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While there have been countless books penned on classic rock artists that first appeared during the late ‘60s (Hendrix. Zeppelin et al), Deep Purple have had a surprisingly small number of bios penned about their history. Which is a headscratcher, as their story is an entertaining one — littered with so many bandmate squabbles and firings/re-hirings that it often reads like a soap opera. Oh yes, and it didn’t exactly hurt that they penned some of hard rock/heavy metal’s most endearing anthems. Whichever era of Deep Purple is your favourite, it’s all covered here.
The group’s beginning is your usual take of musicians being in the right place at the right time, but soon after, the story picks up. You’d assume that when a band finally hits big, it’s smooth sailing. This wasn’t the case during Purple’s heady early-70s period — Blackmore and Gillan’s volatile relationship soured one of hard rock’s top hitmaking unions. Also of interest is the party-hearty ‘Tommy Bolin era’, as well as why the Purple reunion of the 80s eventually succumbed to the same problems it did a decade earlier. Sometimes, friction creates great rock music. Other times, it tears the mightiest apart.
