In a recent interview with The Sun promoting Deep Purple’s 23rd album ‘=1,’ Ian Gillan talked about the ‘unholy trinity’ of British rock bands, a term he said was made up by music journalists. Gillan explained the impact of the ‘unholy trinity’ on the music industry — and those three bands are Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, and Deep Purple.
He said:
“Just like ‘sex, drugs and rock and roll’, the ‘unholy trinity’ was created entirely by our good friends the music journalists. We knew them, drank with them and they put into words what everyone was doing — something distinctive and identifiable.”
Sharing his thoughts on Sabbath and Led Zeppelin, the Deep Purple frontman said Ozzy’s band was the most important in the industry for one reason:
“To a certain extent, Sabbath were the most important because without them there would have been no Seattle (grunge scene) or heavy metal. What Tony was delivering in those early days was just awesome. It was so powerful.”
How ‘Smoke On The Water’ Became Popular
Gillan also reflected on the creation of Deep Purple’s iconic ‘Smoke On The Water’ from their 1972 album ‘Machine Head.’ He explained:
“We needed six more minutes of music to complete the album and we were short of time. We had this jam, so we quickly wrote lyrics that were a biographical account of making ‘Machine Head,’ and that was it.”
At first, the band’s hit song was not played by radio stations simply because it was ‘too long.’ However, with a few adjustments, it became the most-played song in the band’s discography. Gillan explained:
“Many months after the record’s release, during an American tour, a guy called Russ Shaw from Warner Bros came along to see us and he saw the crowd reaction to ‘Smoke [On The Water’]. He tried to figure out why we hadn’t released it as a single. Of course, it was six minutes long, so no radio station would touch it. We edited down to three minutes 54 seconds and put it out a few days later. It became the most played song in the world at the time.”
You can hear Deep Purple’s newest album down below.
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