That was a particularly brilliant post, Jackhammer!
And man, Deep Purple is one of my favourite rock bands ever!
Since it's heavy metal week, I'd like to take the opportunity to pay a little homage to the late Ronnie James Dio who, as you should know, recently died. You know, that strange italian singer with the frizzy hair who seems a bit odd in his videos, but .. damn, I got to see him last year when he was 66 years old and he really did have energy, stage presence by the bucketload and a genuine warmth and friendliness towards us, the audience. I love that weirdo.
Here are some classic tracks from him and the bands he sang in.
Stargazer is an old favourite with Rainbow fans. His partner in crime here is Ritchie Blackmore who eventually took complete control of the band. Dio eventually left and created .. Dio.
Dio (the band) is most known for their 1983 debut album, Holy Diver, which is considered a metal classic.
The title track is the most famous Dio song. It's a brilliant track with weirdass cheese lyrics and an absolutely horrible music video
The second hit "everyone" knows from Holy Diver is Rainbow in the Dark with even more cheese-dripping lyrics than the last ("I cry out for magic!"). That doesn't stop it from kicking ass! And it also has a horribly awesome video.
Rumour has it that Ronnie, when hearing the "finished" studio product of Rainbow in the Dark, wanted to tear the recording tape apart because he thought the sound of this song was too commercial. However, according to the story, he was stopped by his band mates.
So it's not all hits, I'll include something else .. I've always liked the song Gypsy from the debut as well.
Eriel from Magica (released in 2000 I think) is probably my favourite Dio song of them all. I think it's excellent - classic heavy metal! It's just sad that the rest of the album is not as good.
May his music and memory live on!