I guess I have been living under the delusion for-the-past-quarter-of-a-century-or-so – that DEEP PURPLE was in The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. I was stunned to learn (probably when I read the article about GUNS N ROSES being inducted just last month) – that DP has yet to be inducted.
I’m not quite sure how any post-Purple band that has been inducted into The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame can do so with a clear conscience. Axl, instead of worrying about spoiling the GNR show (like you have indicated Marlon Brando spoiled the Oscars by sending his Indian princess) – perhaps you should boycott the upcoming festivities altogether and suggest that PURPLE comes before GNR; not to mention the many foo foo groups who have already made it in.
I mean – how many groups are already enshrined that don’t hold a candle to PURPLE ass-kickin’, ear-splittin,’ Rock & Roll?! Don’t forget: these lads held the honor of being the world’s loudest band for-quite-a-few-years! When my old group, RASPUTIN, played “Smoke on the Water” or “Space Truckin’” or “Highway Star” — more than one old lady fainted in the variety concert audience! Hell!! I’m pretty sure that I bled from the ears when I saw the reconstituted group back in ’85.
Every Rock History file I sampled in preparation for this Op-Ed suggested that DEEP PURPLE, along with BLACK SABBATH and LED ZEPPELIN defined heavy metal sound (and I’m really glad I did some research because I was about ready to suggest that DP’s first album, ‘Shades of Deep Purple’ came out in 1966 [instead of 1968]). And, they’re still touring with three-fifths of the seminal line-up – 44 years after they began! So they’ve got longevity going for them as well!
So what has PURPLE done to offend The Hall?
It was PURPLE’s monster hit “Smoke on the Water” that got me out of the classics and into the Rock & Roll scene. I’ll never forget when Peter P (Yep, the same one I wrote about in ‘With Friends Like This’ [but who has since re-mastered our 1974 live performance at the Grey]) strummed out those intro bar chords of “Smoke on the Water” at a dress rehearsal for the Grey Variety Concert of 1973 – and forever hooked me on Rock & Roll. Hell! That song hooked legions of wannabees!! And DEEP PURPLE isn’t in The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame?!
On a personal note, PURPLE’s “Child in Time” (along with THE MOODY BLUE’s ‘Nights in White Satin’) have probably been the two biggest influences to my own piano stylings (while Marty will maintain that it was URIAH HEEP and BLACK SABBATH. Elsewhere I have suggested that ARTHUR LEE influenced “Child in Time” with-one-of-LOVE’s pieces (I’ll leave it to my readers to determine which particular song) – but I am willing to bet that every single person who has ever played, or jammed, with me – has gotten into the “Child in Time” groove with me. Most notable was an epic, 2-hour jam with Billy C and Ron Dehart and Hampton Flanagan III (when we were all part of the J.D. HALL BAND). The heights we soared that night…
So I am not sure of why DEEP PURPLE has not yet been enshrined in The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame – but I will say that every year that goes by that DP are not given their due (while faux rock groups make it in), makes a mockery of this alleged temple of music. Jesus Christ! Whoops!! There went a Freudian Slip – since the vocalist behind “Smoke on the Water”; “Space Truckin’”; “Child in Time”; “Lazy”; Highway Star”; “Black Night”; “My Woman from Tokyo”; and, many other cool tunes was also the original JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR…