History Music / Rainbow

* OlderThanTheyThink: While neither Ritchie Blackmore nor Ronnie James Dio were considered spring chickens during their time in Rainbow, fewer people know just ''how'' long the two had been in the music business. Dio had a years-long stint as a 1950's ''doo-wop'' singer, and Blackmore was a session musician who played for several of 50's rock n' roll greats.

* SignatureSong: "Man On The Silver Mountain" (an example of FirstInstallmentWins, given it was the first song on the band's first album).

* {{Instrumentals}}: "Still I'm Sad" (sometimes performed with vocals during live-concerts), "Vielleicht das naechste Mal (Maybe Next Time)", "Difficult to Cure", "Weiss Heim", "Anybody There?" and "Snowman".

* {{Instrumentals}}: "Still I'm Sad" (sometimes performed with vocals during live-concerts), "Vielleicht das naechste mal (Maybe Next Time)", "Difficult to Cure", "Weiss Heim", "Anybody There?" and "Snowman".

* FiveManBand:
** For their Down to Earth Lineup:
*** TheLeader: Ritchie Blackmore
*** TheLancer: Graham Bonnet
*** TheSmartGuy: Roger Glover
*** TheBigGuy: Cozy Powell
*** TheHeart: Don Airey
** Their most recent lineup:
*** TheLeader: Ritchie
*** TheLancer: Bob Nouveau
*** TheSmartGuy: [[{{Music/Stratovarius}} Jens Johanssen]]
*** TheBigGuy: David Keith
*** [[SixthRanger Fifth Ranger]]: Ronnie Romero

! Discography:

-->''44 calibre rock and roll\\

!! Tropes Of Babylon :

Hits me straight between the eyes\|

'''[[red:R]][[gold:a]][[blue:i]][[green:n]][[gray:b]][[pink:o]][[cinnamon:w]]''' is, to put it shortly, [[JustForFun/XMeetsY the lovechild]] of EverythingsBetterWithRainbows and ThePowerOfRock.

'''[[red:R]][[yellow:a]][[blue:i]][[green:n]][[grey:b]][[pink:o]][[orange:w]]''' is, to put it shortly, [[JustForFun/XMeetsY the lovechild]] of EverythingsBetterWithRainbows and ThePowerOfRock.

-->44 calibre rock and roll
-->Fever deep inside her
-->Hits me straight between the eyes
-->When she opens fire

--> ''Look to the sky''\\
''There, in the sky''\\
''I see a star!''

* LoonyFan: Starstruck is about one.

->''I'm a wheel, I'm a wheel, I can roll I can feel''
->''And you can't stop me turning''
->'''cause I'm the sun, I'm the sun, I can move I can run''
->''But you'll never stop me burning''
->''Come down with fire''
->''Lift my spirit higher''
->''Someone's screaming my name''
->''Come and make me holy again''

[[color:red:R]][[color:yellow:a]][[color:blue:i]][[color:green:n]][[color:grey:b]][[color:pink:o]][[color:orange:w]] is, to put it shortly, [[JustForFun/XMeetsY the lovechild]] of EverythingsBetterWithRainbows [[CrackPairing and]] ThePowerOfRock.

* UrExample: Much like [[Music/RonnieJamesDio Dio's]] later solo work, ''Rising'' and ''Long Live Rock 'n' Roll'' are sometimes considered to be this for PowerMetal, specifically the song "Stargazer" on the former record.

* InCaseYouForgotWhoWroteIt: The title of the first album, as it was meant to be a solo side product. Since the reunion in the 2010s, the band has been officially billed as "Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow", and Spotify has this version of the band listed separately from the original band.

* MohsScaleOfRockAndMetalHardness: Their first album had a lot of 5's and 6's plus a few in the 3-4 range. ''Rising'' and ''Long Live Rock 'N' Roll'' are mostly in the 6-7 range with some stuff that goes down a few notches. ''Down to Earth'' is, again, mostly 5-6. The stuff from ''Difficult to Cure'' onwards is mostly in the 4-5 range with the odd jump up or down a notch.

* SignatureSong: "Man On The Silver Mountain"
** Which might be an example of FirstInstallmentWins given it was the first song on the first album.

* AllForNothing: ''Stargazer'' deals with a wizard who enslaves several people to construct a tower for him, with which he hopes to begin flying. In the end, however, he falls to his death, making all the people's hard work pointless.

* HereWeGoAgain: "Stargazer" is about a wizard who enslaves people to build him a tower from which he can fly to reach a star in the sky, only for him to fall and die in the attempt. The following song, "A Light in the Black", is about the despair of one of the wizard's slaves, who laments all the years lost on the pointless task. However, during the song's BigRockEnding:

** Bob Daisley could count as well, considering he went on to play on, and write most of Ozzy Osbourne's most famous material.
** ''Dio'' could technically count. While he never played bass with Rainbow, he was for a long time the bassist/singer of Elf, which the original Rainbow lineup was comprised of.

In the mid-to-late '70s, Rainbow played Hard Rock, influenced by Blackmore's past in Purple and Dio's HeavyMithril interests. The Dio-era albums are considered an important influence for neoclassical metal and PowerMetal. The Blackmore-Dio partnership frayed over creative differences, with the former wanting adopt a more commercial sound, leading to the latter's departure to Music/BlackSabbath.

* HeavyMithril: Dio-era Rainbow, though not the earliest instance of the trope, was important to the development of fantasy metal away from hippie-themed fare like Music/LedZeppelin's Tolkien-inspired folk-rock songs or Music/UriahHeep's psychedelia. Dio's fantasy lyrics paved way for a more aggressive, fist-pumping sound that's remained the dominant aesthetic in fantasy metal since then.

* HeavyMithril: Dio-era Rainbow is one of the earliest examples of the trope.

In the mid-to-late '70s, ''Rainbow'' played Hard Rock, influenced by Blackmore's past in Purple and Dio's HeavyMithril interests. The Dio-era albums are considered an important influence for neoclassical metal and PowerMetal. The Blackmore-Dio partnership frayed over creative differences, with the former wanting adopt a more commercial sound, leading to the latter's departure to ''Music/BlackSabbath''.

A replacement vocalist was discovered in Graham Bonnet, who fronted the band's foray into a more AOR-ish style and netted their first hit single "Since You Been Gone" (a Russ Ballard cover). Bonnett left ''Rainbow'' to found ''Music/{{Alcatrazz}}'', and was replaced by Joe Lynn Turner of Fandango fame for the rest of the band's 80s run. It had a reunion in the 90s, and another one in 2015.

Actually, it is the solo project of former Music/DeepPurple guitarist Ritchie Blackmore. It initially started as a quick off-shoot project of Blackmore (backed by Elf, a band fronted by Music/RonnieJamesDio) because he wanted to record a cover of the Quatermass song "Black Sheep of the Family". After Blackmore left Deep Purple, the band became a full-time project. During the '70s, they played Hard Rock; in the early '80s they adopted more AOR-ish sound, briefly involving Graham Bonnett on vocals replacing Dio, before leaving Rainbow to form Music/{{Alcatrazz}}. Bonnett would then be replaced by Joe Lynn Turner of Fandango fame.

* InCaseYouForgotWhoWroteIt: The title of the first album.

* {{Homage}}: The "Can't Let You Go" video is an homage to the silent film ''Film/TheCabinetOfDoctorCaligari'', with Ritchie Blackmore as Caligari and singer Joe Lynn Turner as Cesare.

* PowerMetal: Along with Music/{{Queen}}, Music/UriahHeep and Music/{{Thor}} they're one of the UrExamples.

!! Rainbow provides examples of: