HARD ROCK
FORUM
Post by Monsters of Rock on Mar 28, 2021 20:53:47 GMT 10
Ritchie Blackmore
Ritchie Blackmore's legacy runs deep, first delivering some truly hard rocking riffs as part of Deep Purple, then later getting heavier by founding early metal giants Rainbow. A chameleon of sorts, Blackmore's playing has become more folk based in his latter years project Blackmore's Night.
Loudwire
Best known for the gargantuan riff at the heart of Deep Purple's "Smoke on the Water," Ritchie Blackmore helped define heavy-metal guitar by mixing intricate classical composition with raw-knuckled blues rock. "I found the blues too limiting, and classical was too disciplined," he said. "I was always stuck in a musical no man's land." Blackmore made waves on 1972's Machine Head; his solos on the boogie rocker "Highway Star" and "Lazy" remain models of metal pyrotechnics. He looked back toward early European music with his next band, Rainbow – even learning cello to write 1976's stomping "Stargazer" – and now explores Renaissance-style fingerpicking with Blackmore's Night. But it's his Deep Purple work that influenced a generation of handbangers. "Blackmore epitomized this fascination I had with the bare essence of rock & roll, this element of danger," says Metallica's Lars Ulrich. "Deep Purple, in their finest moments, were more unpredictable than Black Sabbath or Led Zeppelin."
Key Tracks: "Smoke on the Water," "Highway Star," "Speed King"
Rolling Stone
Ritchie Blackmore's legacy runs deep, first delivering some truly hard rocking riffs as part of Deep Purple, then later getting heavier by founding early metal giants Rainbow. A chameleon of sorts, Blackmore's playing has become more folk based in his latter years project Blackmore's Night.
Loudwire
Best known for the gargantuan riff at the heart of Deep Purple's "Smoke on the Water," Ritchie Blackmore helped define heavy-metal guitar by mixing intricate classical composition with raw-knuckled blues rock. "I found the blues too limiting, and classical was too disciplined," he said. "I was always stuck in a musical no man's land." Blackmore made waves on 1972's Machine Head; his solos on the boogie rocker "Highway Star" and "Lazy" remain models of metal pyrotechnics. He looked back toward early European music with his next band, Rainbow – even learning cello to write 1976's stomping "Stargazer" – and now explores Renaissance-style fingerpicking with Blackmore's Night. But it's his Deep Purple work that influenced a generation of handbangers. "Blackmore epitomized this fascination I had with the bare essence of rock & roll, this element of danger," says Metallica's Lars Ulrich. "Deep Purple, in their finest moments, were more unpredictable than Black Sabbath or Led Zeppelin."
Key Tracks: "Smoke on the Water," "Highway Star," "Speed King"
Rolling Stone
