Why are you here?

Everything else
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Okay, why are you here? I mean, where does your interest in Deep Purple come from, and how deep does it run?
I’ve followed them ever since my English teacher decided we should use *Jesus Christ Superstar* in class, and I (naturally) took note of the guy singing the lead role—what was his name again?
I then set out to find out what else he’d done. I was lucky enough to have a neighbor—a girl a few years older than me—who was crazy about Deep Purple, that’s how I discovered the band (thanks, Anita). Since then, Purple has been a part of me (along with Rainbow during the periods when Purple wasn’t active). That said, I consider myself to have relatively broad musical tastes, ranging from jazz to classical (ignoring C&W). But Purple has always been—and always will be—close to my heart.

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I was born in 1970. I have a brother who is 8 years older than me and he had Machine Head and Made in Japan in his record collection. He also had the original Jesus Christ Superstar album. It wasn’t until later I found out the connection between DP and JCS. At the time, I didn’t think the album was for me because I didn’t believe in Jesus. :grin:

I enjoyed some of the things on MH and MiJ but I was really scared of the intros to Lazy on both albums.

A couple of years later I was a teenager and saw Whitesnake on TV. I remember seeing Jon Lord and thinking that was the coolest guy I’ve ever seen! At first, I didn’t know that JL also had been in DP. I started buying WS albums, learning more and more about the people involved and the connections. I got lucky seeing Jon’s last gig with Whitesnake in 1984 and then of course DP reformed.

I got all the albums, I discovered bootlegs from that reunion tour and just got insanely into music and buying records with DP and family in the center of it all.

Fast forward ten years and I had moved to a bigger city and by pure coincidence I got to know a guy who started one of the early Internet providers. I liked computer and was a technical guy so I got employed. I remember the first time I accessed the Internet, the first thing I searched for was of course Deep Purple. I found amd-p, got in touch with Dave Hodgkinson and Trond J. Strøm, started helping out with the website that eventually became THS and the rest, as they say, is history.

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Being introduced to DP and other bands at a young age by an older person, a familiar occurrence by the look of it. My older cousin (four years older) had all those earlier records along with numerous other artists, Sabbath, Heep, etc etc. So about 1973 or so as I was about 13 or 14 then. The Burn record either came out a little after the fact or was already out, I cannot remember the finer details, even though I have a good memory in most instances. I know that when younger and more innocent, I was not as critical or judgmental with my musical tastes. That develops as it does with other things in life, as we gain all those different experiences. I am not a steadfast DP follower though and definitely not as ardent in my support of all things DP as other people are. That began to wane in the 1990’s and throughout the 2000’s. A bit like the restaurant scenario I mentioned not that long ago. When the flavour changes or the ingredients, we can often move along in search of another craving, for want of a better description. I still have an interest musically of course, in what certain members or ex members do, to a degree, it depends on a few things. Life eh? Things come and go over time. Cheers.

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It happened some time in the late 70s/early 80s, deep behind the iron curtain, where time flowed on a different scale. Western music was spread around via umpteenth generation tapes, often without any attribution who is that and what is that. I was a kid, and my buddy got a mixtape from his older brother, which we promptly duplicated. It was an eclectic collection of music, but one track stood out for me, head and shoulders above the rest. It started slow and moody, and with a flick of a switch transformed into ultra-heavy riff with soaring vocals on top of it. Years later I learned what it was. Later, there was also Made in Japan that simply turned my world view upside down, and then the reunion happened.

Fast-forward to circa 1994, pretty similar story to Svante’s – first time on the nascent internet, search for Deep Purple, find the newsgroup. So here we are, 30+ years later :smiling_face_with_sunglasses:

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I was 16 in 1979. Didn’t know anything about Purple at all. But then ex-members started having hit singles (in the UK, at least) and I loved them all. So I began exploring.

I started with borrowing Rising from my local record library, and was just blown away, particularly by Stargazer, obviously. Then I dug further back into Purple, found that I liked the Coverdale albums best.

I joined the DPAS, bought some back issues, increased my knowledge.

