{"id":495078,"date":"2026-03-25T20:19:10","date_gmt":"2026-03-25T20:19:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/495078\/"},"modified":"2026-03-25T20:19:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-25T20:19:10","slug":"the-greatest-band-from-england-according-to-ritchie-blackmore","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/495078\/","title":{"rendered":"The greatest band from England, according to Ritchie Blackmore"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Ritchie<\/p>\n

(Credits: Gladstone~dewiki)<\/p>\n

Wed 25 March 2026 15:00, UK <\/p>\n

It\u2019s always fascinating to consider the different ways artists measure the greatness of another band<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Although the infamously unconventional founding guitarist of Deep Purple was one to say it how it is, it\u2019s curious to imagine what would have convinced Ritchie Blackmore to find the semi-divine Rolling Stones to be \u201cidiots\u201d,<\/a> or, in this case, how he found a band to be the best, based on their onstage leaps. <\/p>\n

While speaking to Martin Webb\u00a0in the early 1970s about his distaste for yet another of his peers<\/a>, Blackmore expressed why he doesn\u2019t particularly seek to bound about while performing onstage. \u201cI like leaping around on stage as long as it\u2019s done with class. Like Free. They\u2019re the best band in England,\u201d he said with his customary frankness.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Blackmore then moved on to comparing Free\u2019s frontman with Pete Townshend<\/a>, guitarist and de facto leader of The Who, for their leaping around: \u201cPaul Rodgers is a good singer and a brilliant mover,\u201d he commented. \u201cNone of this jumping up in the air and doing the splits and all that. He just moves with the music. Not like Pete Townshend, who\u2019s gotten to the point that he waits until the photographers are well-aimed before he leaps. He\u2019s not very spontaneous.\u201d<\/p>\n

Free\u2019s big hit was \u2018I\u2019m a Mover\u2019, a track that does indeed lend itself to testifying this truth, although Townshend didn\u2019t have to be dragged through the mud<\/a> as evidence. Its suave and seductive guitar alongside Andrew Fraser\u2019s smooth, eclectic bass make for a song that\u2019s easy to bop to, much like most of Free\u2019s music. Any live performance with the band has a strutting Paul Rodgers that undulates along with his singing, in a way that feels unrehearsed, human, and, as Blackmore pointed out, not at all forced. <\/p>\n

His spontaneity is contagious, and the whole band moves as an ensemble on stage, easily inviting their audience along. Free\u2019s music is easy to move to, but the band\u2019s assured movements made it natural to join them in dance, making their concerts a unique spectacle of a two-sided performance. <\/p>\n

In an interview with Steve Rosen, Blackmore went so far as to give Free credit for one of Deep Purple\u2019s songs, saying that\u00a0\u2018Mistreated\u2019 from Purple\u2019s 1974 album Burn, \u201cWas influenced by \u2018Heartbreaker\u2019 by Free. I get inspired by other people\u2019s songs and write something vaguely similar\u201d. <\/p>\n

Blackmore\u2019s less orthodox ways called for unhinged commentary as much as they did candid declarations of admiration. During the same conversation, he explained that Rodgers would have almost been strutting to the strumming of his guitar as a possible singer of Deep Purple: \u201cThat\u2019s right, he was for about a week. I think somebody was going to chop his legs off if he did leave [Free], so he didn\u2019t\u201d.<\/p>\n

The experiment quickly concluded with an amicable parting, also thanks to stark differences in style, as Blackmore explained, \u201cI think he was into a different type of singing. He didn\u2019t want to follow Ian Gillan and all that screaming. Rodgers wasn\u2019t into that, he was more into blues\u201d, and his smooth talking moves are the proof.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

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