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Happy birthday to THS
Believe it or not, before there were Wikipedia, Google, Facebook, Twitter and Youtube, there was this little musical fan site called The Highway Star.
20 years ago the site went online for the first time. The announcement was made on April 11, 1994. Which, by the way, probably makes us one of the first 10,000 websites ever. What about ‘est. 1993’ in our logo, you ask? Well, the oldest section of the site was first written in 1993 by Trond Strøm for the nascient alt.music.deep-purple newsgroup, which served as an incubator for the online Deep Purple community.
We’ve outlived such mainstays of the early Internet as Altavista, Geocities, Babelfish, Metacrawler and Infoseek. And while recently a thing or two may happened on ’em newfangled social networks, we hope to outlive them as well. 😉
Cheers!
Unauthorized copying, while sometimes necessary, is never as good as the real thing
In a galaxy, far, far, away..
April 11th, 2014 at 02:34Awesome…the father of any purple sites……you are the greatest!!!!!
April 11th, 2014 at 02:39I’ve enjoyed it for years.
April 11th, 2014 at 02:42I think I started going to the Highway Star through the late 90’s to onwards….happy birthday !!!
April 11th, 2014 at 03:14The first website I ever visited! Congratulations and thank you for all your hard work.
April 11th, 2014 at 04:01First visited the site around 1995…such a wonderful contribution to this great bands history….happy birthday and thanks!!!
April 11th, 2014 at 04:23Visit you ev’ryday !!!
April 11th, 2014 at 04:24I have been visiting ‘The Highway star’ (if I’m not wrong it was earlier called deeppurple.com) for long and at the time (year 1999) I think only source for Deep Purple info was this site and Caramba!…. Thank you and Happy B’day guys…keep the flame alive….
April 11th, 2014 at 04:28Congratulations guys – this is a truly momentous landmark!
I first turned on to THS in late 1997 and it has been an almost daily visit for me ever since. As George Starostin said a few years back, “THS is the model of what a fan site should be”. As such, it blows away anything else I have looked at! And 20 years is a bloody long time in internet world.
So, to all at THS, I salute you – long live Deep Purple and long live THS.
ROCK ON!
April 11th, 2014 at 04:28Good Job!
April 11th, 2014 at 04:36Still the best DP site on the web!!!!! The only DP site that matters. Thank you thank you thank you! No words can express my gratitude to the site and those who run it.
April 11th, 2014 at 04:47– Congratulations!
April 11th, 2014 at 04:56Congratulations, and keep up the good work!
THS was one of the first websites that I visited in 1994 and I hope to be visiting it in 20 years.
April 11th, 2014 at 05:11Good morning to the Highway Star and congrats from Austria. Thanks for keeping me updated as I nearly try to find out what’s going on on a daily basis. Still can’t get my feet on the ground from last week’s show at the Albert Hall. Keep on rocking and to many more years….
April 11th, 2014 at 05:17Directed in from AMDP in June, I believe it was, I feel amongst the elders to place it in the browser, which I believe was Netscape at the time. Happy Birthday! Thanks for holding up all the years while others never last.
April 11th, 2014 at 05:29Congratulations! I’ve been a fan of this site since day 1. Its my source for DP related news. Here’s to another 20… cheers!!
April 11th, 2014 at 05:36Congratulations! This is definitely the finest Purple site!
April 11th, 2014 at 05:44Congratulations! Excellent work. I hope you will go on for years……….
April 11th, 2014 at 05:53Than you so much for your enthusiasm and for all the effort you put keeping us fans informed.
THS is my go-to site for my DP Family info! I really appreciate all your efforts! It is nice when people with good taste from all over the world can come together on a well run site/forum such as this. Thank You!
