Several days ago, I was writing out an informal list of my favorite bands. Toward the end, I put the Yardbirds. But I was thinking that's a band that doesn't get much attention. I doubt if many people would be impressed. However, I wasn't making the list to impress people. It was just about my taste in music. There are many reasons why I like the Yardbirds. But I think this video's emphasis on their experimental approach says a lot.
Then by coincidence I found this video in which Ritchie Blackmore is saying the Yardbirds are out of everyone's league. That makes me feel way better about my taste in music. Does RB's preference override everyone else's? Not completely, but to a large extent it does, IMO. The other two great guitarists, at least in my book are dead: Jimi Hendrix and Jeff Beck.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NRQrUkg1YO4
Quote from: westen44 on April 08, 2026, 12:22:57 AMSeveral days ago, I was writing out an informal list of my favorite bands. Toward the end, I put the Yardbirds. But I was thinking that's a band that doesn't get much attention. I doubt if many people would be impressed. However, I wasn't making the list to impress people. It was just about my taste in music. There are many reasons why I like the Yardbirds. But I think this video's emphasis on their experimental approach says a lot.
Then by coincidence I found this video in which Ritchie Blackmore is saying the Yardbirds are out of everyone's league. That makes me feel way better about my taste in music. Does RB's preference override everyone else's? Not completely, but to a large extent it does, IMO. The other two great guitarists, at least in my book are dead: Jimi Hendrix and Jeff Beck.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NRQrUkg1YO4
I agree. They were the point of the spear.
Ritchie is a Jeff Beck nerd, always has been.
The Yardbirds of course had that holy triumvirate of great guitarists, namely Clapton-Beck-Page, but I think where they suffered was in the comparison of their frontman Keith Relf to people like Mick Jagger, Rod Stewart and Roger Daltrey.
I found Still I'm Sad always a bit naff as a song, even and especially in the Rainbow version, whether instrumental,
or with Dio's
or Doogie White's vocals:
I've always liked "Still I'm Sad." It has its fans.
Since the video on the Yardbirds, I've encountered another Blackmore video. This one is even more interesting. It's about Jimi Hendrix who has been my favorite guitarist since age 16. It was puzzling because in the past I had read comments from Ritchie Blackmore that were critical of Hendrix. But this one is positive. This may cause me once again to reevaluate how I feel about my taste in music. Because now there is Blackmore praising not just the Yardbirds, but Hendrix himself. The bottom line is I think I used to overrate my taste in music. Then I underrated it. Now I'm looking at it from a new perspective and maybe this one is accurate. Because now I've got Ritchie Blackmore himself feeling the same way. I can say without reservation that I think Blackmore has great taste in music!! He is light-years ahead of me in talent, but at least we have similar tastes in music.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FhPGfBiFDhc
Blackmore always admired Hendrix - the complete package. No other 60s guitarist has had greater impact on him, his move from a Gibson ES-335 to a Strat, the way he threw shapes on stage and the use of fire in his act, his rewrite of Little Wing as Catch The Rainbow
or songs like the later Midtown Tunnel Vision:
Finally his attempt to form Babyface, a trio with Ian Paice and Phil Lynott at one time, because he liked Lynott's Hendrixian image and vocal style.
There would have been no Blackmore as we know him without Hendrix - and he's never really denied that.
I always thought the guitars parts in this DP song are a bit of a Hendrix pastiche
Yes, Mandrake Root is a very good example for Blackmore's Hendrix influence.
I mean look at their debut, anybody featuring a cover of Hey Joe in 1968 cannot have been oblivious of Jimi ...
It's a song Ritchie would dig out again and again, here at 23:06:
It was actualy the song DP jammed with Joe Lynn Turner at the audition that got him the job replacing Ian Gillan in Purple in latish 1989.
Sometimes, Ritchie's love for Hendrix would take on the form of mimicry:
(https://i.redd.it/n5j9l9brzu271.jpg)
(https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/proxy/XkwqPuStRO13pUOCzgdvySI2pUPCxxgtjNUn5HALY7O2LWTmhsxdcJ8pPKFuRBtFk6FxCW_VS7o3Pw_lElMuNDCM-aaOR3-Y0uFpjMgwMx71y5jLsG8)
(https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSk5ji2UDaNYamuAD90rOrZd59re7goo-7eBA&s)
And of course, whenever he donned a lefty Strat trying to look Hendrixy, it drove the women wild, yet he would not let himself be distracted from the more important work at hand ...
http://www.deep-purple.net/thirty/kursaal1.jpg
(Yes, there is a Strat in that pic too!)
