![[hand]](/hs-pics/portraits/hands/glover3.jpg)
![[face]](/hs-pics/portraits/faces/mcbride2.jpg)
Fighting it out with swords
After a couple of teasers, Ultimate Classic Rock has posted, apparently in full, the interview they’ve recently done with Ritchie Blackmore. Release of the Rainbow 75/76 box set was the occasion, so the bulk of the conversation was actually devoted to that time period.
Unauthorized copying, while sometimes necessary, is never as good as the real thing
Likely one of the most illuminating Ritchie interviews about late DP/early Rainbow ever, innuhresting!
All that barely suppressed anger of a 30-year-old multi-millionaire at the height of his fame and popularity … 😂 So everyone was angry all the time, makes Rainbow sound like the Sex Pistols …
https://youtu.be/q31WY0Aobro
Which reminds me of Dr Feelgood being thrown off a tour as openers for Kiss because they had devastated a hotel room which Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons didn‘t think was funny. You don‘t just break stuff for the heck of it – good Jewish values!
May 22nd, 2026 at 08:41Hello.
Thank you very much for this.
It´s a huge pleasure to listen to Ritchie himself telling stories and facts of his own remarkable history and things we love so dearly. I´m sure Ronnie is smiling there somewhere over or ON the Rainbow, too. Ritchie´s words of Ronnie are just so touching.
Kippis.
May 22nd, 2026 at 10:08@1
Uwe, Sex Pistols were a very important band in its time 😊
I know they only, and sadly, existed some years but they made an everlasting impact.
And there was much more to them than to be angry young boys.
I loved them to be a long needed contrast to disco. And I do like some disco, but they were liberating for a young girl like me.
Am I the only one who tears up a bit listening to the very best guitarist sounding so fragile?
I know he is a few months older than Ian, but when I listened to Ian there was much more power behind his voice.
And I know it’s not fair to compare two individuals…. I’m just a bit down he sounds like the older guy he is.
But the things he cover in here are so nice!
Have heard the John Cleese + Monty Python comparison before though.
“I don’t believe in evolving” – alright then 😃 to me he evolved quite a bit as a guitarist. But maybe he was thinking about personal growth?
But he is very interesting to listen to 😊
May 22nd, 2026 at 15:56I do get why he wasn’t fascinated by the tinsel city!
People all age differently, Karin, Ritchie probably took better care of himself than Ian, but you can only trick your genes for so long. I find the deterioration of his health tragic. Ian Gillan is more like a Tonka Toy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qcmqCPm_ZLk
Yes, the Sex Pistols were influential, but I’m more a Ramones guy though the inner workings of that band were totally neurotic.
May 23rd, 2026 at 00:45@4
I know Uwe! I know…
It is just striking how young Ian appears compared to Ritchie.
I do have this notion that if a person is blessed (and yeah I do mean BLESSED) with a strong sense of humour, then this sense of humor will help you get over life’s annoyances and injustices.
The more you can say “f*ck it” when you are hurt, insulted and heartbroken, the better you feel inside.
And the better you feel inside, the better you do for all your cells 😍
…… and if you also eat healthy, drink lovely coffee(or tea…) and remember to be with the persons you love and who love you back, well we’re all gonna die eventually but it adds to our longevity 😃
Ramones? Whoops! I need to check them out 😊
May 23rd, 2026 at 09:54Thank you for mentioning them…
I have to say I agree with you Karin. It is a little sad listening to RB sound so “fragile” as you put it. He is my favorite Guitar player!!
May 23rd, 2026 at 16:10@5
Good post 😂
In my own little way, I always try to be a little childish and silly so I don’t get pissed off as much as possible.
I’ve always loved the Ramones; I’ve seen them live twice. The Sex Pistols, on the other hand, never attracted me; there was nothing I liked about them. They were terrible, all in all.
May 23rd, 2026 at 17:18@6
Leslie he is indeed my favourite too 😊
What that man could do with a guitar…. Well, it has been a privilege to hear him play 😊
But of course I have to say: Simon McBride is very very good too 😌
May 23rd, 2026 at 17:55Ian perhaps jogged his brain a little more. Doing crossword puzzles, reading a lot, writing lyrics and giving interviews, all that keeps you alert, there is scientific proof for that. Ritchie otoh likes five things in life: playing guitar, Bundesliga, Candice, Autumn and Rory. And having a beer, that makes it six. He’s a much more seclusive and reclusive person than Ian.