April 11th, 2014 at 05:53Congratulations!! Have been reading this page since 1996. It’s the best purple site, and one of my start up sites when I turn on the computer in the morning. Been a fan since januar 1975, this is a good way to start the day 🙂
April 11th, 2014 at 06:01Congratulations guys and thanks for all your hard work 🙂
April 11th, 2014 at 06:05Congratulations guys, this is a labour of love and I cant imagine THS not being here \m/
April 11th, 2014 at 06:43Congratulations to the Highway Star team! Keep up the good work, you’re always an inspiration!
April 11th, 2014 at 06:44Happy Birthday!! Keep up the great work 🙂
April 11th, 2014 at 06:45Congratulations!!
April 11th, 2014 at 06:512nd site I ever visited in 1996 (after webcrawler or hot frog or whatever the search engine was). Saw the URL on a postcard at the first _|_ show… The old pre THS one… Promoted to do so by some scruffy guy called…. Roger… Grover..? Seemed very keen on it all – I wonder what happened to him..?
April 11th, 2014 at 06:58Twenty years! That’s a long time. I remember the first days and weeks, and Trond, very well. He was incomprehensibly active. And he seemed to know everything worth knowing. He was called the Librarian from Hell. Anyone know anything about him these days? Congrats!
April 11th, 2014 at 07:30Congratulations to THS !!!
Well done – don´t stop !!!
LLRnR
kraatzy
April 11th, 2014 at 07:32Congratulations – I’ve been following this probably not long after it was launched. It was a joy to get my Purple news without having to trawl alt.music.deep-purple and the random flame wars that kept popping up
April 11th, 2014 at 07:37Congratulations from a reader (nearly) since day 1
I raise a glass (or two, or eight…)
Have a nice day!
April 11th, 2014 at 07:57Congratulations! The site continues to be a great place for all things Purple!
April 11th, 2014 at 08:15Best online site for Purple news 🙂
April 11th, 2014 at 09:43Congratulations!!!! Tour in South America?!
April 11th, 2014 at 09:47well done and congratulations! you’re still the best!
April 11th, 2014 at 09:49Congrats! One of my favourites!
April 11th, 2014 at 10:04Wow, has it been that long? Yes it has indeed & well done to all involved in providing a damn interesting, all things Purple related site! Brilliant! Wasn’t there a site deeppurple.com or something else originally? I seem to remember, vaguely mind you, when I first started on the internet back in 1998, there was an issue somewhere with the dot com names of some bands, being used by certain people & the original artist had to take legal action to try & regain their original dotcom.! I always liked thehighwaystar name when I first stumbled upon this site!
April 11th, 2014 at 10:09I remember a Jethro Tull issue with someone using their domain name, & a classic Tull response was to call their new album at the time JTULLDOTCOM or something along those lines! Maybe it was me coming across this Purple site after finding some other Purple site somewhere else, with that name or a similar one. I remember the Italian site back then also. It is interesting reading some of the above links! Gee time flies, anyway, cheers for all the good work! Cheers.
Congratulations…….rock on!
April 11th, 2014 at 10:16Congrats! I’ve been reading you for 19 years, only. Since the old days of green characters in the university computer screens, this is one of my favorite websites.
April 11th, 2014 at 10:30Happy birthday. Great DP site. Keep up the wonderful work.
April 11th, 2014 at 10:34Thank you so much for keeping up the good work! 20 years…unbelieveable…I check this site since 1996 on a daily basis…and it has been a lot of fun indeed!
April 11th, 2014 at 10:46Fist web site I ever visited in my life 🙂 That was in 1999. And now every morning when I wake up I drink my coffe reading latest news here 🙂 Cheers Purple hearts!
April 11th, 2014 at 11:03Congratulations! and thank you for all your hard work. Visit you every day. I’ve enjoyed it for many years.
April 11th, 2014 at 13:00Happy Birthday!
April 11th, 2014 at 13:10A REAL Favorite in my Bookmarks.
Thankyou 🙂
So next year you’ll be grown up! Big party?
April 11th, 2014 at 13:13Happy Birthday!!!
