![[hand]](/hs-pics/portraits/hands/gillan2.jpg)
![[face]](/hs-pics/portraits/faces/airey.jpg)
Can’t take rock’n’roll too seriously
This is the Blackmore’s interview that he gave in September 1993 to a Swedish show called Metal Magazinet. You may have heard bits and pieces from it over the years, but here it looks like it is in its entirety and unedited. That’s the one from which the sensationalist clip of Ritchie going to beat up Big Ian was taken. And when put into the context it is plainly obvious that it was just Blackmore taking the piss out of his audience (or as they call it these days, trolling). Switching back to serious mode, he actually has quite a few kind things to say about Ian Gillan.
Thanks to Blackwood Richmore for the heads up and to Alexander Pronyakin for posting it.
Unauthorized copying, while sometimes necessary, is never as good as the real thing
Hi Nick, I couldn’t have said it better myself. I found RB to be quite an honest & decent sort of fellow in this interview…. & now I realise how all those short clips that I saw from this interview over the years have been shown out of context, & they paint RB unfairly, to make him appear mean, or whatever.
March 26th, 2021 at 18:46But no matter what his faults may be, RB is a much better person than his detractors portray him as.
Ritchie is tops in my book!. 💜👍🏻🍻
His guitar playing talent is undisputed and his sarcasm and b*** S*** is out of this world.
March 26th, 2021 at 21:55I can’t take that guy seriously and people need to wise up when they listen to him.
When a talented guitar player like Blackmore tells another talented guitar player like Santrani to play the the wrong notes to search within is a great example of the b*** S***
Sorry about my rude language but it’s only my opinion and I am not forcing it on anyone.
Peace
Nice to hear Blackmore talking, however that interviewer, it is a wonder Blackmore didn’t walk out after ten minutes. Talk about, ‘let’s focus on the soap opera, days of our lives drama rubbish’. Pathetic. Shouldn’t the conversation be about music in general. Not “he said, she said, I said, you said etc etc!? Cheers.
March 26th, 2021 at 22:11Just saw this. I wondered if they ever caught the stupid with the flare gun.
https://twitter.com/tbriscoe/status/1375817642880155650?s=20
March 27th, 2021 at 17:53@4 Boswell’s Johnson, the man was a Czech refugee named Zdenek Spicka.
March 27th, 2021 at 19:14Here’s all the info:
https://www.quora.com/Did-they-ever-identify-the-Stupid-with-a-Flare-Gun-who-started-the-fire-in-the-Montreux-Casino-and-inspired-Smoke-on-the-Water-a-song-which-has-probably-made-enough-to-rebuild-the-casino-twenty-times-over
What a way to end the week! This’s big and honestly interview.
March 27th, 2021 at 21:19Cheers !
Ritchie Blackmore wrote The Old Testament of Hard Rock from 1968 to 1974, and that was before his work with Rainbow and Blackmore’s Night, which are also excellent. Thank You Ritchie.
March 28th, 2021 at 01:01I’ll preface this by stating that Blackmore is my favorite rock guitarist. His style is unique, and he’s peerless among rockers in his ability to make his instrument sing. Having said that, I find his statement that he doesn’t like “black music” troubling and borderline repugnant, particularly from a guy who admired Hendrix and apparently tried to put a band together with Lynott. He could have said he doesn’t like funk, which many all-white bands play as well, and I’d have no problem with that. Blackmore has played a fair bit of blues in his day — I recall a memorable jam on Rainbow On Stage. Is he aware of the origins of the blues? As for Stevie Wonder, I’m not a fan of everything he has recorded, but he is a superb songwriter and musician. Over the years I’ve chuckled a fair bit at Ritchie’s “taking the piss’’ in interviews. But there’s a fine line between a joker and a jackass, and at one point in this interview, he crossed it.
March 28th, 2021 at 02:22‘The main reason was money – Ian needs some money’ 😉 😉 – – – just remember the Memmingen concert I saw in 1993 and it was an unbelievable great performance – especially when I realized they put “Anyone’s Daughter’ in, which Ritchie played so brillant – he put parts of ‘The Mule’ and ‘Hall of the mountain king’ as well in his performance and played great solos during CIT and ‘Anya’) – btw my lil stereo recorder did a good job that night – can’t believe its nearly 30 years later now – and this was my only chance seeing Ian Gillan and Ritchie Blackmore performing together – what a lucky guy I am
March 28th, 2021 at 08:40@ Blackwood Richmore Thanks!
March 28th, 2021 at 17:58@8 George M, the title of this blog says it all, ‘Can’t take Rock ‘n’ Roll too seriously’.
You’ve gotta take a lot of what they say with a grain of salt. They answer the same sorts of questions over & over again throughout their careers… It must be so boring & frustrating for them. So they spice up their answers a little.
There’s no such thing as bad advertising. It’s like feeding the chickens!, they are always hungry & clucking for more.
Now I’m fairly certain that we all know what RB meant by the term ‘black music’. I mean I’ve seen documentaries on the television that have used the same term to describe funk, rap, hip hop & modern R&B the same way.
The fact that the blues, jazz, boogie woogie & Rock & Roll itself were once, in the not to distant past, referred to as ‘black music’ is of no concern to me either. I love all of it!.
Just wondering what you would make of this… it left me scratching my head in wonder:
https://youtu.be/8JOb5LEnRoc
🤮🤕🤐
These days, what is offensive & what is acceptable?. It is what it is, & that’s all there is. It ain’t what it’s not, but here’s the answer I’ve got:
https://youtu.be/75DbkiZvxX4
Good luck with that!. 😈🙄😇
March 28th, 2021 at 23:06Yes, there is a lot of humour, sarcasm and honesty from RB in this interview. Especially when he talks about JLT and the Mr. Yesterday vs. Mr. Tomorrow issue. But if you imagine this is a “promo interview” for a new record and tour with Deep Purple you can clearly see that RB is done with the band.
March 29th, 2021 at 06:16He is really not a teamplayer impossible to work with…
The guy making the interview is Anders Tegner. He’s a big fan of Purple.
March 29th, 2021 at 14:57@3 I belive Anders Tegner is well known by the members of Deep Purple. Doubt Ritchie would ever walk out on him.. 😀
March 29th, 2021 at 15:05@11 BR. Thanks. Dig the Zappa track. Point taken. I scratch my head at a lot of the language in rap as well. My kids explained it to me once, but not satisfactorily. But I still can’t condone or overlook what Blackmore said there. It sounds to me nasty, and unnecessary. Tone deaf, in fact. Unlike other occasions when he’s “taking the piss,” there’s no hint of deadpan or a suppressed smile. I know RB was no fan of Springsteen and the Eagles. If a black artist who did not like music of a certain genre stated that he didn’t like “white music,’’ how would we react? Would we say we all know what he meant by the term “white music’’? Cheers.
March 29th, 2021 at 15:55#15 George M, yep… that’s the whole point!. Because white music is classical music, or folk music, or maybe country music, or… well you get the picture.
This was all in another time or place. There were generational zeitgeists happening. What we find offensive in the now was not what people of certain race, location & circumstance found offensive then.
Of course as they age, their experience & ingrained learned behaviours stay with them throughout. What you know & learn & experience throughout your youth stays with you for life.
In some parts, the word ‘wog’ is a negative generalisation of certain European ethnicities, however in my neck of the woods, ‘wog’ has lost a great deal of it’s power to offend over the decades. It’s just another slang word for anyone foreign.
Nowadays, everything is about woke culture, intersectional politics, social justice warriors, diversity & minority representation, etc.
Hindsight is a wonderful thing, however foresight is incredibly rare!. Old people, huh!, what ya gonna do, eh?. Give & take, rough with the smooth…. Yada, Yada, Yada.
