Ritchie Blackmore

Placidcasual79

menamestom said:

Listening to that clip, you can see the importance of punk and the anti 'music establishment' vibe at the time. Bands which had been cool in the late 60's and early 70's were becoming a parody of themselves.  Rock started of as rebellious and an expression of freedom and ended up formulaic.  This is a perfect example where you get told how to cut your hair, ironic as rock and roll was an expression of not being told what to do.

THIS!!!!!

Basher

What's odd is that I saw Rainbow in Manchester, a few nights after the above mentioned Newcastle "haircut" incident.

IIRC, Graham Bonnet had some kind of jacket on with a shirt, jeans of some sort and tennis shoes. The jacket was a bit showy but in a slightly ironic sort of way, not really a "Las Vegas" vibe at all, especially not with scuffed up sneakers.

Blackmore on the other hand had his usual shiny black shirt and shiny trousers and white platform boots (in 1980!). This was all topped off with an early incarnation of his wig/weave/lego-hair. 

The one who looked much rougher, more "street" and generally not as ludicrous was the singer, not Ritchie.

Down to Earth still stands up as a great pop-rock LP to my ears and I just get the impression that RB can't hack the fact that Bonnet stood up to him while in the band and then left on his own terms, rather than waiting for the inevitable push. 

scrumhalf

The Tube did a heavy metal special in 1986 (thirty years ago, THIRTY!!) and one of the interviewees was Graham Bonnet. He talked about the haircut and said "I'm a singer, not a heavy metal singer".

english_bob

menamestom said:

Listening to that clip, you can see the importance of punk and the anti 'music establishment' vibe at the time. Bands which had been cool in the late 60's and early 70's were becoming a parody of themselves.  Rock started of as rebellious and an expression of freedom and ended up formulaic.  This is a perfect example where you get told how to cut your hair, ironic as rock and roll was an expression of not being told what to do.

I like Blackmore and Deep Purple made some great records but he's proof that no matter how big the talent is the ego can always be bigger.  But to be fair It doesn't put me off the music in the slightest and definitely makes for some good stories!

Most of those early 70s classic rock bands had been a parody of stuff from the 60s from day one. The difference was that for the first half of the decade they were turning out more gold than shite. By the time everybody from the best years was on to their second or third band cobbled together from other defunct early 70s bands (Rainbow, Deep Purple Mk3/4, Bad Company, Whitesnake etc) and living in an echo-chamber of heavy rock "lifers" the rut was well and truly dug and the gold:shite ratio was reversed.

I doubt it helped that by then the biggest rock bands were serious financial enterprises too, with a lot of cash riding on keeping concert receipts and record sales coming in. Needing to pay for your country pile, your underage groupie ex-wife and your herculean coke habit is not conducive to taking musical risks.

mudslide73

Lifestyle Maintenance.

Blueingreen

I saw this and found it pretty watchable despite never having been a Blackmore/Deep Purple/Rainbow or indeed any type of heavy rock fan.  Have to admire him as a technician but he's never played anything I wanted to hear again.

He seemed less of a dickhead than I expected given his reputation (though still bad enough).  I've played with guys who, if they'd ever achieved that level of fame and fortune, would probably have been a helluva lot worse.

goldtop

scrumhalf said:

The Tube did a heavy metal special in 1986 (thirty years ago, THIRTY!!) and one of the interviewees was Graham Bonnet. He talked about the haircut and said "I'm a singer, not a heavy metal singer".

Very definitely the case. Here's what he was doing just before getting the break: