Happy Birthday Ritchie Blackmore

[Highlander]

... but UJR does play that rather silly guitar...

[gearHed289]

I believe Billy was as much into Rush and UFO as he was the Pixies. Maybe more...

[uwe]

Was that the censored Corgan quote here?

The return of Smashing Pumpkins brings back not just one of the biggest alternative rock groups of the 90s – it also means the world is once again exposed to his forthright views on the world. This time he says he wants to "piss on" Radiohead.


The rebooted version of Corgan's band release their new album Oceania next week, and to warm up the world for his return, he has declared war on what he says is a "pompous" value system that elevates the Oxford band beyond their station.


He told Antiquiet: "I can't think of any people outside of Weird Al Yankovic who have both embraced and pissed on rock more than I have. Obviously there's a level of reverence, but there's also a level of intelligence to even know what to piss on. Because I'm not pissing on Rainbow. I'm not pissing on Deep Purple. But I'll piss on f***ing Radiohead, because of all this pomposity. This value system that says Jonny Greenwood is more valuable than Ritchie Blackmore. Not in the world I grew up in.

"Is Ritchie Blackmore a better guitar player than me and Jonny Greenwood? Yes. Have we all made valuable contributions? Yes. I'm not attacking that. I'm attacking the pomposity that says this is more valuable than that. I'm sick of that. I'm so f***ing sick of that. I'm so f***ing sick of it and nobody seems to tire of it."

Oh my, I sincerely doubt whether Ritchie has ever listened to Radiohead (hard to do that without going to sleep IMHO and he is an old man who needs his rest) and I'm pretty sure that no one from Radiohead has heard anything of Blackmore outside of Smoke on the Water and perhaps Rainbow's belter "Since You've Been Gone" (which, mind you, both feature good solos of his). Not that Radiohead are above 70ies influences as their lifting of Albert Hammond Senior's one-of-a-kind chord progression from "The Air That I Breathe" for their initial international hit "Creep" amply documented.   

But to juxtapose Blackmore/Deep Purple and Jonny Greenwood/Radiohead kind of misses the point how these players/bands operate(d) in different universes irrespective of the different times they came from. Blackmore's and Purple's music was designed to impress and overwhelm, be it with technical prowess or sheer volume, Thom Yorke's and Radiohead's musical psychoanalysis is all about ambience and creating an introvert atmosphere, they don't want the listener to be overwhelmed by their music but to immerse himself in it (along with his sorrow!). I don't think that Radiohead would have sounded much different had they existed in, say, 1972, they would have most certainly not been a hard rock band, but something progish. That said, it is not totally outside of my imagination to envisage one of Blackmore's more elegiac solos



over a Radiohead'ish sound landscape, would be an interesting project!

Anyway, I appreciate how Bald Billy took a stand for our wigged and wicked jubilarian.  He has said in the past nice things like: "All good riffs have already been written, whenever I believe I have come up with a good one, I tend to find Blackmore noodling it somewhere on Made in Japan".

[westen44]

That is very similar to the quote I found, although there were some minor differences.  That is a more complete quote and makes it not seem so harsh and out of context. 

[Dave W]

But I wouldn't have wanted to co-habit with a Womble...

I'll say. Wombles are dangerous!

My quote was from Billy Corgan in which he was saying positive things about Ritchie Blackmore and things not so positive about someone else.  As much as I agreed with it, I felt it was in poor taste because of the language that was used.   

Is that the same Billy Corgan whose voice sounds like he's been constipated for several months and is trying desperately to get it all out? Oh well, he can throw all the stones he wants.

[westen44]

That description sounds more like Bruce Springsteen's attempts at singing. 

[ilan]

In contrast, stuff like this makes me wince (not all of Blackmore's Night's material is like that, but still too much of it):

That's Eurovision stuff. And it seems like the director doesn't have a clue who the guitarist dude used to be. One medium shot and that's it.

[nofi]

how is corgan remotely relevant anymore. much less quote worthy. did he get a new haircut.

[Dave W]

how is corgan remotely relevant anymore. much less quote worthy. did he get a new haircut.

He's completely irrelevant. But we live in a world where the doings of the Kuntrashian Kardashian clan members are considered newsworthy. By comparison, he's a breath of fresh air.

[gearHed289]

He's completely irrelevant. But we live in a world where the doings of the Kuntrashian Kardashian clan members are considered newsworthy. By comparison, he's a breath of fresh air.

Ha ha! So true. Billy has actually been making sense a lot lately. Was never a big fan, but he is a cool guitar player and good songwriter.

[uwe]

Heard the new Smashing Pumpkins album a few days ago - pleasant, even catchy in places. But I guess there was a time when the words "catchy" and "pleasant" would have been the most damning statements to Billy C. Those days are long gone. He now plays classic rock (of a kind).

PS: The Tommie Lee drumming is good on it.

[Basvarken]

Is Ritchie the stunt double for Nicolas Poussin?

[westen44]

Ritchie Blackmore is thinking about playing some more rock.


http://www.blabbermouth.net/news/former-deep-purplerainbow-guitarist-ritchie-blackmore-im-thinking-about-playing-rock-again/

[uwe]

Is Ritchie the stunt double for Nicolas Poussin?

He has always believed in rebirth and white magic and crap, so it all fits somehow!

[Highlander]

A Portrait of Dorian Grey Ritchie Blackmore...

I dread to think of what lurks in his attic, under the pile of old rugs...