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Deep Purple - Trivia


As of 2012, Deep Purple have not been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Toto guitarist Steve Lukather commented, "they put Patti Smith in there but not Deep Purple? What's the first song every kid learns how to play? ["Smoke On The Water"]...And they're not in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame? ...the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame has lost its cool because of the glaring omissions." When asked what band he'd like to see inducted into the Rock Hall, Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich lobbied for Deep Purple.
After the break-up (1976-84), most of the past and present members of Deep Purple went on to have considerable success in a number of other bands, including Rainbow, Whitesnake, Black Sabbath and Gillan. There were, however, a number of promoter-led attempts to get the band to reform, especially with the revival of the hard rock market in the late 1970s and early 1980s. In 1980, a touring version of the band surfaced with Rod Evans as the only member who had ever been in Deep Purple, eventually ending in successful legal action from the legitimate Deep Purple camp over unauthorised use of the name. Evans was ordered to pay damages of US$672,000 for using the band name without permission.
Deep Purple were ranked #22 on VH1's Greatest Artists of Hard Rock programme.
Ritchie Blackmore had a habit of pranking people during their sleep. Once he put someone inside a car with no keys. On a cruise ship. Naked. All of this happened while the guy was sleeping.
Organist Jon Lord composed the whole Concerto For Group and Orchestra album by himself.
Guitarist Ritchie Blackmore is often considered the founder of "Neo-classical" metal.
During the 1960s Blackmore played a Gibson ES-335 but switched to a Fender Stratocaster after seeing Jimi Hendrix playing one in concert. He bought a second hand model from Eric Clapton's roadie. Since then and right up until his Blackmore's Night project, Blackmore has used Stratocasters almost exclusively. The middle pickup is screwed down and not used, with only the bass and treble pickup selector set. Blackmore has also occasionally used a Fender Telecaster Thinline during recording sessions.
Drummer Ian Paice was 19 years old when he helped form Deep Purple, and is the only member never to have left the band.
The famous Pilgrim's hat that Ritchie Blackmore used to wear live had a shortwave radio built into its side.
At one point Deep Purple was in fact the loudest band in the world.
In the summer of 1974, Deep Purple was the biggest band in the world, thanks to the success of Machine Head, and Made in Japan. When they were asked to perform at the California Jam, they gladly said yes, not realizing what was going to go wrong. After having some venue problems, Deep Purple went on, with an angry Ritchie Blackmore. Blackmore was upset because they were going on earlier than scheduled, and this would ruin their light show. At the end of their set, during "Space Truckin', Ritchie destroyed three Fender Strats (custom built), blew up one of his many Marshall cabinets, and smashed up a T.V. camera. The total damage at the end of the night was well over $100,000.
On 8 June 1970, East Germany police confiscated the band's equipment with the excuse that the convoy was driving too close to the border line of the divided country. As a result of that, the band's concert was cancelled.