Deep Purple / YMMV

Audience-Alienating Era:
- There is a lot of debate on which era of the band is best, but as to the worst? While it has its fans, Slaves and Masters is often cited as their worst work, due to its bland AOR sound and cheesy lyrics.
- The band themselves consider the entire Mark II reunion era to be this, musically and personally - since tensions reached a peak about five minutes after starting back up again, and somehow only seemed to rise for the next nine or so years.
Award Snub: Deep Purple's infamous induction to the Rock 'n Roll Hall of Fame in 2016. While all the members of Marks II and III were inducted, as was Rod Evans, everyone else was left out. That's Nick Simper, Tommy Bolin, Joe Lynn Turner, Joe Satriani, Steve Morse, and Don Airey (and the latter two actually were in the band at the time - and Airey still is.)
Broken Base:
- Is Concerto for Group and Orchestra an interesting Genre-Busting experiment or just pretentious and bombastic kitsch?
- On the issue of which Mark is the best, though Mark II is the most popular.
Covered Up: Wait, "Hush" isn't originally by Deep Purple? (It was written by Joe South and first recorded by Billy Joe Royal).
Epic Riff: A lot, but "Smoke on the Water" from Machine Head is the most famous example. In fact, it's a candidate for the most recognizable guitar riff in rock music history.
Fan Nickname:
- Mark <insert Roman numeral>; the current incarnation of the band is considered to be Mark IX.
- Man in Black for Ritchie Blackmore, due to his name and his preference for darker clothing.
- Ian Paice is called "Paicey" by his bandmates in order to distinguish him from Ian Gillan. Sometimes both Purple fans and bandmates call him "Little Ian" and Gillan "Big Ian."
First Installment Wins: While the band as a whole averts this, many people will say that Deep Purple in Rock, the first Deep Purple Mk II studio release, is the best Mk II album. Meanwhile, most people will tell you that Burn is the better of the two Mk III albums.
Germans Love David Hasselhoff: A strange case. Even though the band never enjoyed more than modest popularity in the US, Mark I was more popular there to the point where UK fans thought they were American, to the point where they earned 10 times as much on a US gig compared to a UK gig. Today the band is more popular among European audiences, especially in countries formerly of the Warsaw Pact.
Harsher in Hindsight: The portion of "Dealer" sung by Tommy Bolin, while about Glenn Hughes, is eerily predictive of Tommy's ultimate fate.
- Milder example than the above, but the fact that the first lineup recorded a cover of "We Can Work it Out" is a little jarring given that lineup was broken up about a year later, while the band itself would be plagued by internal strife until 1993.
Heartwarming in Hindsight: Don Airey was approached by Ian Gillan during the 2001 tour he took with the band filling in for Jon Lord and thought he was going to be dropped from the tour for playing his solos too long. All Ian wanted to do was ask him to solo longer; not only did he end up completing the tour, he was made a permanent member in 2002 and has been with the band since.
Hilarious in Hindsight: As mentioned on the Funny page, Anyone's Daughter is a bit amusing given the fact that every member of Mark II has at least one daughter.
- The band's performance at California Jam in 1974 featured a rainbow structure behind the band as part of the stage set. Not long after the gig, Ritchie Blackmore left to form his own band. The name of the band? Rainbow.
- Ian Paice in a 1982 interview admitted he was getting tired of touring and was a bit glad he didn't have to as much any more (at the time having recently been kicked out of Whitesnake, but before Purple resumed). Over thirty-five years later, he's still touring extensively with the band, doing stints with cover bands as well.
- Ritchie Blackmore originally left the band because he didn't like the commercial, funk and soul route that Glenn Hughes was leading them down. Several years later, he'd take Rainbow on more or less the same path albeit with AOR music rather than funk. He'd also try it once more in Purple on the much-reviled Slaves and Masters.
- Slaves and Masters's opener "King of Dreams" is a Take That! by Blackmore toward Gillan, who'd quit the band, and in particularly a comeback at Gillan's own "Smooth Dancer". The substance of the lyrics is Blackmore gloating that it doesn't matter whether he's right or wrong, because he's popular and can fill the arenas with masses. Blackmore had to eat humble pie when the album bombed horribly, eventually leading to his own departure from the band and Gillan's return.
