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Resonate your identity with Naseeb journals. Express your opinions, share your thoughts, post your writings and connect with like minded people through the power of expression.
Deep Purple vs. Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin the greatest band ever? Do me a bloody favour, says Geoff Barton. Purple?s Speed King has always kicked Zep?s Whole Lotta Love firmly into touch.
It all began innocuously enough, at a Classic Rock editorial meeting. We were discussing future cover stars and someone said: ?We should do Led Zeppelin again soon. We really should. If you want to guarantee good sales, they?re always a banker on the front page.? Suddenly, I blew a fuse. My goat was well and truly got. ?Bah!? I barked. ?What about Deep Purple? Classic Rock has never put Purple on its cover. And that?s just wrong. Because?because?? I fumed and spluttered, ?because Purple are better then Zeppelin. Always have been. Always will be.? Here is the proof.
If I was a record company guy, I?d look at in pure sales terms. Dollars earned, number of platinum albums won, that sort of thing. A trawl through the internet reveals that Zeppelin beat Purple hands down in this department. In the UK alone, Zeppelin have eight No.1 albums ( III, Four symbols, Houses of The Holy, Physical Graffiti, Presence, The Song Remains The Same and In Through The Out Door Purple?s paltry two (eball and Machine Head)
But I ain?t a record company guy, so I can happily dismiss such details as irrelevant.
What really brought it home to me was when star publication Metal Hammer started playing a Zeppelin album on their office stereo recently. It sounded old fashioned and clunky. Muggy and flat. Labored and out of time. Somehow, Robert Plant?s vocals didn?t sweep and soar like they used to. And even though Jimmy Page?s dense guitar playing was still incredibly distinctive? quite honestly, he didn?t sound like the King Of The Killer Riff anymore. (In my opinion, that person has always been Purple guitarist Ritchie Blackmore.)
I?ll fess-up here. I never bought into Zeppelin?s mystique and that the whole we?ll-never-release-a-single-becaus e-it?s-a-sell-out malarkey. When my entire sixth form was busy deifying Zeppelin at Earl?s Court, I was perfectly happy to stay at home cradling a treasured Black Night 45.
I admit my judgment is colored by time spent working in the UK music press in the 70s, when Zeppelin were determinedly unavailable to talk to us hacks. The band used to employ batteries of anti-press officers to say no to everything. When Presence was issued in 1976, Zeppelin refused all requests for interviews, and the paper I wrote for had to invent a feature that debated the meaning of the ?obelisk? on the album?s cover. We were that desperate.
When Plant went to solo he was happy to rabbit away to the serious music mugs. I had moved on to a grubby heavy metal title by this time, but as much as I shouted the word ?heritage? at him, Bob wouldn?t give us the time of day.
With Purple, by contrast, there was always something mad happening. And what?s more, the various band members were more then happy to talk about it.
Whereas we had to wait 10 years between Zeppelin albums, Purple used to pump them out every 10 minutes. They may not have been high-falutin?ponce-rock meisterwerks, but they were bloody good all the same.
The Purple talking points also came thick and fast, and in no particular order. One week Blackmore left. The next week he is back. Singer Ian Gillan and bassist Roger Glover split. Two then-unknowns arrived as their replacements: David Coverdale and Glen Hughes. Purple re-formed. Broke up again. Keyboardist Jon Lord did some impenetrable classical thing. Glover produced Judas Priest. Purple re-formed. Broke up again. They employed Joe Lynn Turner on vocals and went AOR. Blackmore created Rainbow. Coverdale formed Whitesnake. Gillan did his thing with the Ian Gillian Band. Purple re-formed. Broke up again. They brought in a heroin-addict US guitarist, Tommy Bolin, who died after making a single studio album with them?
Ah, yes. Death by misadventure. That?s another thing which separates Zeppelin from the pack. John Bonham?s demise in the 1980 signalled the end of the group. Since then, they?ve steadfastly refused to revive their career with a different drummer ? thus neatly sidestepping the inevitable disappointment of such a move.
Purple, to their eternal credit, had such qualms. They?ve made some disastrous decisions over the years, but don?tcha just love for them? Whereas Zeppelin were so high and mighty, Purple always had their hearts in their sleeves. While Zeppelin roamed with the Ringwraiths, Purple stayed in the pub. Even Page?s forays with Paul Rodgers (The Firm) and Coverdale (Coverdale-Page) always seemed unnecessarily pompus, especially as the latter was really only Whitesnake with Kasmir licks.
Blackmore, meanwhile, cheerfully employed a vocalist in Rainbow (Graham Bonnet) who would make ladies swoon with the chat-up line: ?Don?t know about your brain but you look alright?.
Deep Purple and related acts, my friend, represent rock?n?roll as it?s most true and least affected. While Page laps up the plaudits on the Hollywood Hall Of Fame, Blackmore is skipping around maypole, wearing a funny hat and strumming a lute: and how great is that?
Purple?s In Rock album defined heavy rock just like Black Sabbath?s debut defines metal. Listen to Purple?s Speed King today and contrast with Zeppelin?s Whole Lotta Love. Which song sounds most vibrant and refreshing? Whose vocals are the most liquid and pyrotechnical? Whose guitar playing is the most raw-boned and icy-figured?
Throughout, Purple?s history has been one of grandeur laced with absurdity. Stratocaster smashing for the simple sake of it. No encore because the fan don?t deserve it. Gillan?s silver throated screaming. Lord?s thumping Hammond pursuing Blackmore?s shrill guitar every note of the way. Ian Paice making knotty drums pattern sound oh-so simplistic. Glover is stoic support. And that?s just the MK II line-up of the band?
