IAN PAICE speaks; So Sad Deep Purple Band announces a Heartbreaking news;That have stirred many reactions.

Deep Purple is indeed a highly influential and talented band with a significant place in the history of rock music. There are a few reasons why they might not always be mentioned in the same breath as bands like The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Who, and Led Zeppelin, despite their musical prowess:

Timing and Era: Deep Purple emerged in the late 1960s and gained significant popularity in the 1970s. The bands you mentioned like The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, and The Who were part of the British Invasion in the 1960s, which was a time of immense cultural impact and innovation in music. Led Zeppelin, on the other hand, was a part of the early 1970s rock scene. Deep Purple, while successful, may not have had the same level of cultural impact during their peak years.

1. Genre and Style: Deep Purple is often associated with hard rock and heavy metal, which may have a narrower appeal compared to the more diverse styles of music that bands like The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, and The Who explored. This could contribute to their relative under-recognition in broader discussions of classic rock.
2. Mainstream Popularity: While Deep Purple had their share of hits and a dedicated fan base, they may not have achieved the same level of mainstream success or cultural ubiquity as some of the other bands you mentioned. The Beatles, for example, are widely regarded as one of the most successful and influential bands in history, with numerous chart-topping hits and a lasting impact on popular music.
3. Critical Reception and Legacy: While Deep Purple is respected within the rock community and among music enthusiasts, they may not have received the same level of critical acclaim or cultural recognition as some of their counterparts. Bands like The Beatles and Led Zeppelin, for instance, are often praised for their innovation, songwriting, and musical experimentation, which has contributed to their enduring legacy.

In summary, while Deep Purple is undoubtedly a great band with talented musicians and a solid catalog of music, their relative positioning in the pantheon of rock music history may be influenced by factors such as timing, genre, mainstream success, critical reception, and cultural impact. Music appreciation is subjective, and different bands resonate with different audiences for various reasons.

Thought 2

Deep Purple certainly had their moments, but I think the main reason they aren’t mentioned in the same breath as bands like The Beatles and Led Zeppelin is that they weren’t as consistent. Deep Purple is certainly in the conversation and were influential in their own right, but their albums were hit and miss. It also didn’t help that the line-up of the band was in almost constant flux all throughout its tumultuous history.

I’ve liked almost every iteration of Deep Purple, but quite often they were identifiably very different bands using a common name. For example, I loved the version of the band that featured Tommy Bolin on guitar instead of Richie Blackmore, but some people don’t even consider their album, Come Taste the Band, a “real” Deep Purple album. And you can start arguments over which version was better, the one with Ian Gillan on vocals, the one with Glenn Hughes and David Coverdale on vocals, the one with Joe Lynn Turner on vocals, or the one with Richie Blackmore on guitar, or Steve Morse, or Tommy Bolin.

See? That’s basically what I mean. There were a lot of different Deep Purples, and different people have different preferences, but with a constantly fluctuating identity it was impossible for the career trajectory of the band to maintain a consistent narrative. To me, that’s an interesting story on its own, but it doesn’t lend itself to being mentioned in the same breath as The Beatles, The Stones, The Who, Led Zeppelin, etc. The one commonality between all those bands you mentioned is that all throughout their careers they had, for the most part, the same personnel and the same identity.

I think it’s hard for the public to fully identify with a band that’s constantly changing, when you never really know what you’re going to get from one album to the next. People do tend to move on from artists when they’re not hearing something they like. And Deep Purple were constantly changing, careening from classic album to WTF? and back again.

Thought 3

A2A. This is a great question and I’ve wondered about this for a long time. When I was in high school in the late 1970s, Deep Purple were GODS among my classmates. They were among the first bands to get their own airplane for touring. Blackmore was a first-rank guitar hero. I still love them today. Now no one talks about them very much. The last edition of the Rolling Stone Record Guide didn’t even list them. Blackmore is an acknowledged major influence on some of today’s metal guitar shredders (e.g. Yngvie Malmsteen), but that’s really about it.

