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The HoF saga, episode #65,535
The Rolling Stone magazine has conducted a reader’s poll about artists that should be inducted into the infamous Rock’n’Roll Hall of Fame in 2016. And perhaps surprisingly for them, but not so much for the rest of the world, Deep Purple took the top spot. The magazine explains away:
You can’t blame the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame nominating committee for not bringing Deep Purple in. They’ve put them on the ballot several times over the past few years, but for whatever reason the voters just don’t seem to be going for them. It probably has something to do with the fact that the vast, vast majority of voters are American. If the people of Europe had the chance to vote, Deep Purple would have been in years ago. Sadly, many people in America see them as merely the “Smoke on the Water” band. Throughout the rest of the world, Deep Purple are seen on the same level as 1970s giants Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath. They continue to play huge shows even though guitarist Ritchie Blackmore bolted over 20 years ago. If they ever got into the Hall of Fame, there’s a sliver of a chance he’d reunite with them.
RS, here’s your sliver:
Personally, I couldn’t care less. I would never go.
Thanks to Classic Rock for the info.
Unauthorized copying, while sometimes necessary, is never as good as the real thing
Can’t say I blame Ritchie; the RARHOF is a joke!
May 5th, 2015 at 21:11No rhyme or reason as to whom goes in…
May 5th, 2015 at 21:26It’s a travesty to think that DP should have been in to f’ng decades ago. The most rudimentary riff ever written in ROCK music belongs to this band, every single person who ever picks up a guitar plays those notes. It’s an unwritten rule of rock-n-roll music to know and play “Smoke on the Water” period, end of story. Fck u rock-n-roll hall of SHAME!
This post, Nick, is a work of art. Take a bow. 🙂
May 5th, 2015 at 21:29Why care to get in with little to no big noise about it? So many have gotten in with everything from awkward to cheesy and FORGETTABLE entries. The fact that it’s taken so long is a good selling point, and it’s starting to garner some good attention since they’ve been nominated and other things have happened. They seem to be building up a significant amount of celebrity within it, which could show the committee and voters just how well it could go if the interest makes for a ceremony the Hall can’t refuse. If the Hall is good after all, Purple could show them what they’ve been missing. It depends every year on who is on that stage, as to whether it goes down a smash or not. The ceremony doesn’t get rating, the show does.
May 5th, 2015 at 21:36It’s all become a bit of a zzzzzzz……
May 5th, 2015 at 22:05Yeah, and if Frogs had wings they wouldn’t hit the ground when they jumped…. Let’s see…… Green Day? Where is their ‘Smoke on the Water’ that EVERYBODY KNOWS???? Are the only voters young and is their known music only from the 80s and beyond? I think not. The JUDGES in the POCKET are the culprits here. Please, don’t even try and blame it on the Voters. The Voters are but a fraction of the decision. You know it, I know it…. THE WORLD KNOWS IT!!!
Do the right thing…. PUT THEM IN. As you have with the past half assed recipients. Except for one thing…. They Truly Deserve IT! 😉
Ch-BeerZ
May 5th, 2015 at 22:15Deep Purple and Chicago should have both been put in years ago.
May 5th, 2015 at 22:21Who cares …. It’s meaningless … It’s just a building in Cleveland whoop whoop
May 5th, 2015 at 22:22What’s so stupid is saying that “Americans think of them as the SotW band”…. there are a LOT of bands in the Hall of Shame for a lot worse reasons!!! If that was ALL Purple ever did, they warrant being in for that alone!!!
May 5th, 2015 at 22:53whatever?!?!?! I’m still going to see them whenever I can until they retire, who gives a rats ass if they are in the pretty boys (and girls) club or not…. I sure don’t…see you in Nashville…. wooo hooo
May 5th, 2015 at 23:04Deep Purple should have been one of the first ones in!!!
May 5th, 2015 at 23:38It would be nice to have Deep Purple in the Hall of Fame.
But having made a huge impact already, I share Blackmore’s view that it isn’t such a priority.
May 6th, 2015 at 00:13The problem with RS mag and the RRHOF is that they are joined at the hip. RollingStone is complicit in that it has never given any profile at all to Deep Purple over the past decades. In fact it has virtually ignored DP. It has omitted the band from certain versions of their Album Guide books. Me thinks RS is either clueless or not being fully frank about its reaction to the poll results.
May 6th, 2015 at 01:15Forget about the Rock & Roll Hall of Lame. It’s just about commercial big business, not about the music at all.
May 6th, 2015 at 09:18I stopped caring about it since I heard about it for the first time.
The Rock n’ Roll Hall of Fame is a joke, if they want to make the hall a representation of the world’s greatest rock acts they should let the whole world vote and not just America.
May 6th, 2015 at 10:20It’s just shameful to say the least.
What is RRHoF? It’s some reference? That Hall is somehow important in evaluating one band? Why? DP have enough of success and fans without it. It’s nothing. BTW they have offended Americans as simple-minded uneducated bunch of rednecks – if music fans don’t know about music, who should know? Big Mac Butters? I don’t think so…
May 6th, 2015 at 10:54… the never ending story will not end …
LLRnR
kraatzy
May 6th, 2015 at 15:30Blackmore should be inducted.
The current line-up of Deep Purple and its records is not rock ‘n’ roll hall of fame-material.
Blackers and his work in Deep Purple and Rainbow most certainly is.
May 6th, 2015 at 16:25I to mega solo !!!!!!!!!
May 7th, 2015 at 05:45Rolling Stone forget how huge Purple were in America back in the 70s and their impact has always been felt around the world (and they sold more records than Sabbath – it feels like the cult of Ozzy has raised their profile beyond its actual worth). I think that since dear Jon has passed what’s the point, they should’ve paid the respect that the band was owed when he was alive, now it would feel a little hollow.
May 7th, 2015 at 15:10“Several times”? Two. WHo gives a shit, anyway?
May 7th, 2015 at 18:12(Well we all do, that’s why we comment 😉
I would hope at this point the band would say, “Thanks, but no thanks.”
May 8th, 2015 at 17:33RB@ 20- “(and they sold more records than Sabbath – it feels like the cult of Ozzy has raised their profile beyond its actual worth).
May 8th, 2015 at 21:40What a load of rubbish! Sabbath have their reputation from their music, songs & hard work for their success! Their 70’s success would have very little to do with Ozzy, don’t give any of the other members any credit, will you! Iommi & Butler & Ward worked their butts off to gain that profile! Particularly Iommi & has he had any influence on popular music? Osbourne had sweet fuck all of a ‘cult’ reputation back in the day! You may have been reading too much Rolling Stone perhaps? Especially lately & attributing that to 40 years ago! Cheers.
Another look at Purple & Yes not making the grade so to speak! Does it have something to do with so many different members, particularly at the beginning & including the ‘classic’ era? Most bands have only the members from the ‘classic’ era, Sabbath & Zeppelin was an easy one, only ever 4 members, Floyd with 4 members but also include Barrett. Sure the Stones had one or two early on, as did Genesis, but only one or two members.
May 9th, 2015 at 23:13However with Purple, so many early lineups, are they in the ‘too hard’ basket, especially as some members couldn’t give a toss & have publicly said so! Yes have the same ‘issue’, which lineup? Although Yes members haven’t said anything ‘negative’ about the Hall, not that I am aware of anyway! It does look odd when perusing the all time list & those 2 bands are not there! Perhaps they should have inducted them back in the early 90’s, when both bands had a reformed classic set up going! Not that Blackmore would show of course! Cheers.
