walking upstream…
Deep Purple
sourcesWikipedia
Deep Purple formed in Hertford, England, in 1968 and, after an early pop-psych phase, became one of the founding forces of hard rock and heavy metal, built on the collision of Ritchie Blackmore's aggressive guitar and Jon Lord's classically inflected Hammond organ. Their early-1970s run — 'Deep Purple in Rock,' 'Fireball' and 'Machine Head' — established a template of high-volume, high-velocity riffing and virtuoso soloing, with 'Smoke on the Water' becoming one of rock's most recognizable riffs. Their heavy, fast, technically ambitious approach fed directly into the metal generations that followed.
the sound in question
1972
Smoke on the WaterDeep Purple
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Little Richard1950s · Rock and roll / R&B
Beneath Deep Purple's virtuosity sits the raw, screaming energy of 1950s rock and roll, and Little Richard's frantic, shouted delivery is a direct ancestor of Ian Gillan's high wail — a debt Purple made literal on 'Speed King,' which opens by name-checking early rock-and-roll lyrics, Little Richard's 'good golly, Miss Molly' among them.
listen: upstream & here
1958
Good Golly Miss MollyLittle Richard
1970
Speed KingDeep Purple
listen forPlay Little Richard's 'Good Golly Miss Molly' and its pounding, shrieked rock-and-roll charge, then hear those very lyrics thrown back, sped up and screamed, in the opening of Deep Purple's 'Speed King.'
Cream1960s · Blues rock / Psychedelic rock
Cream's model of a loud power trio building heavy songs out of a single fat, blues-derived riff pointed the way toward hard rock, and Deep Purple's early heaviness draws on that same amplified blues-rock vocabulary. It surfaces whenever Purple hang a whole song on one thick, repeating riff.
listen: upstream & here
1967
Sunshine of Your LoveCream
1970
Black NightDeep Purple
listen forPlay Cream's 'Sunshine of Your Love' and its slinky, descending fuzz riff, then hear the same idea of a song riding one heavy blues-rock riff on Deep Purple's 'Black Night.'
The Jimi Hendrix Experience1960s · Psychedelic rock / Blues rock
Hendrix expanded what an electric guitar could do — feedback, sustain, wah and a vocal, wailing lead voice — and that expressive, overdriven language shapes Ritchie Blackmore's soloing and Deep Purple's long, improvisatory heavy passages. You hear it most in their extended slow-burn showcases.
listen: upstream & here
1968
Voodoo Child (Slight Return)The Jimi Hendrix Experience
1970
Child in TimeDeep Purple
listen forCue Jimi Hendrix's 'Voodoo Child (Slight Return)' and its wah-soaked, string-bending guitar cry, then let Deep Purple's 'Child in Time' build from an eerie hush into its screaming guitar-and-vocal climax — the same idea of the guitar as a keening voice pushed to its limit.