feuded with Muff Winwood, maybe Mott’s glam / bubblegum version of “Movin’ On” could have been a hit in 1971.
January 1st, 2026 at 23:31https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tqbMEF62bo0&list=RDtqbMEF62bo0&start_radio=1
@119
Before getting myself into troubles I actually listened thoroughly to Paul Rodgers…
https://youtu.be/x6rliRtir6A
And yeah, Max, he has a pleasant voice! (Pleasant…!)
And then I found this one:
https://youtu.be/kNPTat4SVaU
Ok, please excuse me, but me being used to FM as their vocalist, PR lacks some edge 🫣
But this man:
https://youtu.be/hFDcoX7s6rE
– in your face ☄️💥🔥
Talking about owning the stage 😃 (where some others, no one mentioned no one forgotten, more borrowed the stage and delivered it back in silence 😄)
Queen are amazing here:
https://youtu.be/nBKJjRwvEsI
And this one! Ohhh my 😄
https://youtu.be/o-0ygW-B_gI
And this, and sorry for the vocalist, but please take a listen:
https://youtu.be/VgCKs9qxO1Q
But compared to the original singer:
https://youtu.be/0ORIoUohBUc
– even Rob Plant can’t do much compared to FM!
Well, this wasn’t meant to be a tribute to Queen and Freddie, so let me get back on track:
No wait! Just need to put this in here too:
https://youtu.be/3_t8MWUmCCw
Mostly because of the drums and Freddie’s overwhelming self confidence 🤩
But compared to you-know-who, no one can sing like him (Imho and all that ☺️)
And yes I am thinking of this English bloke:
https://youtu.be/u1kZ9zYr7kk
But this man here is not bad indeed either:
https://youtu.be/XBIyFiGzWZs
Even though ‘our kid’ is the most successful singer of the two, the Chief certainly knows how to deliver a heartfelt message too!
And Danny Bower has captured a tiny corner in my heart, mostly because he is so positive and enduring no matter his current health situation, which I really hope will be better 😊
This song here is adorable:
https://youtu.be/Rm-J4OWyucY
Now I really need a fresh cup of coffee!
January 2nd, 2026 at 08:11123 …
Danny Bowes is influenced by Rodgers a big deal. You can hear it and he said so, THUNDER even covered FREE. As Uwe stated, Paul ain’t no innovator and his tunes sound unadventures to boring for the most time, especially the ones he wrote on his own in later year.
January 2nd, 2026 at 12:45That QUEEN chose him to do the Freddy speaks volumes though. After all they could have had anyone. And they picked him who was a million miles away from Mercury’s cabaret opera style of singing. On some of the songs PR could put some kind of male stamp so to say, Fat Bottomed Gilrs amaong them Others he did not get across too well.
It would have been very interesting to see what he would have done with Gillan’s songs …
@121
“And there you have it, she turned the poor critter deaf with her incessant Gillan worship!”
– 😄 Uwe, I have whispered this in Anton’s ear: if you ever meet Uwe Hornung you may bite him in his derriere!
And not only the glorious music of Gillan & co, but also Thunder, Dan Baird & Georgia Satellites, Oasis + the bro’s solo albums, and apparently also Queen has a place now in my playlist!
January 2nd, 2026 at 13:20The reason Paul Rodgers became Queen’s singer was that he had been the late Freddie Mercury’s favorite singer. They wanted to honor him. Of course, Freddie’s and Paul’s voices and stage demeanor are nothing alike which is why I consider Rodgers teaming up with Queen a mismatch of gargantuan proportions. Irreconcilable. Like asking David Coverdale to sing in YES.
It was awkward and solely driven by money. Also somewhat strange that Rodgers, who has had lifelong issues with gay people as his recurring tensions with Andy Fraser (who as an unhappy teenager, young adult and hetero role family man only came out late in his life) again and again showed, should take the place of a gay icon like Freddie. To my mind, Queen doesn’t work with a straight singer nor can a straight man sing I Want To Break Free credibly – it is not about hitting notes you know.
That said, Freddie Mercury could have never sung with Free, Bad Co or The Firm either.
And Paul Rodgers’ influence on a young DC or a young Lou Gramm(atico) cannot be overheard either:
https://youtu.be/2m8lq7xk0eg
It’s uncanny in places.