May 23rd, 2026 at 22:41Karin, leave the vanity out of it please. Ian looks and sounds like a 80 year old man. He has health issues just like many do and Ritchie has his also as others do. Let’s all look in the mirror everyone, and see who looks and sounds better. Time to leave the teenage years where they belong, don’t we think. Mirror mirror on the wall, who is the prettiest and dandiest of them all! Smash, whoops, life eh? Ritchie has a good sense of humour, to my ears. That has nothing to do with the human or biological life form being ‘healthier’. Many people die laughing, or so they say, or do they? Cheers.
May 23rd, 2026 at 22:48@10
Ohhh MacGregor I really rub you the wrong way whenever I very discreetly point out how amazing I find Ian Gillan 😁
It’s ok.
Of course I know he is 80 yo, and OF COURSE I can see, hear and feel the difference from when he was a young man to now.
BUT: I still wanna point out that Ian is an amazing 80-yo.
And compared to Ritchie, well Ritchie strikes me as considerably older that Ian.
But what do I know…
Have a lovely Sunday everybody 🤗😙
May 24th, 2026 at 10:00@11 says “Have a lovely Sunday everybody” that is an
Italian song
https://youtu.be/V7oGjmzlIqU?is=FqrcN-gJcW-D-26P
May 24th, 2026 at 10:59Ian interacts more with interviewers, I think he is genuinely more curious about the people and the world.
Let‘s not forget how the UCR interview came about: Not by Ritchie interacting face to face with the interviewer, but by UCR sending in their questions and Ritchie recording his answers. Hardly a very engaging or spontaneous situation.
Ian of course has health issues too like most people his age have and he might drop dead tomorrow for reasons we don‘t and even he doesn‘t yet know, but there is definitely more alacrity and engagement from him in these situations while I get the feeling that Ritchie is slowly withdrawing from the world. I mean look at the (incompatible) lives they live – Ian travels the world and has to interact with countless people on a daily basis while Ritchie has retreated to his home on Long Island and – he says it himself – dislikes leaving it. He has never been a great social mingler and has spent the past two decades concentrating on his young family and a cottage industry operation of mostly undemanding music.
It‘s not a contest of living the right life between the two, but the way we live determines in great part the way we age.
May 24th, 2026 at 11:52I don’t know if Ritchie ever sang on stage and I don’t think he has great vocal either..
But for sure, he has fantastic talent in storytelling. The calming, soft-spoken, baritone voice mixed with some witty, sarcastic humor ingredients made all Blackmore video/audio interviews fun to watch.
And couple it with Candice who also has charm, pleasant speaking voice, plus her habit to question (read: ‘tease’) Blackmore which only made Blackmore ‘happier’ in the interviews, as he would reply to it in his unique sense of humor. I could listen to his interviews all night long till I sleep.
If Ritchie finally decide to pull the curtain on touring, he and Candice should do spoken-word, Q&A tour, like John Lydon and Bruce Dickinson did. That would be entertaining to see. Top it with the cherries by jamming 1 or 2 songs in the end with mandolin or acoustic guitar as he likes. I knew in the audio recording above he sounded fragile, but he’ll recover.
Some of my favorite Blackmore short video interviews, I tried my best to not spill his hilarious jokes here, better you get it yourself:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=68_hvW75biE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRhm5uR1A7s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ZiJtaUWSRc
(it’s about spaghetti lol)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZw7e8Ynm2Y
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YNyhsPcQ8go
(the 4th and 5th video above was supposed to be one long and hilarious video on YouTube, who the hell delete it ffs, Blackmore even ‘teased’ the poor girl interviewer at the end of it)
May 24th, 2026 at 13:58Age accounts for a lot but most importantly how you have taken care of yourself re fitness and what sort of abuse you have taken etc…also your jenes…some people wont suffer any probs till death whereas others have allergies arthritis etc…
May 24th, 2026 at 15:40@12
AndreA – I had no idea 😊
My ‘feeling-good’ song is this:
https://youtu.be/zi3lxg9SX28?is=cXw7wD9w1oO164Tj
It has it all 😃
May 25th, 2026 at 06:09I dont like podcasts mostly.
I accidently bumped into the one about DEEP PURPLE with probably 2 old geezers giving me a BEAVIS AND BUTTHEAD re run but annoying and inbetween they seem to suggest they dont know a lot.
May 27th, 2026 at 20:16