Hendrix's fame, though, does seem to be beginning to dim. This seems to mostly be the result of younger people encountering his music and not being able to relate to it. The respect for Hendrix just isn't as great as it used to be. I remember quite a number of years ago reading a comment on a message board. The guy didn't like Hendrix at all. He even said that he was better than Jimi Hendrix. It's true he didn't actually play guitar he said, but if he did, he would be better than Hendrix. There is no need to try to reason with a numbskull like this and, of course, I didn't.
There will never be another Hendrix in cultural terms for electric guitar playing - even EvH is a cultural dwarf to Hendrix, he was just a hell of a guitar player who left a legacy in terms of instrument technique (and I think Eddie was a stellar player and musician). But as a cultural beacon, I see Hendrix'crown fully intact. Name me one person that wants to go to bed with John Petrucci or dress like him. :mrgreen:
When I read that Stevie Ray Vaughn was supposedly better than Hendrix, I have to laugh. He was a fast blues player, nothing more.
Nuff said.
I've got to say that I can barely even listen to SRV. Yet I've been around people who seem to like him just as much or more than Hendrix. Of course he is talented. But comparing him to Hendrix seems pointless.
The thing about Ritchie Blackmore's comments that surprised me is that he said favorable things about Hendrix's vocals. Some people don't seem to like to hear Jimi Hendrix sing. This especially seems true of British fans I've encountered online. Since Blackmore himself is British, his attitude toward Hendrix's singing was not what I was expecting. I appreciated his acknowledgement of Hendrix in that way. As someone who has kept up with Jimi Hendrix for years, it isn't the kind of thing you hear often. Yes, he was a guitar genius. But so was Jeff Beck and so is Ritchie Blackmore. Great guitarists who can sing too, though, that's rare.
There's plenty of room for opinions. I discovered SRV only about the time he died, but to me he's the ultimate master of Texas style blues. I was there for Hendrix - in fact, I was a DJ and played his stuff on the air a lot - and I agree he could make a guitar talk. However, most of the time I'd rather listen to SRV than Hendrix. Individual style preferences, and part of it may be that I flat love Tommy Shannon's bass work; it's exactly what I'd like to be able to do.
Quote from: Pilgrim on April 13, 2026, 11:13:59 AMThere's plenty of room for opinions. I discovered SRV only about the time he died, but to me he's the ultimate master of Texas style blues. I was there for Hendrix - in fact, I was a DJ and played his stuff on the air a lot - and I agree he could make a guitar talk. However, most of the time I'd rather listen to SRV than Hendrix. Individual style preferences, and part of it may be that I flat love Tommy Shannon's bass work; it's exactly what I'd like to be able to do.
It's really too bad I don't seem to like Texas style blues very much for some reason. Because, in fact, I do like Texas country music. I've lived close to Nashville much of my life. My exposure to country was mostly Nashville country. To be honest, I never really liked it very much. Then Dave introduced to me to Texas country. Something which pretty much blew my mind. It was the first time in my life I could say I liked country music. As for Texas blues, it really is a shame I never seemed to be able to get into that very much. So SRV has always remained unapproachable to me.
Edit:
Since Texas has now become part of the topic, I thought I would add this comedy video about Texas I ran across earlier today.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qKcMPudbrAA
That video makes me thoughtful. I wouldn't try it today, because many of the people they stopped would be well armed.
My first radio job was at a country station (1968). I had never been a country listener, but that at least got me a start. Today's "country" strikes me as mostly pop music with a twang and a train, pickup, dog, and possibly rain. That's not a criticism, it's just the formula that format lives by.
One of my favorite tunes to play is Boot Scootin' Boogie; others are Chatahoochee and Don't Rock the Jukebox. Any of them could - and most of them did - cross over to pop radio.
Quote from: Pilgrim on April 14, 2026, 11:05:31 AMThat video makes me thoughtful. I wouldn't try it today, because many of the people they stopped would be well armed.
My first radio job was at a country station (1968). I had never been a country listener, but that at least got me a start. Today's "country" strikes me as mostly pop music with a twang and a train, pickup, dog, and possibly rain. That's not a criticism, it's just the formula that format lives by.