January 2nd, 2026 at 19:43I agree with Uwe in regard to Paul Rodgers being very conservative with his voice. Plus he isn’t a ‘charismatic’ frontman at all, however that isn’t what he was into. He is a song man, very dedicated to that side of his career. I do agree with Skippy, Bad Company were much more melodic and the chemistry worked very well with Mick Ralphs, another established songwriter as such. Free were a good start for that style, however I always thought there was something missing. Maybe they were trying too hard to be the next big blues hard rock band, I don’t know. I hear Rodgers and Free songs as an attempt to get in on the early Led Zeppelin scene, for want of a better description. Rodgers over singing at times, trying to force his vocals doesn’t work. Wonderful musicians as Fraser and Kossoff were, perhaps the chemistry wasn’t right. Bad Company worked out very well for a few albums. We had this discussion not that long ago, from my memory. All good though. Wishing Well is a classic song and it set a template of sorts for a few artists that followed, including two of the musicians involved with it. Cheers
January 2nd, 2026 at 21:48#119 Max:
Paul certainly had a beautiful voice, perhaps warm, less warm than others, without peaks, he wasn’t a phenomenon but always a guarantee of intonation without risks.
I repeat, I never understood all this fuss about his voice, but when I went to see Queen in 2005 with my bassist at the Milan Forum, I think out of 10,000 people, it was just the two of us plus 20 other people who were there to see Paul and listen to his songs instead of Queen’s!
January 3rd, 2026 at 13:50Paul was a great professional on stage with them, he was even massacred for that by Queen fans but it was to be expected.
@124
“Danny Bowes is influenced by Rodgers a big deal.”
Max, I really cannot hear that! But maybe that’s just me 😊
Danny Bower is much more raw in his voice, but if he says so himself then of course I bow ☺️
“It would have been very interesting to see what he would have done with Gillan’s songs …”
January 3rd, 2026 at 16:10– please don’t play with me 😱
@126
“that he had been the late Freddie Mercury’s favorite singer.”
Ohhh really Uwe? 😊
Favourite the same way as BT once many many many moons ago was Ian’s?☺️
“I consider Rodgers teaming up with Queen a mismatch of gargantuan proportions.”
– just my opinion as well!
“To my mind, Queen doesn’t work with a straight singer nor can a straight man sing I Want To Break Free credibly – it is not about hitting notes you know.”
– I know exactly what you mean!
I have often wondered if a woman could have sung this in a believable way? With a completely different theme behind the words of course 😊
Is this for real?
https://youtu.be/jYvcdhCbzJw?si=7JUsN4YxV-wDiggh
Guess not 😄
https://youtu.be/SN5BjkcOiVQ?si=ae1Bp0Lw5vZSfYY2
Not the same punch… but her voice is dear 😊
Lisa S:
https://youtu.be/Bc38C9vMUYY?si=JCHWVUXYdADu2EQ6
She’s adorable but not convincing like Freddie was ☺️
And this:
https://youtu.be/eJFRaT1BZeI?si=QSTqGlIEsCiz4Fez
No no no no…..
I guess that woman who can sing this song hasn’t been discovered yet 😄
January 3rd, 2026 at 16:38@119 & @128
May I add a tiny opinion from a cold and snow covered Denmark?
It’s not just the voice people! 😃
It is the person behind that makes it – a voice can be as perfect as can be, but if the person who’s carrying this voice doesn’t have the personality to match, well, then it all falls down I guess.
And NO! I’m not suggesting PR hasn’t got any personality 😊
I guess the singer must really believe in him/herself to get past the lp/cd/cassette tape/stage/etc 😊
January 3rd, 2026 at 16:45Uwe I don’t know where you got the information that PR has issues with gay people. Having disagreements with someone like Andy Fraser sure ain’t no prove for that.
I think it’s a bit risky to say a straight guy can’t sing Queen songs. Imagine someone goin’ “oh, a woman can’t do this or that…” or “N*ggers can’t sing Rock’n’Roll”. (Before it gets deleted or the shitstorm starts: Mother’s Finest, a band mainly consisting of black people sang just that…it’s the title of a song that makes fun of statements like that.)
And for me… the Queen live album with PR is the Queen album I go to when I’m in the mood for a couple of Queen songs.
January 3rd, 2026 at 22:48#131 Karin:
well Karin, Paul Rodgers certainly had personality and charisma, and he was the frontman of two historic hard rock bands, he knew how to hold the stage, and – just to make a comparison – I think he is definitely more relevant than the talented Danny Bowes.