April 11th, 2014 at 13:17Its one of the first sites I ve ever visited too, long before I owned a computer myself!! when I got my first pc in 2001 thehighwaystar became my homepage and still is 13 years later…
Long live the highwaystar and deep purple, the greatest band on earth, ever!!!
Congrats!!!!!!!!!! Been here since day one,was very active on the forums for a couple of years… This is ”The” site concerning all Purplecoloured things… Stay wild boys!!!!!! I’ll will be following you for 20 more years!!
April 11th, 2014 at 13:32You’re welcome.
Still in touch with a few IRC-ers from that era 🙂
April 11th, 2014 at 14:50@36 MacGregor:
we appeared as deep-purple.com for a few years starting in 1996 with full blessing of the band. eventually the management decided they want something more corporatey and took that domain back (it was always owned by Thames Talent).
April 11th, 2014 at 16:03Happy birthday D.P.! YOU ARE THE BEST!!!
April 11th, 2014 at 16:51CONGRATS!
April 11th, 2014 at 17:17The best DP site I know. Allways the latest news. Allways on top of everything worth to know.
I visit you on a daily basis and will continue, that’s for sure!
Purple Greetings,
Lutz
PS: Continue doing it the way we all love it and are thankfull for!
Happy Birthday … hope for another 20 years.
April 11th, 2014 at 17:28Didn’t have a computer until sometime in 1995. Was a beautiful thing when I found a site which was dedicated to my all time favorite band. I got one of those THS Tee shirts but was a little too late to acquire the ‘Dick Pimple’ CD… 🙁
The professional way this site has been operating is the main reason for its longevity. Plus the fact that it encompasses all things PURPLE. Winning combination. We and Purple are blessed to have such a truly committed, dedicated and stalwart group of folks whom do so much on this site and maintain such a first class operation.
!Ch-BeerZ? and CONGRATS on your 20th ANNIVERSARY!!!!
April 11th, 2014 at 17:36Congrats on 20 years. I also found this site as deep-purple.com way back I guess it was in the mid 90’s. Some big names that came and went (I think -who visits these sites as they exist today! ) AOL, MySpace, Napster, Mirc, etc…
April 11th, 2014 at 18:24Congrats guys ! My first steps on the net were with you 🙂
April 11th, 2014 at 18:54Happy birthday for the best deep purple website on earth !!!
Keep on (hard)rockin’ !!
Lionel Bouvet -France.
April 11th, 2014 at 19:12Thank You to THS and all who have contributed over the many years!! Usually the first site I check in the AM and when I get home from wherever or the end of the day, I enjoy it very much, Thanks Again…stoffer
April 11th, 2014 at 19:28congrats on the 20 years. I must point out that the links you have really need to be updated. I pointed this out 2 years ago and still same ones are there that do not exist anymore. other than that keep up the good work
April 11th, 2014 at 19:28Happy Birthday THS! Always reliable – keep it up!
April 11th, 2014 at 19:52Thanks for all kind words! Trond is on his way to NYC on vacation but he wants everyone to know he is alive and well. 🙂
As for our link page… Yes, much of the archive material on the site would benefit from some care. I think the link page in particular could be taken away. There was a time when link collections were useful but most people Google these days anyway, right? And we link frequently to the interesting related sites in our news items.
April 11th, 2014 at 20:57Keep the Purple dream alive! Happy Birthday guys!
April 11th, 2014 at 21:10Happy birthday, THS !!!! Great site of the best band ever …
April 11th, 2014 at 21:27Nick@48- thanks for the info & yes I do remember that much better now, much appreciated. Cheers.
April 11th, 2014 at 21:32Did not have a computer that worked untill 2007 or so.
Around 1993 i went to the Virgin megastore in Rotterdam to read it becaise they offered the possibility to use one.
