Ian Gillan gets all sassy with the Rock & Roll hall of Fame

Talking to Rolling Stone, Ian Gillan gently schools the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame in rock:

I've heard quotes of somebody on the [Rock Hall voting] committee saying, "Well, Deep Purple can't be in it, because they were a one-hit wonder." I don't know if they were referring to "Hush" or "Smoke in the Water" or "Child in Time" or "Highway Star" or "Perfect Strangers," any of those one hit wonders that we were.

He then says he'd treat the museum with respect if they approached the band, but "it's really an American thing", which is the sort of respect you get when someone says "I hear what you're saying, but..."

Songwriterobit: Joe South

Joe South, singer and songwriter, has died.

His story starts off brilliantly: hits as a singer, hits as a songwriter. But then things changed for the worse in the early 70s. South was crushed by his success, as the LA Times explains:

"The Grammy Awards are a very nice gesture by the record industry, but they can really mess up your head," South told Times rock critic Robert Hilburn in 1970, months after he accepted the honors for "Games People Play."

"The Grammy is a little like a crown. After you win it, you feel like you have to defend it. In a sense, I froze. I found it hard to go back in to the recording studio because I was afraid the next song wouldn't be perfect."

He then rolled through drug problems and divorce, and stalled comebacks. But he had his song credits to nourish him. Luckily, he was coverable in lots of ways:




Joe South was 72; he died following a heart attack.

Progobit: Jon Lord

Jon Lord, keyboardist with Deep Purple, has died.

There's a statement on his website:

It is with deep sadness we announce the passing of Jon Lord, who suffered a fatal pulmonary embolism today, Monday 16th July at the London Clinic, after a long battle with pancreatic cancer. Jon was surrounded by his loving family.

Jon Lord, the legendary keyboard player with Deep Purple co-wrote many of the bands legendary songs including Smoke On The Water and played with many bands and musicians throughout his career.

Best known for his Orchestral work Concerto for Group & Orchestra first performed at Royal Albert Hall with Deep Purple and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in 1969 and conducted by the renowned Malcolm Arnold, a feat repeated in 1999 when it was again performed at the Royal Albert Hall by the London Symphony Orchestra and Deep Purple.

Jon’s solo work was universally acclaimed when he eventually retired from Deep Purple in 2002.

Jon passes from Darkness to Light.

For a band whose very name created the aura of an Upper Common Room beard-stroking, their origins were deeply rooted in manufactured novelty pop. Lord came together with Nick Simper after The Flowerpot Men had a hit with Lets Go To San Francisco, and their label Deram needed a band to go out and play it. It's a bit like Mumford And Sons starting out as some of the Sugababes.

Jon Lord was 71.

Stretching the definition of 'supergroup' a little

Mike Portnoy, Steve Morse, Neal Morse, Dave LaRue and Casey McPherson. Apparently, this is enough to constitute a supergroup these days.

Still, on this day of all others, it's an encouraging thought: don't think of that turkey curry tonight as reheated leftovers; what you have is a food supergroup. Enjoy.

Lars Ulrich offers to destroy memories, second band

Lars Ulrich has offered his services to Deep Purple, should they wish to reform:

"I know there's talk about the fact that if they got Coverdale, Hughes, Lord and Blackmore together, they would have four members who aren't in the current DEEP PURPLE — then they just need a drummer. I'll volunteer myself for that," Lars laughed. "If they need a drummer, David Coverdale has my number."

Lars, sweetheart, Coverdale threw away that napkin as soon as you left the restaurant. Oh, sure, he might pretend he lost it later - "I tried to text you or something, but it never went through, and then I ran out of credits, and... you know, I lost the piece of paper with your number on it and... really? You poked me on Facebook? I... uh, probably haven't seen that yet... um... gotta go...." Whatever you might think, David Coverdale doesn't have your number.

Red and Purple

The iron curtain did many cruel things to those caught behind it in the nations perverting socialism. Amongst the terrible wrongs was the way that - cut off from the West - heavy metal took a firmer grip on young minds. Perhaps it was the heavy basslines allowed the music to carry further into Eastern Europe; maybe it was all a terrible joke at the expense of youth on the part of Brezhnev. Whatever, heavy metal remained popular in the East in a way it never quite managed to do in the West. While social democrats grew up and pretended they'd never liked the Maiden, former Communists tend to still look on the metal scene fondly.

Which is how presumably Deep Purple came to play a gig for Gazprom head Dmitri Medvedev. In the Kremlin.

Of course, it's questionable if Deep Purple really should have been paying court to Medvedev and Gazprom while the company is bullying Ukraine and threatening to cut off the gas - although, according to The Times, the Purple bought Ukraine a stay of execution:

Gazprom had set a deadline originally for Monday night, but pushed it back 24 hours. Some observers said that it had been reluctant to spoil Mr Medvedev’s evening by starting a dispute with Ukraine during the Deep Purple concert.

It's almost a Partridge Family plot - "curse you, your music has distracted me and I forgot to cut off the gas supplies to 46 million people..."

Sony BMG in another awkward moment

Following the very high profile condemnation of its shoddy Deep Purple release by Ian Gillan, Sony BMG have had to scrap the album and are trying to explain what happened:

Sony BMG said it was recalling the album and would investigate why Gillan was not told about its plans.

A spokesman for the company said: "Sony BMG is not in the business of releasing albums without the knowledge of the artists.

"It is in our interests to work with artists, so they can promote their records and continue to work with us."

The label then scratched its two corporate heads, pointing out that the record had been released before and it wasn't a problem then - perhaps Ian Gillan knew nothing at all about that time, boys?

Don't buy Deep Purple album, say Deep Purple

Deep Purple's Ian Gillan is so horrified at a record label sticking out a live recording of what he believes is one of the worst concerts of all time, he went on this morning's Today to issue a plea to fans to not part with their cash:

The singer said he and guitarist Ritchie Blackmore were barely on speaking terms at the time of the concert.

"It was one of the lowest points of my life - all of our lives, actually," said Gillan.

"In fact, it lasted five or six shows after that Birmingham show.

"Then Ritchie left the band. And we've had 13 years of stability ever since then."

So, what is the shady little label that's pulled a nasty little stunt that does no good to consumer or band?

That would be your Snoy-BMG, cornerstone of the RIAA and thus signed up behind that organisation's condemnation of how priacy and downloads don't respect the artist's rights to control their own work.