Ok, I was the first to say that Paul’s voice never really caught my attention, but Paul was a rock big name and wrote some immortal songs with Free and Bad Company.
When we discuss bands outside of Purple here, if they are 70s bands they are still bands made up of great musicians, who knew how to play and sing with instantly recognizable personalities.
January 4th, 2026 at 00:27then we are here criticizing them by nitpicking, but they were part of the great history of hard rock
An interesting comparison and similarity with Paul Rodgers teaming up with other ‘legends’ of the past. Apparently when he joined up with Jimmy Page, he did so to help Page back into the music business following the demise of LZ a few years earlier. Fast forward and Rodgers again links up with ex Queen members to help them back into performing the live music of Queen and to compose some new music too. I suppose the big difference is that with Page, they didn’t get into their past bands material at all. With Queen, well that was alway on the agenda. The fact that both bands recorded new music is the positive thing about it all. It wasn’t just a nostalgia fest. The Firm setlist below from Page himself. Cheers.
https://www.facebook.com/jimmypage/posts/on-this-day-in-1984-i-played-the-hammersmith-odeon-with-the-firmthis-was-the-fir/1434020658080570/
January 4th, 2026 at 01:22@133
Fla76 – and isn’t it just amazing how we can hold our own favourites dear and keep them precious to us!
When one of us likes Elvis, some other of us prefer Ian, or Danny 😃
What a lovely time to be alive! That we aren’t put into jail or held hostage because of our individual tastes 🤗
January 4th, 2026 at 13:09(No, I’m certainly not thinking of North Korea nor Venezuela, it was just me making a comment in general 😄)
Jumping in the Queen debate a bit, I have to disagree with Uwe’s “Queen doesn’t work with a straight singer”. For me Queen cannot really work with any singer other than Freddie. He was one of the rare dominating figures in a band, which was generally full of talent, but taking him out seems impossible.
Then it is a matter of taste, so Max can prefer Paul Rodger’s versions, but I really cannot feel how this is possible…
January 4th, 2026 at 14:32@136
Manic Miner!
How I rejoice every single time any of you in here are able to explain in very few words what I’m at least a novel à la Ken Follett (btw: the new novel about Stonehenge should be something else, but hey, this has nothing to do with music 😄) to say….
You are of course right MM!
On the other hand, Freddie is unfortunately not among the living at this time of age, so what to do?
Personally I do of all my little black heart prefer the recordings with Freddie, because as you so elegantly put it:
“For me Queen cannot really work with any singer other than Freddie. He was one of the rare dominating figures in a band, which was generally full of talent, but taking him out seems impossible.” 😃
But I guess some people would prefer a singer of some sorts instead of Freddie, and that’s there prerogative….. I will never mingle in such discussions (well maybe a little bit, but let’s take that another day 😄)
Did Paul Rodgers have the drive, that overwhelming self confidence, the ‘tongue-in-cheek’ as Freddie had, is not for me to decide for them, but for me: certainly not!
And this lead me to another train of thoughts…. (Yeah Ken Follett hasn’t lived in vain 😁)
Should Ian at some point in time decide not to sing anymore, would I dwell into the music of Deep Purple as I do now?
That’s by all means a question of which vocalist the rest of the band dig up!
I cannot for the death of me see (hear?) any other vocalist than Ian in Purple.
N O T A T ALL!
Let me end this little essay with a song very dear to me:
https://youtu.be/zwqWclYDyJg
Could anyone else sing this with this charisma, the personality, the charms?
No…. Not in my little black book!
The first time I heard In Rock, and later Machine Head, I was captured by his voice. Even a rather simplistic lyric gets wings whenever he sings, Ian that is 😊
How sad the chapter of Purple was, when he stopped in the 70s.
No one, not even the talented David Coverdale who did tremendously well in Whitesnake, could do justice to the songs of which Ian had been singing so brilliant.
This song:
https://youtu.be/4fTTQn_Dxkg
Which were admired by Little Richard, was given new life when Ian lifted it up to new glory singing it as a very young man.
I have earlier explored the weird colour thing happening in my head, and that is all I can measure music and voices after, because sadly I cannot play any instrument at all, but the colour-thingy tells me in bright beautiful colours what a magnificent and splendid singer Ian was and certainly is!
I have never heard him sing anything that wasn’t amazing in all aspects..