One of my favorite tunes to play is Boot Scootin' Boogie; others are Chatahoochee and Don't Rock the Jukebox. Any of them could - and most of them did - cross over to pop radio.
I'm speaking of Nashville country. It's not even really country. It's very bad pop music attempting to be country. I think it's horrible. That's why I was very shocked when I actually liked the Texas country that Dave preferred. However, there does appear to be a prime exception which is emerging. I've already posted this before not long ago. But it's Ella Langley. She is probably actually pop country, but I liked what she's doing. She isn't speaking the exaggerated fake country accent so common now. It's a genuine Alabama accent. Alabama hasn't give us much in music in quite some time. So this is all a surprise to me.
This song wasn't as successful as some of her others. But I like it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lnuiI2t9Eb8
Hendrix changed the way the instrument was approached forever. He was an innovator. He was amazing.
Stevie Ray Vaughan was not so much an innovator. But SRV single handedly propelled Blues(rock) into stratosphere. From a dull and boring relic of old men to an exciting new and young approach. Blues rock was as good as dead in the early eighties. SRV was a shot in the arm.
I think SRV was technically a better guitarist than Hendrix. But he was kinda modest about it. He always said he stood on the shoulders of giants like Buddy Guy, Hendrix, his brother Jimmy and Albert King.
And no Uwe, he wasn't just fast. His tone was amazing. His choice of notes, chords and dynamics was awesome.
A nice opportunity to celebrate some SRV
That night when he played circles around poor Joe Satriani:
Smoothest guitar swap you've ever seen
I agree that a huge part of Stevie is Tommy Shannon's superb playing
All I can say is that if I knew I was going to be stranded on a desert island for the rest of my life and I could only listen to one artist this is what I'd do. I wouldn't take the music of Stevie Ray Vaughn, the Rolling Stones, the Who, Cream, the Yardbirds, the Beatles or any others. It would be the music of James Marshall Hendrix, period. I would especially want to take all the live recordings I could possibly find. Because Hendrix never played live the same way twice. Unfortunately, we don't have a lot of his live music. But what we do have is enough to listen to and never get bored. In general, I tend to prefer British rock. But in this particular case, I do have to make one exception. It's definitely Jimi Hendrix.
I tend not to get along with many Hendrix fans. Partly because I prefer his early music and many others seem to not do that. But also because it's his music I like. I'm not particularly interested in getting into the intricate biographical details of his life like so many others. But anytime someone on the level of Ritchie Blackmore says he is a Hendrix fan, that does interest me. Because I honestly didn't know he felt that way. In fact, I had no idea.
When I started listening to Albert King in the early 90s, his influence on SRV was immediately noticeable. SRV had a "thing", that's for damn sure. I remember where I was when I heard about the chopper crash at Alpine Valley. :-[
Lots of people "play" Starts, very few master them as well as Hendrix, Blackmore, SRV and Trower have. :-*
Sadly, two of those are no longer with us. And Trower doesn't look well, although that could just be the effects of aging. Blackmore is the same age, but doesn't look as old.
SRV was technically and sound-esthetically an excellent guitarist, Rob, no argument from me. We can also agree on the lack of innovation, but then the Blues genre is not exactly known for that which is part of the reasons why Hendrix left it behind as he progressed.
Hendrix was technically a good and more impoirtantly an interesting player, but he was never the best, not even in the 60s. Most established guitarists are today likely technically more advanced than him, but that wasn't and isn't the point in weighing his colossal and lasting influence.
I always thought Hendrix' influence on Ritchie was rather obvious, perhaps not as distinctly noticeable as with Robin Trower, but overt nonetheless. Put differently: What guitarist other than Hendrix do you hear as a chief influence in Blackmore's 70s playing (when he was at his peak)? Blackmore was for instance a lot more Hendrixy than Clapton, Beck or Page. It wasn't some well-kept secret either, I remember a review of Rainbow's Rising album in the New Musical Express in 1976 where the author remarked on the influence, but also rightfully stated: "
Blackmore is never gonna be another Hendrix, he is not into that type of frenzied inspiration. He's built his unquestionably deserved reputation on a clever mix of drama and dynamics which have rarely been put to better use than here."
It was Blackmore's playing that eventually led me to to appreciate Hendrix.