Next step, naturally, was to go to gigs. My first was the classic Whitesnake line-up at the Glasgow Apollo. Incredible. After that over the next few years, Rainbow (the JLT version, sadly, not a fan), Gillan, Dio, and more Whitesnake.

So that was how it all started.

i suppose I’m here to discuss all this music I’ve been listening to for over 45 years with like-minded souls. Simple as that!

Cheers!

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Why am I here? Because of:

a) Jon Lord - as he is the greatest British musician of out lifetime on this planet - our own Johann Sebastian Bach, if you like. Combining mastery level of keyboards and piano with outstanding sensitivity and efficiency of play and choosing the notes. Gentle and kind personality as a human - never fell for the rock god archetype, meeting him once was the happiest day of my life EVER, never to be surpassed. And why not mention his ability to create in the worlds of rock and classical and combining them both admirably.

b) Ritchie Blackmore - most definitely and single handedly being the greatest guitarist of my lifetime. His style, and sense of expression embodies and touches my musical sense. Light to dark, quiet to loud, ultra melodic and poetic - to signal-to-noise mayhem. Plus, as Robert Fripp noted, he had all the moves. A smooth dancer of absolute uniqueness, with his body/equipment-to-guitar approach that puts Hendrix to a no-go-to. There will never be another like him.

c) Colin Towns - a quiet Hero, the man who carved Ian Gillan’s solo career into one of the brightest diamonds of the DPF Tree. Unmatched master of synthesizers, making them truly bite your ears, or move your soul (that fokken every-note-and-bend perfect Moog solo in Fighting Man!!!), composition wise a phenomenal ear for coming with pop tunes, punk scorchers, ballads and prog behemoths. Mr Universe and On The Rocks (with it’s COLOSSAL bombast of “from cathedral to village church” intro) rank among the greatest rock stabs ever created within the range of DPF Tree branches. Totally unique sound of piano, organ and synths. And unrivalled ability in creating of the TV / movie soundtracks with his unmistakable sound. A GENIUS.

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I am born in 1967, in a family where my parents liked everything else but rock :grin:
When I was in my preteens, I accidentally listened to In Rock. Couldn’t believe my own ears. Was not like anything I’ve ever heard before.
I was hooked!
A few years later on a schoolmate taught me to play the riff to SotW. At that time I already had most of the albums that were released.
My mom was pretty old fashioned and she was not happy about her young daughter being into hard rock, so to keep the peace and quiet in the family I didn’t mention my interest in public.
But Purple was near and dear to my heart.

At that time there was no internet, and I could read the German music magazine Bravo about Purple, so I got my info about Purple in there. In Denmark there was not a lot of info about Purple.
My favourite albums are:
In Rock
Made in Japan
Machine Head
Fireball
Who do we think we are
Perfect Strangers
House of Blue Light
The Battle rages on
The rest of the albums are also important to me, of course, but those first listed are those I always seek out and play when I need me a little Purple music :smiling_face:

I have not been to a concert with them before, you know life happens, been busy etc, and I always heard of the concerts after they took place. But this year! I’m going to two concerts :star_struck:
Really looking forward.
Last year I was at the Purpendicular concert and it was nice to see Ian Paice in action :blush:

To me Deep Purple is an amazing band.
The musicians are amazing, Ian’s voice was and is the best I’ve ever heard, and now as an old man he is still pretty good.
Ritchie Blackmore was my all time favourite guitarist, but I take what I can get: SMcB is with them now, he is very very good. And I will not stop listen to my favourite band just because RB stopped years ago!
I know some people wrinkle their cute noses at FaceBook, but I’m happy it exists because there I found THS, or were invited to join, I had no idea this forum existed! And here I have learned so much more about THE BEST ROCK BAND - in the world :smiley:

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A few months back…

“What is happening to me? Since I passed 50 it seems the world I grew up in no longer exists…Could that be normal? What happened to significance? Or being passionate about, well, anything? God, I remember being young and passionate about things, like, music, being a fan of great bands, like Deep Purple, the greatest ever in my book…”