Rolling stone magazines i must confess i wouldn’t use it for toilet paper that’s how much i rate it on huge scale and the R& R Hall Of Lame great comment Cameron have to totally agree, besides Sabbath & Purple
May 10th, 2015 at 06:47there are countless bands that should be in a similar situation, but judging by the magazine and everyone’s thoughts on the Hall Of Lame, do we hold both of them in high regard umm probably not
@20 and 23 – Black Sabbath deserve every accolade they receive from their work in the 70’s, but Ozzy’s antics and subsequent TV “star” status kept the name Black Sabbath relevant when there was no BS or at least one fronted by Ozzy thus creating a ‘cult’ following that had very little to do with music. Who is better, BS or DP is totally subjective, I choose Purple hands down but enjoy a lot of Sabbath music w/Ozzy, Gillan or Dio. Good points made by both RB and MacGregor.
May 10th, 2015 at 11:45cheers
Purple should’ve been inducted years ago, or at very least, while Jon Lord was with us. Now it’s most definitely too late.
May 10th, 2015 at 15:01So, in regards to RRHOF (slightly paraphrasing Anthony Hopkins in Legends of the Fall) – SCREW’EM!
stoffer @ 26- Yes, the Osbourne circus does have the pr game down pat. Sabbath reformed in the late 90’s, released a ‘live’ album & started gigging. So the original lineup was back in the picture so to speak, even if many concert appearances were at Ozzfests!!
May 10th, 2015 at 21:25I think Sabbath were ‘knocked’ back a few times by the ‘Hall’ & Ozzy was scathing in his comments regarding this happening! I replied to the RB comment, in regards to ‘Ozzy’s cult raising Sabbath’s profile higher than it’s worth’ or words to that effect. Ozzy’s solo career in a commercial sense, is more ‘higher’ than Sabbath’s. It is the original or ‘classic’ lineup thing that people prefer no doubt, hence MK2 the preferred lineup with Purple & rightly so! Cheers.
Hmmmmmmm, looking at the Wikipedia list of inductee’s, the artist is listed & in certain artists, the inducted members are mentioned next to the band! In many cases, including Sabbath, it is the original members only! But if we are looking at say Lynyrd Skynyrd, there are 9 members, Grateful Dead 12 & Parliament-Funkadelic has 16 inducted members! Sheeesh, there goes my theory on how many band members. Purple should breeze it in, so should Tull, Crimson, Yes & other bands that have had many members! One thing that has happened in my quest to solve the Purple dilemma. I now get to listen to Parliament-Funkadelic! Why some may ask? Curiosity I suppose & I will report back with my ‘constructive criticism! Cheers.
May 11th, 2015 at 07:39Actually DP is bigger and better than rrhof..Will never go there..
How about this….
Fleetwood Mac,Emerson Lake and Palmer,Aerosmith,billy squire??,ZZ TOP,Huriah heep,Lynrdrd skynard, ELO, buddy Miles,, and this l;ist goes on and on….ALL OF THESE BANDS WERE OPENING ACTS FOR
D E E P P U R P L E…
May 11th, 2015 at 19:31DEEP PURPLE DOES NOT NEED rrhof…
MacGregor @29…..early 70’s Funkadelic is very good up until about 1975, then it goes a little too cheesy for my tastes. Parliament is more commercial and cheesy too. Funkadelic’s best albums are their first three – the best and most consistent of which is Maggot Brain. Try and track it down and give it a listen. Let me know what you think. All the best.
May 11th, 2015 at 23:21DeeperPurps@ 31- good to hear from you & thanks for the info! Yes, the Funkadelic material is much more ‘accessible’ to my ears! I can sort of hear bits of Zappa in a way! I wonder who influenced who? I was listening to a late 70’s concert of Parliament the other day, well I didn’t listen for long, it was toooooo funky for my tastes! Still it is always interesting to hear music I have never heard, especially from the ‘classic’ era.
May 13th, 2015 at 07:16I have heard of Clinton & a few others over the decades, certainly good musicians & into improvisation jams & that is usually a good thing! Cheers.