Ho Yay: The relationship between Blackmore and Gillan sometimes has shades of this. Apparently, a major source of tension between them was Gillan's nudist tendencies, especially as Blackmore and Gillan roomed together on tour during the initial MK II run. Gillan wrote the fabulously homoerotic song "Smooth Dancer" about Blackmore, including such gems as "I want / To be inside of you" and "I loved you once and I want to love again". Gillan is also strangely jealous of the other Deep Purple singers who worked with Blackmore, comparing to listening to MK III-IV's songs to "finding your wife in bed with another man." When Gillan fielded fan questions on his Facebook, even his male fans took the opportunity to ask him if he'd ever kissed Ritchie Blackmore.
- Blackmore would respond to "Smooth Dancer" years later with "King of Dreams" off the Slaves and Masters album. This song somehow manages to be almost as homoerotic as "Smooth Dancer".
- Tommy Bolin and Glenn Hughes of the MK IV lineup used to make out onstage. Footage of this does not seem to exist, but on some audio recordings one can hear audience members yelling slurs at them.
  - A photo of Glenn kissing Tommy exists; it can be found here◊.
- Blackmore has claimed in an interview to have caught Gillan and Glover in a... Compromising situation in the back of the band's Daimler limousine on one occasion.
Memetic Mutation: 0-3-5^Explanation
Never Live It Down: Blackmore's horribly unprofessional behaviour during his performance with the band at the Birmingham NEC in 1993 (his next to last U.K. show with the band). He didn't come onstage until over halfway through "Highway Star" and during his guitar solo, stopped to throw a cup of water at the cameraman standing behind Ian Gillan (many people believed he threw it directly at Ian, but the footage clearly shows that isn't the case). Throughout the concert, he continued to walk offstage in between songs and he left the stage immediately after the last song finished.
Replacement Scrappy: Steve Morse, if you're a Ritchie Blackmore fan. Also Tommy Bolin when Blackmore left the first time.
- But Bolin was a great guitarist. He could've gone pretty far if he hadn't died when he did.
- David Coverdale, Glenn Hughes and Joe Lynn Turner for Ian Gillan fans.
- And also Ian Gillan if you are a Rod Evans fan.
- Don Airey if you're a fan of Jon Lord. ^note
- The infamous 'Bogus Deep Purple' lineup of 1980. And how.
Sequel Displacement: In general the band is most famous for their Mark II era, compared to the more Psychedelic Rock flavored Mark I.
Signature Song: "Smoke on the Water", of course. It's probably the Epic Riff, and quite possibly the most popular pick for a guitar beginner's first song. "Highway Star" is not too far behind.
- "Hush" is also very well known, but is ironically not always recognized as a Deep Purple song, since their early sound was so vastly different.
- "Burn", "Mistreated" and "Stormbringer" would be this for Mark III.
- "Gettin' Tighter" is this for Mark IV - being the name of the official documentary about "Come Taste the Band".
Vindicated by History: Stormbringer and Come Taste the Band spent a long time being considered two of the worst albums the band ever recorded. Nowadays, they're generally regarded as perfectly decent albums.
The Woobie: Roger Glover. He was bullied mercilessly in the early band and thrown out for no good reason.
- Ian Gillan, who had a difficult home life growing up. The issues with Ritchie later did quite a number on him to the point of driving him to tears on occasion.
- Nick Simper's story is genuinely heartbreaking. He was replaced on a whim by people he considered close friends, and only found out though other people, since neither the band, nor their record label actually bothered to tell him. It's clear to this day that he's genuinely hurt. Not bitter, or angry - just hurt.
- Tommy Bolin, who is often Misblamed for the failure of his lineup. He also has gotten a lot of ire from fans at the time (and even now, not that he's around to hear it). Not to mention the drug issues which cost him his life at only twenty-five.
- Iron Woobie: Steve Morse. Not only has he also been treated rather poorly by fans, but he's developed serious arthritis that sometimes requires a cast to even play, as well as requiring him to change his whole technique. Still, he keeps on playing with a smile on his face.
- Don Airey as well, arguably. Prior to Purple, he'd never spent more than three years in a band, didn't always get the credit he deserved, lost close friends, and even watched someone die in the early 80s.^note Apparently he expected to be fired for soloing too long, which says a lot. Thankfully, he seems much better these days.
- It's hard not to feel a little sympathy for Rod Evans. His career went nowhere after he left Deep Purple, which is why he agreed to take part in the Bogus Deep Purple band, hoping it would make him a lot of money. Unfortunately, it ended up doing the opposite, and it lost him his royalties from the first three Purple albums and effectively left him Unpersoned from the band's history. It ended up being the final nail in the coffin for his career and lead to him leaving the music business for good.

YMMV / Deep Purple

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