When I was young, I knew an older man in my neighbourhood who was the most friendliest, happiest, helpful & talkative fellow you could ever meet. His experiences under Nazi occupation had shaped his mind.
However, at times, he expressed some of the most racist & offensive opinions that I have ever heard. My late mother hated his guts! My late father accepted the fellow at face value & they were friends. My father was very forgiving!. And so should we be.
Bad feeling begets bad feeling….
Drop the weapon, kick it away… Judge not lest ye be judged… Whatever works for you. Be happy always, because feeling crappy is not a great option.
There’s a lot that you just have to overlook in life in order to keep everyone from tearing each other apart. Life could always be worse!.
Believe me when I say it George, be wise & be happy, old mate!. 😉🤗😇
There’s something in this for all of us:
March 29th, 2021 at 18:49https://youtu.be/Rk6VYN31v2U
The interviewer Anders Tengner:
March 29th, 2021 at 18:59https://sv.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anders_Tengner
The interview is almost 3 decades old. He used to say he didn’t like the funky soul music that Glenn brought. In this, he says that and all of a sudden some people take exception. Isn’t there enough going on without bringing it here? A sign of the times, I suppose.
March 29th, 2021 at 19:38@16 BR. Thanks for the kind wishes and the “Hallelujah” link. Gillan’s voice was at its peak then. I am happy, you’ll be happy to know. Wise, that’s for others to judge. I’ve enjoyed our conversation. I get the feeling we wouldn’t agree on politics, but that’s OK. You seem like a “good bloke.” Here’s hoping “bloke” is not offensive. Ha! I’m not as PC as you might think. I find millennials, in general, to be far too sensitive. DrOHNO, I believe Ritchie referred to it as “shoeshine music.’’ Again, not cool in my book, and it wasn’t cool when he said it decades ago. This probably bothers me because RB was one of my rock heroes. Funny enough, the others were all white Brits as well. Hey, I think we can all agree that Blackmore could at times be a real Richard, and many times I’ve found his off-color behavior and quotes humorous. This time not at all. But rest assured it isn’t ruining my day. Here’s wishing you health and happiness. Cheers. P.S., Who you calling old?
March 30th, 2021 at 16:17@19 George M, & another thing I won’t discuss is reeeeligion, it always causes a fight, man- VAVOOM!.
When we are young, we build people up in our minds, particularly the people we respect & idolize, such as our parents or famous musos’ or movie stars…. whatever.
But, (& this is a big but), it always comes as a shock when we discover that they are fallible, just like the rest of us!.
I’m in my senior years & I realised a long time ago that I can’t change the world, I certainly don’t want to be anyone’s judge & jury. Aaaaahhh, everyday people!
Ever read the Disiderata?
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desiderata
& What would RB have to say about this piece of ‘black’ wisdom?:
https://youtu.be/YUUhDoCx8zc
Seriously, I don’t care what he thinks of it, because I like it!.
Ritchie isn’t a bad person, just an ordinary everyday guy full of all kinds of thoughts & opinions. So maybe we don’t agree on some things (I’ve never met him), but I adore his musical work & look for the common ground between us.
Afterall, I’m only a member of a vast audience, just a fan & another face in the madding crowd.
I feel the same way about IG, DC, & everyone else in the DP universe.
This is the latest incarnation of the band Ten Years After doing their (Alvin Lee) song “I’d Love to Change the World”.
https://youtu.be/dBfYMHz6aGI
Will that be one hump or two, Sir? 🐪🐫
March 30th, 2021 at 23:20Tallyho! ☮️ 🤪
& then there was this:
https://youtu.be/MomrVA3jVDc
March 31st, 2021 at 04:18Smokin’! The devil went down to Purple…😯 🤩
What’s that song I used to like?
Good version.
March 31st, 2021 at 11:18