Hi again MacGregor – great catching up with you too! Yes the Funkadelic early 70’s period has some pretty good jamming on it. It was early raw guitar-driven funk before it went way out there into cheesy Parliament style funk circa 1975. The guitarist Eddie Hazel is no Blackmore, but he did do some really tasty leads and solos, especially on the Maggot Brain album.
May 15th, 2015 at 02:54Me again MacGregor. I should have mentioned that to my tastes, the natural progression onwards from the early 70’s Funkadelic heavy rock style funk can be found in the band Living Colour and their album Vivid from about 1989. And another band worth checking out is Faith No More and their albums The Real Thing from 1990 and Angel Dust from 1992. Those 2 FNM albums are pretty heavy – a kind of a metal funk fusion.
The guitarists in both those bands, Vernon Reid in LC, and Jim Martin in FNM are no Ritchie Blackmores, but they are very good and have distinctive styles.
I have often pondered how it is that I came to like that heavy funk style. I think it goes back to Deep Purple Mark III, especially the song You Fool No One, especially the live version of it on Made in Europe. That thing just rocks / funks big time. Listen to Hughes’ bass and Ian Paice’s drums, and how they interlock on it.
Hope this info leads you down other pathways of musical discovery!
May 15th, 2015 at 03:17DeeperPurps- I nearly mentioned Living Colour in my last post. I own their Vivid, Time’s Up & Stain albums from way back then! Went to a gig in ’93 & they blew me away, as I thought they would. Technically gifted musicians indeed, Vernon Reid is an awesome guitarist, not to mention Will Calhoun on the drums & the bass guitarists & lead vocalist! I did have a re listen to some of Time’s Up six months ago & thought, wow, I haven’t played any of this since the 90’s possibly! I haven’t heard much of Faith No More, but do remember them from that era, will have to check them out! One band i don’t like at all that funks it up is Red Hot Chili Peppers. Could never take to them.
May 16th, 2015 at 04:53In regards to MK3, yes I always really liked & still do of course, the Hughes & Paice rhythms on both albums! Always thought Paice’s drumming stepped up a notch or three in that incarnation of the band! And while I may call Hughes Mr funky every now & then, he definitely is the most interesting bass player that Purple have ever had. That is in no way a slight on Glover at all, he is a very good player also. I was playing the Stormbringer 5:1 disc the other day & loved it as always! Interesting mix with that, as there are some interesting guitar things going on, that I don’t ever remember hearing on the original stereo mixes! Also a couple of different vocal things, Coverdale’s toward the end of Soldier Of Fortune for one!
I am ‘relieved’ that you mentioned Purple in these comments, as I was thinking after posting my first response, certain DP fans out there could possibly be thinking ‘what the blazes does Funkadelic have to do with DP’? My answer would have been Hughes of course, surely he could have been influenced by them in some way! Now that Living Colour is also mentioned, Corey Glover has the same surname as Roger, there’s another link! Cheers.
Hey MacGregor!
Yes definitely we have to be mindful that this is a Deep Purple site!!! I will make sure this segues in and out of purple-related just in case the torch and pitchfork crew start heading our way! 🙂
Great to know that you like Living Colour. I’m with you on the Chili Peppers…not really my cup of tea beyond their greatest hits compilation. But really do like Faith No More, the heavy funky basslines, guitar and rhythms on both “The Real Thing” and “Angel Dust” from the early 90’s are something really worth checking out. I would like to hear your take once you have had a chance to listen to those 2 albums. Those are their 2 best in my opinion. And now, FNM have recently reunited and put out a new album Sol Invictus- they are getting a fair amount of coverage in Classic Rock Magazine website. Am looking forward to hearing that new CD.
So back to the Purple patch on things funk…have a listen to the Fireball album once again and pay close attention to the funky rhythm of No No No. Or how about the funk bass and the vocal delivery on No One Came….it’s a rap song 20 years before rap was even invented. Add in the swinging shuffles of both Demon’s Eye and Strange Kind of Woman and I can see what Ian Gillan meant when he once described Fireball as Deep Purple’s funk record.