And I guess that’s how I also feel (see..) re Freddie. He had something undefinable that did justice to the music of Queen. Just like Ian has re Purple😊
This tune, well I guess it speaks for itself 😃
January 4th, 2026 at 17:42https://youtu.be/3IrGLvkqUDM
@ 135 – keep the negative political crap out of here Karin. This site IS NOT Facebook. Or as I call it, ‘the faceless book’. Cheers.
January 4th, 2026 at 20:41Have to agree with Manic. @ 136. I have stated this before in regard to iconic lead vocalists from an established band. Impossible to replace them. Those vocalists are also quite involved with the songwriting too. Anything after them sounds like a tribute act. I have never listened to Paul Rodgers or anyone else singing Queen songs. I have had a listen to their (Rodgers, May and Taylor’s) original songs on that ‘new’ album. It didn’t make we want to buy it, it was ok, sort of. What is that old saying, attributed to Oscar Wilde but more than likely from an earlier writer(s). “Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery that mediocrity can pay to greatness”. Cheers.
January 4th, 2026 at 20:53Max, Fraser always felt belittled by Rodgers. It might have been because he was the youngest member of Free even though he was the main writer together with him. As time went on, Fraser literally “discovered his voice” and wanted to sing more in Free – Rodgers wouldn’t have it. So Fraser eventually left. Rodgers couldn’t understand why he couldn’t be happy being just an excellent bassist.
On a different level, that clash repeated itself, when Fraser, already a family man with two daughters, came out as gay. That kind of radical shedding of skin was, according to Fraser, incongruous to Rodgers who as very much a macho man never felt comfortable with it.
Things came to a head in preparation for the Free reunion of sorts at Woodstock II (with a terribly underrehearsed Slash who stepped in after Brian May dropped out when Rodgers didn’t want to do any Queen songs in the Free set). Rodgers called an already sick with AIDS Fraser at the 11th hour to ask him whether he could play. When Fraser affirmed, Rodgers told him he’d sent him a tape so he could “relearn the songs” – Fraser who had co-written most of them (Alright Now is his composition alone) felt insulted by that, at best as yet another callous move of Rodgers. Needless to say, the gig was a shambles.
Which leads us to Queen. Freddie Mercury, as many gay men do, believed in flamboyance and reinvention – just look at what a radical departure from previous Queen albums the Hot Space album was. And then you go and “replace” this guy with someone like Paul Rodgers who is zero flamboyant and entrenched in an image he created for himself 55 years ago, n’er an iota of deviation. Freddie Mercury would have clasped his hands to his cheeks and exclaimed: “Oh, dearest!”
And for the record: I didn’t even think Priest worked without Auntie Roberta’s gayness. Tim “Ripper” Owens sang all the right notes with even more ferocity than Halford (who adores Freddie Mercury), but Priest need a camp frontman. The straight Yank was lost fronting them.
January 4th, 2026 at 22:30Manic: Of course Queen needed Freddie – the band was his vision. And John Deacon realized that immediately once Freddie was gone. But if Brian and Roger were adamant to play old Queen chestnuts then Paul Rodgers was as unlikely and ill-fitting a choice as it gets. The studio album they recorded together felt lackluster and strained, reaching neither Queen nor Bad Co quality. An album arrived at by committee resolution, the lawyers probably spent more time on it than the musicians.
Re Bad Co: The band had solid songwriting on its first couple of albums – I even liked Burning Sky which saw everyone but Paul Rodgers relegated to a back seat, and the sophomore effort Straight Shooter is my favorite even above the debut -, but for 1974 Bad Co was mainly one thing: very safe and not ruffling any feathers. My God, compared to the Bad Co debut even Burn sounds like a daring PROG record! 🤣
They were all good players in that band, Kirke’s sparse style, Burrell’s also sparse, but very tasteful bass style. Mick Ralphs was no guitar hero, but a good foil for Rodgers. (Yet even he played more inventively with Mott the Hoople, just listen to the guitar intro of All The Young Dudes which even though a Bowie song was his idea alone.)
I have live recordings from Bad Co, you couldn’t say that they didn’t deliver the goods. Since they cleverly restrained themselves from going overboard with overdubs in the studio, their music – unlike Zeppelin’s – didn’t sound live all that different to their very disciplined albums – and that is what their audiences were happy with. Rodgers is no showman, but he had chest-beating macho presence.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8i39UtdOp7I
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vDwT5EpR7Uo
https://youtu.be/NVUw0GXFVWY
That music isn’t bad or not well-made, but compared to this here
https://youtu.be/uyle6hZLxRc
it lacks intensity, grit and derring-do. But, perhaps understandably so after the turmoils of Free, Rodgers wanted reliability, discipline and perfection from Bad Co. And he got it on those first albums before the juices ran dry. (The last Bad Co release with Rodgers was a miserable record.)
