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FORGOTTEN HISTORY: Deep purple | History Defined

“A band member said, ‘If we didn’t write it, there’s no point in doing it because we won’t get writing credits.’ I was really disappointed”: The moment Ritchie Blackmore knew he’d leave Deep Purple

Blackmore looks back on his Deep Purple departure

Guitar World

"When we played Chicago it was like Led Zeppelin. It was all there for us to take." The frazzled story of the stoner rock supergroup who should have been massive - but were crushed by the music business

"They did everything they could to destroy us. That's why we're like this secret, cult band."

Louder

"They got signed on their talent, on their original material, but also on their looks. They looked like Robert Plant and Jimmy Page." The story of the album that rescued rock'n'roll from the darkness and built a brighter future

Rock was stale, and dinosaurs were lumbering. Then an album arrived that was an effervescent shot in the arm for an entire genre

Louder

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“The jazz people were laughing when they saw me at the audition with my Telecaster”: Steve Morse says the music school jazz snobs were not impressed by his choice of guitar

After flunking the audition simply because of his guitar choice, Morse could have turned deep purple with rage – but it was the making of him

Guitar World

Deep Purple announce one-off show at London's iconic Royal Albert Hall

Deep Purple are to return to the scene of their Concerto For Group And Orchestra live album

Louder

“The school would kick everybody out with hair that touched their ears. Someone on the board found out we were wearing short-haired wigs!” Steve Morse endured educational woes, dodgy gear and jazz snobbery, but knew he could make it as a guitarist

The ex Deep Purple member recalls how he got started in music, and beginning to write Kansas-style songs – long before he accidentally joined them

Louder

“The two Johns very began to hate doing TV shows that wanted us to mime. For a band that worshipped Deep Purple, Thin Lizzy and UFO, it became a really big problem”: The huge 80s hard rock hit that drove a wedge between the band that made it

The Final Countdown pushed Europe into the pop charts – and not everyone was happy about it

Louder

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"I sang Smoke On The Water with Deep Purple when they came to our school for a music clinic": This is the soundtrack of H.E.A.T frontman Kenny Leckremo's life

H.E.A.T frontman Kenny Leckremo picks his records, artists and gigs of lasting significance, and talks a lot about Iron Maiden

Louder

“I took inspiration from Iron Maiden’sRun To The Hills. And for the lyric, the story of the last days on Earth, I went back to David Bowie’sSpace Oddity”: A rock band’s global No.1 hit – before grunge turned their world upside down

“We were thrown into this weird pop world – it was madness”

MusicRadar

"Sweat was dripping off the walls!" Rolling Stones guitarist Ronnie Wood looks back on the '60s, shares memories of The Yardbirds, Jeff Beck, Jimi Hendrix and Deep Purple's Jon Lord

Ronnie Wood hasn't lost his enthusiasm for rock 'n' roll

Louder

“Clapton chose pure blues, and he hated it when the volume went up. He actually said to Jimmy Page and Jeff Beck, ‘You’re too loud!’ Because he’s a purist”: ’60s icon Donovan salutes a golden generation of guitar heroes

He also claims that Page "begged" John Paul Jones to join Led Zeppelin

MusicRadar

Iron Maiden, Metallica, Rush, Bon Jovi and more: 26 things we're looking forward to in 2026

Over the next twelve months, rock will keep rolling smoothly forward - here are 26 ways its wheels will remain lubricated

Louder

“If we had stuck together we could have been as big as Led Zeppelin – or at the very least, Deep Purple. We had the stuff!”: The heavy rock innovators whose hard-hitting drummer was a star before John Bonham

“There was always friction – but it all worked for the creation of what we had"

MusicRadar

"Nothing's changed really apart from I can’t pole vault any more": Ian Gillan on getting older, losing his vision, and his unexpected new collaboration

His pole vaulting days may be behind him, but even at the age of 80, Deep Purple singer Ian Gillan is still in demand

Louder

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Guitar World

“There’s a couple guys in the band that were really glad for me to be gone”: Steve Morse opens up on his departure from Deep Purple – and why it was time for him to go

Morse left the band in 2022 to care for his late wife, who was battling cancer

MusicRadar

“Nobody can play better than that guy, man!”: In a new in-depth interview, guitar virtuoso Steve Morse discusses the supernatural powers of John Petrucci, Eric Johnson, Angel Vivaldi and Deep Purple legends Jon Lord and Ritchie Blackmore

His new Steve Morse Band album Triangulation is an audacious work of instrumental rock

Guitar World

“When I played the Purple songs and took it out, some of them – a certain percentage of them – just hated me”: Steve Morse on the challenges of putting his own stamp on Deep Purple’s material

Ritchie Blackmore's legacy loomed large when Morse first stepped up to fill his shoes

MusicRadar

“I was always pushing him to go back to playing the organ through an amp for some solos… y’know, the sound that he had in the Machine Head days”: Steve Morse on why he loved writing with Jon Lord and the Deep Purple track that started with a cup of tea

Steve Morse on how a noodle during one of Deep Purple's many tea breaks ended up on the album, and the mixed reception from Ritchie Blackmore fans when he'd improvise onstage

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Metal Hammer

According to Glenn Hughes and Slayer's Kerry King, the rock and metal talent pool is drying up

Former Deep Purple man Glenn Hughes and Slayer's Kerry King can't name any new rock or metal artists that excite them

MusicRadar

“There was always friction – but it all worked for the creation of what we had"

Louder

The story of Porcupine Tree's Deadwing is on the cover of the new gift-packed issue of Prog, which is on sale now

Prog 165 also features Peter Hammill, John Lodge, Cardiacs, Gazpacho, Steve Morse, Solstice, Atomic Rooster, Crown Lands, The Utopia Strong, Barry Palmer, Cate Le Bon, Amorphis and loads more...

Guitar World

“We are sorry for any inconvenience”: Ritchie Blackmore’s band cancels all remaining tour dates, citing medical reasons

Earlier this year, Candice Night, one of the co-founders of Blackmore's Night and the guitarist's wife, revealed that Blackmore was battling a series of health issues

MusicRadar

“It’s been on stage with everyone from Deep Purple to Janet Jackson. It kind of blows me away that people ever responded in that way”: PRS reworks Mark Lettieri’s signature Fiore as super-versatile dual-humbucker model with serial/parallel switching

Available with satin or gloss finishes in a variety of colours, this is a clever refresh of Lettieri’s smash-hit do-it-all S-style

BANG Premier

Deep Purple announce 2026 UK arena tour

Deep Purple are touring UK arenas next November.

Louder

Deep Purple announce UK tour with Mammoth

Rock's old guard collides with new on five-date tour

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