How do you prefer your rock heroes to be? Ornery talents or ivory-towered superstars? By now, you might have guessed where my allegiances lie.
(From Classic Rock issue April 2005)
It all began innocuously enough, at a Classic Rock editorial meeting. We were discussing future cover stars and someone said: ?We should do Led Zeppelin again soon. We really should. If you want to guarantee good sales, they?re always a banker on the front page.? Suddenly, I blew a fuse. My goat was well and truly got. ?Bah!? I barked. ?What about Deep Purple? Classic Rock has never put Purple on its cover. And that?s just wrong. Because?because?? I fumed and spluttered, ?because Purple are better then Zeppelin. Always have been. Always will be.? Here is the proof.
If I was a record company guy, I?d look at in pure sales terms. Dollars earned, number of platinum albums won, that sort of thing. A trawl through the internet reveals that Zeppelin beat Purple hands down in this department. In the UK alone, Zeppelin have eight No.1 albums ( III, Four symbols, Houses of The Holy, Physical Graffiti, Presence, The Song Remains The Same and In Through The Out Door Purple?s paltry two (eball and Machine Head)
But I ain?t a record company guy, so I can happily dismiss such details as irrelevant.
What really brought it home to me was when star publication Metal Hammer started playing a Zeppelin album on their office stereo recently. It sounded old fashioned and clunky. Muggy and flat. Labored and out of time. Somehow, Robert Plant?s vocals didn?t sweep and soar like they used to. And even though Jimmy Page?s dense guitar playing was still incredibly distinctive? quite honestly, he didn?t sound like the King Of The Killer Riff anymore. (In my opinion, that person has always been Purple guitarist Ritchie Blackmore.)
I?ll fess-up here. I never bought into Zeppelin?s mystique and that the whole we?ll-never-release-a-single-becaus e-it?s-a-sell-out malarkey. When my entire sixth form was busy deifying Zeppelin at Earl?s Court, I was perfectly happy to stay at home cradling a treasured Black Night 45.
I admit my judgment is colored by time spent working in the UK music press in the 70s, when Zeppelin were determinedly unavailable to talk to us hacks. The band used to employ batteries of anti-press officers to say no to everything. When Presence was issued in 1976, Zeppelin refused all requests for interviews, and the paper I wrote for had to invent a feature that debated the meaning of the ?obelisk? on the album?s cover. We were that desperate.
When Plant went to solo he was happy to rabbit away to the serious music mugs. I had moved on to a grubby heavy metal title by this time, but as much as I shouted the word ?heritage? at him, Bob wouldn?t give us the time of day.
With Purple, by contrast, there was always something mad happening. And what?s more, the various band members were more then happy to talk about it.
Whereas we had to wait 10 years between Zeppelin albums, Purple used to pump them out every 10 minutes. They may not have been high-falutin?ponce-rock meisterwerks, but they were bloody good all the same.
The Purple talking points also came thick and fast, and in no particular order. One week Blackmore left. The next week he is back. Singer Ian Gillan and bassist Roger Glover split. Two then-unknowns arrived as their replacements: David Coverdale and Glen Hughes. Purple re-formed. Broke up again. Keyboardist Jon Lord did some impenetrable classical thing. Glover produced Judas Priest. Purple re-formed. Broke up again. They employed Joe Lynn Turner on vocals and went AOR. Blackmore created Rainbow. Coverdale formed Whitesnake. Gillan did his thing with the Ian Gillian Band. Purple re-formed. Broke up again. They brought in a heroin-addict US guitarist, Tommy Bolin, who died after making a single studio album with them?
Ah, yes. Death by misadventure. That?s another thing which separates Zeppelin from the pack. John Bonham?s demise in the 1980 signalled the end of the group. Since then, they?ve steadfastly refused to revive their career with a different drummer ? thus neatly sidestepping the inevitable disappointment of such a move.
Purple, to their eternal credit, had such qualms. They?ve made some disastrous decisions over the years, but don?tcha just love for them? Whereas Zeppelin were so high and mighty, Purple always had their hearts in their sleeves. While Zeppelin roamed with the Ringwraiths, Purple stayed in the pub. Even Page?s forays with Paul Rodgers (The Firm) and Coverdale (Coverdale-Page) always seemed unnecessarily pompus, especially as the latter was really only Whitesnake with Kasmir licks.
Blackmore, meanwhile, cheerfully employed a vocalist in Rainbow (Graham Bonnet) who would make ladies swoon with the chat-up line: ?Don?t know about your brain but you look alright?.
Deep Purple and related acts, my friend, represent rock?n?roll as it?s most true and least affected. While Page laps up the plaudits on the Hollywood Hall Of Fame, Blackmore is skipping around maypole, wearing a funny hat and strumming a lute: and how great is that?
Purple?s In Rock album defined heavy rock just like Black Sabbath?s debut defines metal. Listen to Purple?s Speed King today and contrast with Zeppelin?s Whole Lotta Love. Which song sounds most vibrant and refreshing? Whose vocals are the most liquid and pyrotechnical? Whose guitar playing is the most raw-boned and icy-figured?
Throughout, Purple?s history has been one of grandeur laced with absurdity. Stratocaster smashing for the simple sake of it. No encore because the fan don?t deserve it. Gillan?s silver throated screaming. Lord?s thumping Hammond pursuing Blackmore?s shrill guitar every note of the way. Ian Paice making knotty drums pattern sound oh-so simplistic. Glover is stoic support. And that?s just the MK II line-up of the band?
How do you prefer your rock heroes to be? Ornery talents or ivory-towered superstars? By now, you might have guessed where my allegiances lie.
(From Classic Rock issue April 2005)
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