What followed with other singers was to me no longer Bad Co (I saw them live back then, opening for Purple on the THOBL tour), I may have my qualms about Rodgers’ penchant for testing boundaries as opposed to just singing nicely, but he is impossible to replace in the Bad Co format, it was his baby.
January 5th, 2026 at 05:41@138
And a VERY good morning to you too Sir 🤣
Just you wait until I’m gonna take a turn re Tasmania! 😃
(And I don’t think you’ll find anyone more apolitical than me…)
Let’s celebrate this glorious freezing morning with a little tune:
https://youtu.be/NVIbCvfkO3E
Let’s take two, since we have double digits freezing degrees 🥶
https://youtu.be/T3qqRZhWzDI
January 5th, 2026 at 06:37@138
What Karin said is a fact. Nothing more nothing less. I don’t think her intention was to be political and I certainly didn’t take that way.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sH0Qda32IKM
January 5th, 2026 at 08:53@140 “Things came to a head in preparation for the Free reunion of sorts at Woodstock II”
Point me in a direction of some sort with information about this. I can’t seem to find anything about a Free reunion at anything related to “Woodstock”.
January 5th, 2026 at 10:35@ 140- “Freddie Mercury would have clasped his hands to his cheeks and exclaimed: “Oh, dearest!” Uwe, these double entendre’s you keep coming up with, how can we ever deal them, honestly. Cheers.
January 5th, 2026 at 10:53@138
Mac Gregor, Deep purple is our great love and surely above politics. But we can allow some political comments, especially if there are parallels to DP and family. E.g., I could not avoid thinking today, if the fine Nobel Prize winning lady will be feeling like JLT did in Rainbow Reunion…
https://abcnews.go.com/International/trump-venezuelan-opposition-leader-respect-govern-after-maduro/story?id=128868550
@141
Uwe I agree that Paul Rodgers was not the choice one would expect. The issue is though not that it was a choice that did not work, it is a case where I cannot think of any possible choice that would work. Another couple of cases that come to mind are The Doors and Motorhead. I admit that probably it is history that teaches though. Maybe if Black Sabbath had done nothing outside Ozzy, I would have included him in that list, and I would have been wrong…
January 5th, 2026 at 10:54Uwe, I didn’t hear about the Free reunion to this day but might have missed that though I always kept firm interest in everything Rodgers.
Not convinced …the fact PR has had issues with Fraser as a band member (those things happen I heard DP fans say) or had a macho attitude – as many a blues singer – does not make him a homophobe. (See Rod Stewart/Elton John).
And maybe Queen just wanted someone who’s able to fillbig shoes, command a stadium crowd and who can see eye to eye. Replace one of the greatest by another one. (See Brian Johnson/Axl Rose). It may not have been the idea to create something artisticly innovative but to play classic songs with someone who can deliver.
Why not try someone with a different approach? Why can’t straight people sing songs gays wrote? Elton John songs have been covered a thousand times by women and straight men and there are some very nice results to be listened to. Free your mind…and the rest will follow.
Noone ever said Bad Co were pushing any boundaries. Sometimes you can be very very happy with meat and potatoes well cooked. Timeless stuff…like early WS.
January 5th, 2026 at 11:10@ 142 @ 143- with respect to both of you, Russ and Karin. As Ian Gillan said, the two things he will not discuss etc. Anyway without banging on about it, music for me is like a few other things in life, very good escapism and enjoyment, totally separate from all the nasty things in life on this planet, that we try our best to avoid. It sort of spoils the atmosphere for me. From not even thinking about anything like that or wanting to even go there, there it is. I can handle that, it is just not where I think it should be, in a place of relaxation and enjoyment. One of the reasons I stopped listening to certain Rogers Waters related music decades ago, ie; The Wall and The Final Cut by Pink Floyd. The lyrics and message are not very ‘uplifting’ for the soul etc. Anyway, life rolls on with all things musical (apart from Rogers later Floyd and solo music). And I promise I will NOT get out my voodoo doll of Karin and start searching for a few needles, he he he. I think I have used up all my needles on the Uwe Hornung voodoo doll I have had for these last few years. Cheers.
January 5th, 2026 at 11:19@143
Thank you Russ 🙏🏼
It wasn’t political in any way….
But with that said, I truly am grateful that a lot of us live in the free world, and my sincere hope for all people is to live freely and happily ❤️
I have been corresponding with a lovely woman from the former eastern region, and the things she told me re how they were held under a terrible yoke made an everlasting imprint on me.
Misunderstandings are the direct way to troubles of any kind.
And believe you me, I am for the human kind! For love! For peace! For tranquility ☺️
January 5th, 2026 at 11:26Which is also why I end this short story with a beautiful song:
https://youtu.be/9YU94V1q4c8
Raul Rodgers was never a permanent replacement for Freddie Mercury. He helped them get going again, they needed someone to help them to see if they could get the music happening again and to also see how popular that could be, with everyone including themselves. Something like that anyway. Once the ice was broken, May and Taylor were always going to be looking for someone more ‘suited’ to the role of lead vocalist and frontman. At least they added the new vocalists name seperate to the brand Queen. That says something I suppose. Cheers.
January 5th, 2026 at 11:33Interesting and good live Bad Company songs there Uwe, many thanks. Boz Burrell on bass guitar, who would ever know that he was in King Crimson two years earlier, the Islands album and tour 1972. A really good lead vocalist too was Boz, bless him. He joined Crimson to sing and ended up also playing bass guitar. Not a happy camper in Crimson apparently and something he NEVER spoke about, ever apparently. Fripp did the same thing to Greg Lake too, in 1969. Lake: “Robert, who is playing bass”? Fripp: “you are Greg”. Both Lake and Burrell were rather good electric and acoustic six string guitarists and had been for a number of years. At least Paul Rodgers didn’t have to worry about Boz wanting to sing lead vocal at all in BC. Regarding Rodgers being ‘macho’ Uwe. On these live clips he looks rather ‘effeminate’ in many ways. Maybe there was more to the ‘conflict’ with Andy Fraser than meets the eye. Cheers.
January 5th, 2026 at 12:07@147
May I add a tiny comment Max?
You write: “Why can’t straight people sing songs gays wrote?“
Well, I guess the little debate here was about ‘I want to break free’, and that particular song needs to be sung by a man who fought to be free.
No one who never has tried that knows how to sing it right.
I have known several dear sweet gay men, and I know about their struggles in society, how they have fought to be accepted.
And I guess that is why Freddie sang it so marvellous.
Otherwise, with other songs, straight people can easily sing gay people’s songs. But that particular song is for a man who tried to fit in (he was married to a woman, who also inherited it all after his dead, and he is known for have said that hadn’t he been gay, she was the one.)
Some things you have to feel in your core to be able to sing/write/speak it with authority.
At least, that’s how I see it 😊
And this song is all about trying to fit in:
January 5th, 2026 at 14:22https://youtu.be/FC3y9llDXuM
@121
Uwe, I was also thinking of “Seaside Rendezvouz” reading the discussion about “Queen needing a gay singer” and I got a strange (may I say “queer”?) vision that Dio would have been able to perform this very nicely, if he decided to stop dealing with dragons for a day
January 5th, 2026 at 15:58#150 MacGregor:
I absolutely agree
#152 Karin:
I think I understand what Uwe means and I partly agree that certain songs from certain bands can only be sung by the singer of that band, Freddy, BigIan for Purple, Ozzy for Sabbath, Plant for Zep, Perry for Journey and so on.
but it’s not true that certain interpretations can’t be done well, it’s not true when we’re talking about timeless songs that have entered musical culture and have superior lyrics and melodies.
Even many singers from unknown cover bands pay tribute to these songs, so why shouldn’t PR at the Queen Reunion have done so?
Paul was as honest and professional a Queen cover singer as Arvel Pineda was in Journey or Ripper Owens was in Judas, or whatever… singers who sing other singers’ historic songs with dignity.
If I have to think of secondary singers who didn’t make us miss the first ones, Brian Johnson in AC/DC and Sammy Hagar in VH immediately come to mind.
January 5th, 2026 at 17:00Svante, here, Woodstock ‘94:
https://youtu.be/OzLDlKqlUoY
Rodgers, Fraser, Slash, Neal Schon and the ubiquitous Jason Bonham, billed as Paul Rodgers’ Rock & Blues Revue.