April 11th, 2014 at 22:03Best Wishes from Huntington Beach, California to THS and all involved, and that includes the readers. I have been reading since I don’t know when, at least 10 years but the way time flies as we get older it is probably closer to the 15 +/- mark. Found you just doing a search on Deep Purple back in the day and like most others here you became my go-to site for any and most all things Purple related. I am not one to comment much but I enjoy those who do and have learned many things. I will tip a frosty malt beverage to your past and future 20 years after work tonite.
Keep Calm and Rock On!
Jerry
April 11th, 2014 at 22:04Happy Birthday THS ! Congratulations Friends ! and…Long Live Purple Music !
April 11th, 2014 at 22:07my first visit of THS:
April 12th, 2014 at 07:27http://web.archive.org/web/19980612233314/http://www.deep-purple.com/
@66: Ha ha! And the HoF discussions were going on then too!
April 12th, 2014 at 08:07Cheers!!! Congratulations!!!
April 12th, 2014 at 08:43The One Single Site that made me HAVE to have a computer.
April 12th, 2014 at 14:01Happy Anniversary THS. You have been an invaluable tool in keeping us up to the SECOND on all things PURPLE
Congratulations. A very happy birthday to a special group of people. I am very proud of THS and regularly check it, sometimes I get more information from you than anywhere else. Thank you for your dedication and hard work.
Good luck and many more returns,
RG
April 12th, 2014 at 16:22Where would we ever hear any Purple news with out this site ?!
April 12th, 2014 at 20:14Thanks for everything!
Happy birthday and congratulations to THS. Always had its purple heart in the right place, and part of everyday life for as long as I’ve been online.
April 12th, 2014 at 20:57I love U Highway Star website!!!
April 12th, 2014 at 23:44Happy 20th Anniversary Highway Star!! Happy Anniversary to all the people behind this website who continue to work tirelessly to give us fans news and topics about our favourite band. Yes 20 years is a long run, and I have been with you for 15 years of it, since 1999 when I got my first internet connection. You are bookmarked at the top of my screen and I visit you at least twice a day, when I wake up, and before I go to bed.
Thank you for all the enjoyable articles, all the thought-provoking topics, and all the good humour. Thank you for providing all us fans a forum to exchange views, to debate, and to share our passion for the great band Deep Purple.
Happy Birthday again! Job very well done!!
April 13th, 2014 at 01:13So,Happy Birthday THS!!!!!!Thank you for all the funny times!!!
April 14th, 2014 at 00:24Happy Birthday to THS and to TMIB.
April 14th, 2014 at 00:44Congratulations !! I’ve been visiting this site almost everyday since… .1994 !!
April 14th, 2014 at 02:57Deeperpurps@74- good to see you are still buzzing around planet earth, as I haven’t seen a comment from you for a few months! Yes, I remember when I first jumped online circa ’98 & Purple & Sabbath were the first bands I looked up from memory! Old habits die hard! Cheers.
April 14th, 2014 at 10:13Hip Hip Hourrah ! Bravo for all the efforts, all the informations and the dedication for such a long time. You people are the best !
By the way, is anyone heard about a special new re-re-release of Perfect Strangers, for the 30th anniversary ?
April 14th, 2014 at 22:30Congratulations guys/gals. I think it speaks volumes for yourselves and Deep Purple that no other band that I know of has such a well done site that is so actively visited and kept fresh by your content and that of the fans. I’m sure there are plenty of corporate bubble-gum sites that may get more traffic for meaningless ‘entertainers’. Doesn’t matter. This is the music that matters and the site brings all that know it together.
May the band and site live another twenty or more.
Thank you.
April 15th, 2014 at 00:54Hi MacGregor @78!! Yes still here on Terra Firma and have been keeping a close eye on this site, and have been tempted to write many times, but work keeps getting in the way! Did get some time off last week to head to Tokyo and see the Purps play at Budokan….great show! Review of it just posted on this site a few hours ago!
April 15th, 2014 at 16:16