That NME quote is spot on. :)
What confused me is that I ran across a quote several times from Blackmore in which it looked like he didn't like Hendrix very much. It would be hard to paraphrase. But it was something like he was mostly impressed by the way Hendrix walked, not the way he played. I guess Ritchie was having a bad day or for some reason he was contradicting himself. But we all have bad days and from time to time we all contradict ourselves. Or we just fail to be articulate. Not being articulate enough is something I've personally faced many times. That review of Rainbow in which the music critic was speaking of frenzied inspiration, that's something which might bother me. I've heard several guitarists do that in regard to Hendrix. But certainly Ritchie Blackmore doesn't do that. In fact, someone could make a good argument that he is Hendrix's superior. But Hendrix was a pioneer. That's where he shines the most.
As for people liking Hendrix or not, that doesn't really matter to me. People can choose their own guitarists to like. It's a free world, or at least it's supposed to be. When it comes to bassists, though, if anyone says anything critical about Jack Bruce, that genuinely gets on my nerves.
Blackmore is notorious for saying one day this and the complete opposite another, he likes to confuse people and keep them on their toes, it's not your fault. He has both derided and praised Fleetwood Mac at various times. Same with Eric Clapton. Or Jimmy Page. He likes to pull the rug from underneath people.
There are a few musicians which he - by chance or intent - has consistently held in high regard, i.e. Jimi Hendrix, Jeff Beck (his favorite guitar player though not much of an influence on his actual playing), Johnny Winter (as a blues player), Rory Gallagher (his son is named after him) and, surprise, even Tommy Bolin. He also rates Bob Dylan a lot, likely for his idiosyncrasies. 😂 Not to forget ABBA, Blondie and Neil Diamond! (seriously!)
I agree with Ritchie Blackmore on all of those artists he holds in high regard except for Neil Diamond.
I know Dave didn't like Blondie for some reason. I just saw that Deborah Harry has now turned 80, BTW.
As for ABBA, in many cases if you say you like ABBA, you will get slammed in the U.S. for not being cool and for liking pop music. That's okay if people feel that way. I don't really care. I've already told the story several times before, but it's the only claim to fame I'm ever going to have. I once got criticized by a co-worker for liking ABBA. Then not long after that I was mentioning to another co-worker (who knew me better) that my cover band from long ago (when I was 20) once opened up for the James Gang. He was so impressed. However, I hadn't been too impressed with my band that night when compared to the James Gang. We were rank amateurs compared to them. But at least after telling that story my co-worker no longer wrote me off as a shallow pop music fan. He even invited me to a blues festival.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gf6j1C52fUc
Quote from: westen44 on April 11, 2026, 11:02:28 AMI've always liked "Still I'm Sad." It has its fans.
Since the video on the Yardbirds, I've encountered another Blackmore video. This one is even more interesting. It's about Jimi Hendrix who has been my favorite guitarist since age 16. It was puzzling because in the past I had read comments from Ritchie Blackmore that were critical of Hendrix. But this one is positive. This may cause me once again to reevaluate how I feel about my taste in music. Because now there is Blackmore praising not just the Yardbirds, but Hendrix himself. The bottom line is I think I used to overrate my taste in music. Then I underrated it. Now I'm looking at it from a new perspective and maybe this one is accurate. Because now I've got Ritchie Blackmore himself feeling the same way. I can say without reservation that I think Blackmore has great taste in music!! He is light-years ahead of me in talent, but at least we have similar tastes in music.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FhPGfBiFDhc
I don't think I need to to overrate or underrate my taste in music. It simply is what it is. I know much less about band members than many others here, and don't really care. That's because I like what I like, which is the point of enjoying music. Over time that changes as I discover different bands and performances, and that's ok too. I respect the knowledge of many here, but taste in music is a different thing, and sufficient in itself.
If you know just a little about how music is constructed and comes into existence, then it is very hard to say that ABBA are crap. You might dislike their pop image and smile about the lyrics and accents, but the structure of the music itself? That's pretty damn good.
And their bass players were both excellent!
Quote from: Basvarken on April 19, 2026, 01:12:42 PMAnd their bass players were both excellent!
Yes, and furthermore Rutger Gunnarsson's importance went far beyond bassplaying. He also constructed a lot of the instrumental arrangements. No wonder the basslines he played influenced the songs to such extent.