Now here’s another thing you might want to check out. Miles Davis pushed the boundaries of jazz way out in to hard fusion in the mid-70’s. He was trying to capture the sounds of Jimi Hendrix, Sly Stone and George Clinton (Funkadelic) in a jazz setting, (ie): electric improvisation. If you like long multiple instrumental jams a la Deep Purple’s Space Truckin’ from Made in Japan, you can’t go wrong with Davis’s 2 double live albums Agharta, and Pangaea. The guitarist Pete Cosey sounds like a hybrid of Jimi Hendrix and something from outer space. Waaaaaay out there!! Its a kind of a rock-jazz hybrid with improvisations ranging from 25 to 45 minutes long.
So how did we get there from here??? Well, that’s the great thing about Deep Purple. They have always been a group of highly talented virtuoso musicians with such a huge palette of musical influences, that their experimentation with different genres (funk, soul, and jazz improvisation, etc) have opened new doors of music experience for their fans. Without Deep Purple leading me there, I would probably never have discovered funk rock nor Electric Miles.
Deep Purple takes its listeners on musical journeys to new discoveries. Happy Trails!
May 17th, 2015 at 02:58And so, to all of you in PurpleLand!
Further to my scribblings to Mr. MacGregor, this all brings me back the RRHOF debacle. How is it that the movers and shakers in that so-called institution could continue to shun Deep Purple because of its so-called and highly undeserved “one hit wonder” reputation?
It all comes down to the anti-Purple bent of the hall and its sister publications’ management. There must be something that happened way way back which planted a grudge that can never be extracted.
When there are artists such as drummer Chad Smith of the Red Hot Chili Peppers who cites Ian Paice as his major influence; or bands as diverse and influential as Rush, Metallica, Iron Maiden and Toto all incredulous that Deep Purple has not yet been inducted into the RRHOF, it speaks volumes of the ignorant attitude of the selection committee and voters (whoever that constituency is claimed to represent?!?).
For me as a young kid in the 1970’s, to have discovered Deep Purple and adopt it as my favourite band over all others of that era; and through continued listening to the various incarnations and musical style changes the band would go through since 1968 to present day; and how their music took me on a voyage of discovery from rock to funk rock to metal funk to jazz rock fusion to other styles of jazz, to world music and various combinations thereof; IT ALL STARTED with Deep Purple. That is what I call influential. I am sure I am not alone, that there are many others whose musical tastes have been shaped in some way by Deep Purple.
Deep Purple has always been one of the Big Three supergroups of the 1970’s. No need to mention the other two, we hear about them ad nauseum all the time. For Purple to have been continuously ignored and snubbed to present day is not a coincidence. It smacks of bias against them by certain people in the RRHOF, for whom it would seem fairness and objectivity are not necessary criteria in the nomination and voting process.
May 17th, 2015 at 04:19DeeperPurps@36- Cheers for the Miles Davis recommendations. Firstly though with Purple, just to get me past the moderator, heh heh. Fireball also has the Gillan line in the song No One Came, ‘your music is really funky’! I read somewhere years ago that Blackmore doesn’t like the album, & that was mentioned as one possible reason. It is one of my favourite Purple albums, wonderful songs, & as you said plenty of grooves etc! I will never forget Blackmore sitting with JL Turner in that interview on the history of Purple or something like that, around the Slaves & Masters era, where he states seriously “I don’t like Funk”, classic!
May 18th, 2015 at 21:04In regards to Davis, another drummer guy I know recommended Bitches Brew, gee it is hard to get into, not sure if I can. I will check out those albums that you said had ‘more’ guitar on them. Bitches Brew has McLaughlin on it, not that he is present a lot it seems!
Started listening to Faith No More, I remember them from the early 90’s as a lady I was living with at that time & her 2 teenage children were always playing them & Chili Peppers & Soundgarden. I was getting into Living Colour & Dream Theater at that time! I will keep listening though. Cheers.
DeeperPurps @37:
You put the light to the dark. RRHOF are you reading this? Did you read #37? Yes it is way too late and unfortunately one of the main Forefathers of this incredibly amazing and influential band has now passed away (JON LORD) while you have been purposely asleep at the wheel. But you still need to swallow whatever vomit you are holding in your mouths and crawl out from under that pride boulder you dwell under and make it right. Not only should you enter Purple in this lame institution but they should get a Special Lifetime Achievement presentation and an official Public Apology for your deliberate action of ignoring them for the 22 years they have been eligible…. SHAME ON YOU!!!
Ch-BeerZ
May 19th, 2015 at 01:43MacGregor @38. Yes Blackmore’s other comment from the mid to late 70’s about not liking “shoeshine music” also comes to mind! Actually, if you listen to the Stormbringer album. Blackmore does funk it up quite well on a few songs. His one-string thumb solo on Hold On was apparently his protest against that music, but in fact it actually turned out not all that bad.
On Mile’s music, I agree Bitches Brew is hard to get into. Its his first foray towards fusion in about 1969, but its very tame compared to what came later. His experimentation gets a lot more intense around 1973. The Pangaea and Agharta albums of 1975 are the apex of the jazz rock funk fusion improvisational style. He then went into seclusion for about 5 years because of health issues brought on by the excesses of his rock and roll lifestyle.
Guitarist John MacLaughlin played on some of the earlier Electric period Miles albums “Live Evil” and “Jack Johnson”, Not bad guitar but nothing too impressive to my tastes. I recall an interview of Ritchie Blackmore wherein he said he was not all that impressed by John MacLauglin either, saying that his style was not suited for rock. Blackmore said all MacLauglin would do is turn up the fuzz on his guitar and play fast runs, but that he “can’t bend a note”. Leave it to Blackmore to call a spade a spade!
On the FNM Real Thing album, they do a pretty good cover of “War Pigs” Knowing you are a Sabbath fan, I would be interested in your take on that one.
And finally for some more Deep Purple funk-related, it really gets no better than with Tommy Bolin on the 11 minute live version of Stormbringer from the 1976 Live at Long Beach album. Have you heard that one?
May 21st, 2015 at 02:36Tracy @39….. Exactly!
And as you have seen in my posts with our friend MacGregor, the topic of Miles Davis has come up. Miles was a jazz great who pushed that music towards the rock idiom in his fusion experimentations of the early to mid 1970’s. He nevertheless remained at the core, a jazz artist and performer, not a rock artist or performer. He incorporated rock influences into jazz, not the other way around. YET, he has been inducted into the RRHOF!?!?!?!?
BUT Deep Purple, who has brought jazz improvisation styles into hard rock music apparently does not get reciprocal consideration. Go figure!?!?!?! I guess its because prevailing tastes see “soloing” in rock music as personal indulgence. Who knows what those RRHOF types are thinking?
May 21st, 2015 at 02:48DeeperPurps @ 40 – Currently listening to Davis’ Pangaea on youtube, interesting & definitely easier to get into than Bitches Brew.
May 31st, 2015 at 04:03Have had a listen Faith No More, don’t mind the rhythms etc, but do not like the vocals at all. The more I listened to them it reminded me of the 90’s & I remember the ‘weird’ vocals, well not weird, just different to my ears. Good musicians playing the music though. I will let you know further down the track as to further Miles Davis listening!
In regards to Blackmore’s comments about McLaughlin, I do remember something along those lines from all those years ago. McLaughlin is in another realm to Blackmore though, so I can see the differences there. He doesn’t play ‘rock’ music at all! I went to a Trio gig in 1991, mind blowing, Trilok Gurtu on drums, sheeeesh! Say no more! Cheers.
Hey MacGregor, if you like good guitar check out Larry Coryell…very versatile. And here’s the Deep Purple link to it all….He was in a band with drummer Alphonse Mouzon…the same drummer that Tommy Bolin did an album with in 75 called “Mind Transplant”
June 4th, 2015 at 16:29