For some reason that festival event has been lost in the mists of time though it had quite a bill
inter alia Sheryl Crow, King’s X, Joe Cocker, Crosby Stills & Nash, Melissa Etheridge, Primus, Nine Inch Nails, Cranberries, Metallica, Aerosmith, Peter Gabriel, Bob Dylan, Allmans, Traffic, RHCP, Santana, Green Day
– it is also often mistaken with Woodstock ‘99 which in the sequence of things should really have been called “Woodstock 3”, but wasn’t.
It’s also kind of telling that even the people here with an Paul Rodgers interest are unaware of Andy Fraser having been the bassist at that gig – which is a bit like people forgetting a David Gilmour gig where Roger Waters played bass (or vice versa) or John Lennon playing guitar with the Wings or Macca handling bass duties at a Plastic Ono Band gig. It seems that Rodgers’ plan to makes this about him and only him (and jettison both the initially slated Brian May and introduce Andy Fraser as low-key as possible into the line-up) worked out fine, mission accomplished. 😑
Looking at the gig I don’t see much of a rapport between Fraser and Rodgers either. Fraser has said in interviews that Free was a very hetero culture band with usually Simon Kirke to let a homophobic slur loose if he saw a “ponce” in the street while Fraser kept his head low and mouth shut, not revealing that since childhood he had been attracted to men though he was swarmed by women in Free for his boyish good looks (you know how wimmin never geddit while we take only a couple of seconds to realize it …).
https://share.google/UsYDbRdDVtBLoHGhZ
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/18/Andy_Fraser_%281970%29.jpg
Once he came out, he changed his look into a more Village People type direction:
https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTDEBEykBd4vXegshk5auSNqnXOnzusd-HNnVSANaSDm8VdNtnXHAEqZMQ&s=10
I’m not saying that a straight guy or woman cannot cover a song by a gay writer or performer. Max. It’s not an issue with me for, say, someone straight doing an REM song (Michael Stipe, a genius songwriter, would probably want me to clarify that he considers himself queer and not gay).
https://youtu.be/Hyk-Vdd_Qrk
But Freddie wasn’t just queer or gay, he was larger-than-life cabaret drag flamboyant gay in a Vaudeville way – a real “Paradiesvogel” – and that made Queen so special. I’m one of those people who have a hard time picturing Paul Rodgers with fake boobs …
https://youtu.be/HdaE19ZQApw
And yes, if you ask me who should have followed Freddie, I’d say this Greek guy:
https://youtu.be/kIb4gM84-o0
Are you really sure Paul Rodgers, for all his undeniable talent, did a more credible job?
I wouldn’t have recommended Paul Rodgers to Jobriath either who in 1974 stunned American audiences with this performance here:
https://youtu.be/HXks3Xjydh0
https://youtu.be/1Lp_e4wUnz4
Not sure how that would have gone down with the Bad Co crowd! 🤣
PS: Karin, that Wheatus vid is charming, I didn’t know it. To me the best vid of not fitting in as a gay is Small Town Boy by the great Bronski Beat, that vid is heart-wrenching and towards the end also uplifting.
https://youtu.be/88sARuFu-tc
And since we’re talking gay liberation, honorary mention must go to …
https://youtu.be/udAG19OoRy4
PPS: I Want To Break Free is of course a John Deacon song, not a Freddie Mercury one. I don’t know if John wrote it for Freddie, but it has always been my – totally uncorroborated, so stone me – pet theory that Freddie and John had a platonic love relationship within Queen and that John, a deeply private man, might have been gay too, but not one who ever lived it, certainly not in public. It would be one way to explain his behavior and withdrawal from public after Freddie’s death. John was one hell of an initially very nimble, fluid melodic lines, later on more rhythmic oriented bass player and an excellent songwriter. His songs (eg You’re My Best Friend, Another One Bites The Dust, I Want To Break Free and Invisible Man) stand out in the Queen canon for me.
January 5th, 2026 at 19:21@155 Uwe – what an odd thing to say about John Deacon, married for over 50 years and father of six children.
Some Queen fans have speculated that “I Want To Break Free” was about JD’s dislike of touring and general disillusionment with showbusiness. And that it expressed his desire to step out of the limelight, which he had even at that early date, 1984.
January 5th, 2026 at 20:48@155
“Dear diary, today I linked a song Uwe didn’t know about…”
😄
I really like that song, find it’s pinpointing all the struggles we had as teens, as all teens have. But also all the battles we have to fight to come through life with at least a little dignity 😊
See, I didn’t know that about Freddie and John Deacon! But it just add another layer onto that song 😊
Bronski beat… yeah, heart wrenching indeed, allow me to link this with a more positive and easier to dance to:
January 5th, 2026 at 21:58https://youtu.be/uxk7aSCLj4g
#155 Uwe:
Thanks for the Woodstock video!