“And all this modern online sameness…the same ‘feed’ creeping everyone’s devices day in day out…God I remember the early days of the web, when dialing up the modem, getting into a chat room and finding like-minded people on the other side of the world felt so exciting…”

“Like when internet access came in '95 and while everyone else searched for the Rolling Stones I tried ‘Deep Purple’ and to my astonishment there was a community already there. Ah yes, USENET groups, that dear ‘alt.music.deep-purple’ thing with those great chaps with cool exotic names like ‘Trond’ and ‘Svante’, the discussions, the laughs and the fights…A lost world now in this era of washed-up ‘sameness’…Still…I wonder…whatever happened with them…”

“Let’s see…Nah, it cannot be possible, the THS community is still going on!!! I should peek…Ah, ‘new guitarist not the same as previous guitarist’ discussions, haha, boy does that ring a bell!”

“Should I…post?..Nah, too old for that…Still, I mean, why not? Better use a nickname in case anybody remembers the non-glowing gig review I submitted in 1997! There, done, now ride into the sunset…”

“…but then again, I do like the current discussions, and let’s face it, some of the characters are delightful, as if taken from a classic novel: the damsel, the villain…all they are missing here is ‘the fool’ (I could easily qualify for that one)…”

“Only thing is, I can’t deal with browsing endless comment sections of web pages or even the RSS feed app, I just wish they would set up an actual forum…”

Hence, me here :grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes:

Cheers.-

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Some things never change :smiling_face_with_horns:

Actually, most discussions here feel like “We’ve been there before”. Maybe that the reason for said sameness — when you’re young and impressionable, everything is new and exciting. That being said, I still find quite a lot of new exciting music. Perhaps we should start a thread about it. :thinking:

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Music discovered recently
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It would be great Nick, finding new musical fixes is important, especially these days, when our beloved old rivers run dry… I see myself sliding in the directions of jazz and blues, since there it is where young musicians still go for improvised live stuff. My 3 cents. Thanks for doing this place for us, despite the sameness. It’s not really that bad, some connections made here already buzz and brew with inspiration - and I love that to bits. The boys guilty of the “damage” - you know who you are! I salute yew!:smiling_face_with_horns::sign_of_the_horns:

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Nooo, I meant the sameness in the overall 21st Century popular culture, i.e. your average social media feeds, NOT this community of highly improbable discussions and endearing characters!!! (or was it the other way round?)

:slightly_smiling_face: :mate:

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"She was born in '67
The year of Sgt. Pepper
And Are You Experienced?

Into a suburb of heaven
Yeah, it should’ve been forever
It all seems to make so much sense

But after a while
You realize time flies
And the best thing that you can do
Is take whatever comes to you
'Cause time flies"

(If you know, you know :smiling_face_with_sunglasses:)

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I didn’t know about Porcupine Tree :blush:
Reminds me of Pink Floyd.
Interesting lyrics :smiling_face:

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I was 14 when a girl - Kendall Siefker from Nebraska - kissed me on the lips (no tongue yet) and I think Chicago’s Saturday in the Park

played at a youth disco in some American servicemen’s club in Kinshasa, Zaïre. I have to blame Miss Siefker’s lips for stopping my urge to assemble and (skillfully!) paint 1:72 scale models of WWII warbirds dead in my tracks right then and there. Irrevocably.

A life-changing experience richer, but now devoid of a hobby (wimmin are destroyers!), I thought music was something to turn to, everyone dug music back then, it was a focal point of youth culture.

To be continued later …

Where were we? Ah, yes, I had lost my hobby. And then our yearly home vacation from Africa in Germany came up in the summer of, no, not 69, but ‘75. And rather than spend my saved money on Airfix, Revell and Matchbox assembly kits as well as Humbrol Enamel colors, I decided to invest big time in music. I first obtained Alice Cooper’s Greatest Hits, also albums by The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Bee Gees, The Kinks and The Who - I had a nine year older brother (who did not join us in Africa, he was a young adult by then), so his music tastes rubbed off I guess.