I’d say here’s why:

• Inconsistent lineups. All of these bands had lineups that endured for long periods of time, even the Stones with Brian Jones -> Mick Taylor -> Ron Wood. I lost count of the number of Purple lineups. They all sounded quite different from one another, or later on they were basically highly talented cover bands that played oldies on tour. And then there were all those splinter groups—Rainbow, Whitesnake, Paice Ashton Lord, etc. Too confusing.
• Less “personality.” The Stones had Mick & Keith. The Who had Pete Townshend with his windmills and guitar smashing, and Keith Moon with his insanity. Zeppelin had the Golden God on vocals and Jimmy Page with his double-neck guitar. The Beatles … were the Beatles. Deep Purple had … Ritchie Blackmore with his legendary hostility to fans and the press.
• Inconsistent albums. Nobody except serious diehard fans can name more than one or two cuts from any of their studio albums other than Machine Head. Almost every cut on every Beatles, Stones, and Zeppelin album is a classic.
• Narrower audience. The Beatles and the Who appealed to a broad audience in their time and still do. Zeppelin’s audience was more like Purple’s—white, male, macho—until they started branching out musically with hits like “D’yer Maker” and “All of My Love.” Purple never appealed much beyond the white male macho crowd.

Thought 4

I agree with you: they are the best band and they are underrated.

This is something I thought long about for decades since I was a teenager in the 90s and my peers wondered why I preferred those old guys instead of Guns’n’Roses or Nirvana. (Nowadays, Guns and Nirvana are older than Deep Purple was in 1991 and kids still find them cool.)

The only answers I reached are in the human factor. They are underrated because of their (and their managers’) personalities. Let’s see.

1. No pose. Deep Purple never tried to consciously sell an image of themselves other than that of skilled musicians. They were not bad boys like the Rolling Stones, they never gave flight to associations with excess and the occult like Led Zeppelin, they never wore exquisite outfits like Manowar or facial hairstyle like ZZ Top. (Well, Mk 1 had those bouffants, but luckily that wardrobe was ditched soon enough.) They also have never really been involved in scandals, except for a few personal feuds. If you talk to all current members and most former members, you’ll hardly note any superstar pose.
2. No theme. What theme comes to your mind when you think when you think about Iron Maiden? And when you think about Black Sabbath? What do you think when you think about Led Zeppelin? Now, try to find one common theme in Deep Purple music. (Fire, maybe? Smoke on the Water, Burn, Fire in the Basement?)
3. No style. This is what I’m most proud of with them, but it doesn’t help getting them overrated. No two Deep Purple albums sound alike. Change one member, and many have changed, change the sonority. Whatever it is that later bands called style, Deep Purple could always call side B track 3 or something. And even the least appreciated Deep Purple album (maybe the only one that tried consciously to have a style) is still a kickass rock album.

1. No heavy-handed management. Here may be the biggest problem with their popularization. They never had someone like Peter Grant or Don Arden to twist arms and get them the best deals no matter what. That led them to be their own bosses creatively, which contributed to the previous items for good and ill. But it also led to friction within the band, especially at the height of the tiresome Machine Head tour, when they nearly fell apart. The process of replacing Blackmore was also pretty much improvised, and it didn’t take two years to get to it. Led Zeppelin got a long break when they came to exhaustion.
2. No end. Extinguished bands have less cracks and morphings to show than bands that go on and on. My Purple fan friends complain a lot that their current setlist is stilted and that Ian Gillan has lost a lot of the power in his voice. Some complain that Morse and Airey are not Blackmore and Lord. That’s part of being a living and breathing band. You can’t really compare a senior singer with 73 years old to his 25 year-old self (though you can praise the exceptions who still are comparable, like Glenn Hughes, who also was in DP). Deep Purple is probably the tightest band of experienced musicians still active in the world. And their current setlist is much fresher than Led Zeppelin’s current setlist, which does not exist because they stopped when they were barely 30. I am thankful they are still on the road and I love the concept of the Long Goodbye Tour.
3. 

As you see, all the things that lead to their underratement are the flip side of the coin that makes them great. Deep Purple doesn’t melt in your mouth. It has to be chewed to be better savoured. It’s not something everyone does.

I’ve seen my favorite musicians aging in parallel with my parents and aunts. They feel like family to me, and it’s always great to see those older guys still rocking, while I’m so many years younger and sometimes think of stopping what I do.

Deep Purple for me is more than a musical taste. It’s a role model.