Besides Paul’s excellent performance (but then again his standard has always been constant without peaks in heaven and hell), I’d say he was a shrewd fox to play with Neal and Slash at that concert!
Michael Stipe is a great artist, even though I hated REM when they became a mass phenomenon in their self-indulgence.
Small Town Boy one of the 10 pop masterpieces of the 80s ever!
January 5th, 2026 at 23:27There is no doubt about Freddie Mercury’s ode to many genres of the past. Vaudeville among them. It takes a certain charm to deliver that style, both vocally and charismatically. There isn’t anyone else who can do that within that band. And let’s not forget John Deacon too. May and Taylor get away with it in the ‘tribute’ era, as so many will take that as a ‘better than nothing’. Yes it appears to be a necessity for those two musicians to keep the ‘Queen’ flame burning in that regard. However for me it isn’t. But I would say that, wouldn’t I. Brian May wouldn’t have any problem doing that with other musicians, neither would Roger Taylor. A bit like McCartney and Ringo, doing their own ‘tribute’ sort of thing. Certain original bands should be left where they were last standing. Cheers.
January 5th, 2026 at 23:41The eternally sullied Tasmanian @145: I gotta hand it to you, your mind is even more a cavernous hole of smut and twisted innuendo than mine! I swear, when I wrote about Fredddie clasping his cheeks I WAS ONLY THINKING ABOUT HIS FACE!
Yet now I’ve learned … 🤣
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vc7wozAdIu0
January 6th, 2026 at 01:05Skippy, I said platonic! Hetero-married gays with children they all loved were no rarity in the past, it was actually the only way to legitimately have children as a gay man in the UK. And not every marriage which has a partner discover his gay side grounds to a halt automatically.
I just always felt that there was a connection between Freddie and John that transcended band or buddy friendship, but I might be wrong. Not that it matters. Without Freddie and John, Queen are running on two cylinders only.
January 6th, 2026 at 04:59I have some memory of a Brian May interview from a number of years ago and he said Deacon just doesn’t want anything to do with the past. Fair play to him. The only time they may talk a little is when a business issue needs to be dealt with and that is rare. There isn’t any problem between any of them. May and Taylor respect Deacon’s privacy wishes to the fullest. Cheers.
January 6th, 2026 at 11:27The other way around: Deacon doesn’t want to have anything to do with Queen’s present and – if there was one – future. Queen died for him with Mercury.
I understand that he still participates in current Queen’s profits as a live act – not that he needs it. He’s done well with real estate transactions, a way a lot of English rock stars invest their money in the UK.
I think it would have been better for Brian and Roger to have toured as “May Taylor” following Freddie’s death, playing from their own solo albums plus like a half dozen Queen standards mostly written by them and recording new stuff together without the Queen brand albatross around their neck. The latter has stifled their creative juices.
January 6th, 2026 at 17:17The past being ‘nostalgic’ in attempting to be ‘Queen’ in the present or the future. It was incredibly predictable that Deacon wouldn’t be having anything to do with being a nostalgic act. Which is what it will always be without Mercury. He simply wants nothing to do with that. Might as well kick back and enjoy all those royalties while getting on with his life. Cheers.
January 7th, 2026 at 06:01Queen with Adam Lambert was an OK tribute / nostalgia act and no doubt a nice money earner for Bri and Rog.
Queen with Paul Rodgers was a strange pairing. Too bad Freddie’s favorite singer wasn’t Jim Dandy from Black Oak Arkansas – that would have been a fun team-up!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ReDUUyyD1Ao&list=RDReDUUyyD1Ao&start_radio=1
Agree with those who said a name change would have been a good idea.
Deacon’s refusal to join in the revivals certainly seems to indicate artistic integrity. Not participating must have been the obvious decision for him in any case, since he had also tired of touring long ago, and was not close with the other guys apart from Freddie.
Whose daughter has died at a sadly young age:
January 19th, 2026 at 18:31https://www.irishmirror.ie/showbiz/celebrity-news/freddie-mercurys-secret-daughter-dies-36555105?int_source=nba
That‘s tragic, I didn‘t even know he had children. Uncle John (Deacon) will likely be at the funeral.
January 20th, 2026 at 04:44