And one day I came across two DP albums in a bargain bin: Shades Of and Book of Taliesyn, not knowing what music would be on there, but “Deep Purple” rang a bell back from then five years earlier when my older brother had brought home In Rock (I didn’t remember any of the music, but the Pop Art cover struck a chord). Then, shortly before we left for Africa again, my grandmom gave me 40 Deutsche Mark and I went to the only record shop/radio store in our small town and spent it on In Rock (recognition!) and Stormbringer.

I could of course now claim that the acquisition of two Mk I, one Mk II and one Mk III album within the course of three or four weeks already showed how eclectic I was, but in reality: I didn’t know what I was doing! :hugs:

Back in Africa, I started listening to the albums in earnest and slowly, DP gained the lead on Alice Cooper (Bob Ezrin already back then!). Strangely, Book of Taliesyn was my favorite one initially (and it is my favorite Mk I album to this day), but after a while I loaned Machine Head, Burn and Made in Japan from friends to tape them. In Rock, btw, was never my favorite DP album, I found it sonically abrasive even back then.

About half a year later, my dad’s job as a production manager in a GM car assembly plant in Kinshasa ended abruptly - the powers that be in Detroit had decided to pull the plug on the whole project. We had to go home and I was shattered, by then I felt more American than German. My last chivalrous deed was finding out Kendall’s locker number in secret and leaving my Alice Cooper’s Greatest Hits album there as a parting gift, she always liked Alice better than DP.

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Dear Uwe,

I really, really apologize for this, but there’s no way I’m not sending you this clip right here and right now… :joy::joy::joy:

Cheers!

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No apologies needed, hilarious!

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I was born in 1961.I’m retired, and spend a fair bit of my time reading, writing and listening to music,

My first exposure to Purple was at age 14. Made In Japan on 8 track tape !! Since then,I Have followed the band and voraciously collected anything to do with them.Albums,books,DVDs,BluRays.

I saw the band in Toronto many times between Purpendicular and Now What . All in the Steve Morse era.

I’ve been hanging around at The Highway Star for about 15 years, and I like to contribute to it. For the most part ,that has been a lot of fun.

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Hi Mike,

So good to see you here as well!

BR / Th

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I am considerably younger than many of you, but to my credit, I started from the beginning.
It all began approximately thirty years ago when I was in secondary school. Having been ignorant of music for the first 12 or 13 years of my life, I suddenly discovered rock and roll. Chuck Berry was the first to make a huge impact, and a year from that, I was a Queen fan (starting from II - which for all my Purple sympathies stands alone as the greatest album ever, but I digress) and, add another year, one of my main interests was Deep Purple - for once a band that actually not only still existed (unlike, say, Beatles, Queen or Doors) and made new music. Abandon was the first “new” album I bought (as in “it did not exist when I learned about the group”) and I have since bought every one of them when they come out. Seeing Purple in 1998 was my first gig on my own, and it left a lasting mark (as you can probably guess by the fact that I’m here 28 years later talking about it). Naturally no-one else in my circle appreciated the genius of Watching the Sky or the heart-warming coda of Bludsucker, so enter IRCNet and #deeppurple, in addition of course, to stumbling upon THS on the web. Ten shows and eight albums later (and having witnessed numerous family tree projects in the process) I felt I had lurked long enough, and, still not being surrounded by many fellow fans, this forum will provide me, I hope, with a space where I can talk all I want about this music that has traveled with me for the past three decades.

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Nice!

You are not alone in your adoration of the magnificent “Queen II”.

There is the famous anecdote of Extreme’s Nuno Bettencourt and Gary Cherone meeting each other in the mid 80’s, and when asking about their respective favorite album, they both said “Queen II” at the same time!

My first “new” DP album was “The House of Blue Light” in 1987, the not-so-celebrated follow up to a classic, much like “Abandon” was to _|_ a decade later!!

Saw your classical quotes list, really good job :slight_smile:

Well, I hope you have a great time here in this new ‘n’ shiny place of unabashed fandom.

All the best,

J.-

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