It only took three primary colours, salvaged in ‘68 from the charred and shattered remnants of one of Hendrix’s Stratocasters, to create every shade of the metal spectrum. Everything that followed was a mix of The Big Three. Folk-tinged, blues-stealing, sex-obsessed rock gods Led Zeppelin contained the ore, the epic progressive boogie merchants Deep Purple were the forge, and Black Sabbath, an oppressive angry monolith, was the pig iron from which weapons of heaviness were crafted.
Every band thereafter was defined by their metallic ratio; (x)%Zep + (y)%Purple + (z)%Sabs = 110% Metal. And those percentages weren’t always a simple matter of influence, in many cases it was a statistical reality. The next generation, bands like UFO, The Scorpions and Judas Priest, reacted to the stagnant realities of life in the pre-stressed concrete seventies and produced a more scarred and corrosion-stained metal than that of the three originators, who were too busy being drugged and sexed up to their eyeballs in the arenae and stadia of America to notice. However, although the late seventies heavy rock whole was incredibly more metal than the sum of their late sixties hard rock parts, everyone knew their roots. And those roots were tangled up like a Norfolk family tree….
Zeppelin were fairly restrained for the most part, deciding to disband rather than continue with Cozy Powell replacing the regrettably dead John Bonham, and only allowed the drummer from Genesis to briefly join their ranks for a one-off after a suitable and solemn time of grieving.
Purple and Sabbath on the other hand, well at some points it has been difficult to tell where one ended and the other began. Don Airey, Glenn Hughes and Ian Gillan were in both bands, and the combined cast list of all participants reads more like the spread of a virulent STD in a sink estate rather than rock family history.
For instance, Elf singer Ronnie James Dio reached the public eye through ex-Deep Purple guitarist Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow. The little man Dio then replaced Ozzy in Black Sabbath, went solo under the band name Dio, then rejoined Sabbath. Ronnie James legged it again when Ozzy returned, then Sabbath took him in for a third spell but changed their name to Heaven And Hell. In between the second and third Sabbath stints Ronnie James Dio, fronted, naturally, Dio.
I must add a personal note here to testify that the man has been absolutely fucking legendary throughout all points in his career).
Meanwhile, ex-Deep Purple vocalist David Coverdale’s solo band, Whitesnake, had half of Purple in it, as well as Neil Murray who, naturally, went on to join Sabbath. Dio guitarist Vivian Campbell jumped ship in favour of Def Leppard, whilst Gillan guitarist Janick Gers moonlighted with Fish post-Marillion and eventually found a happy home with Iron Maiden through his work on Bruce Dickinson's first solo album.
Take a deep breath, there's plenty more where that came from. Purple have had fourteen band members, Sabbath have had an astonishing twenty-four. Take a minute to think about this, as tit's a tangible possibility that you were once in Black Sabbath.
It was the sidemen, the Vinnie Appices and Cozy Powells, that found retaining some form of identity the hardest. Imagine what it would be like when, under the influence of incredibly mind altering drugs, you strutted out on stage in front of thousands of screaming fans and suddenly had to remember which band’s songs you were supposed to be playing. There’s no point looking at who else is in the band, because they’re in the same boat as you.
It explains why bands have their name emblazoned fifteen feet high on stage backdrops despite the fact everyone in the audience must be pretty sure of who they’ve come to see. You’d be struggling to figure out what's going on, then turn around and see a massive seven-coloured arc and think “Christ, I think we must be Rainbow tonight. Ok, ‘Kill The King’ on a count of four, good luck lads, see you at the cocaine-fuelled orgy backstage, a-one-two-three-four….” It might have been easier to run heavy rock like an American Football team and have six different line-ups to put out on ten minute rotations.
Cozy Powell actually played in every single band in the world, apart from Zep, at some point during the late seventies and early eighties, sometimes for so brief a time as to be immeasurable. We have evidence; he was caught on tape with Rainbow, the Michael Schenker Group, Whitesnake, Emerson Lake and Powell, Black Sabbath, Robert Plant, Cinderella, Gary Moore, Roger Daltrey, and The Brian May Band. This was nothing compared to the promiscuity of Black Sabbath, who by the late eighties had actually featured a former member of The Clash, alongside anyone else who was walking past the studio that day.
The circle was complete when a Led Zeppelin member finally joined the confusion (and threatened a rupture in the space-time continuum). Jimmy Page teamed up with David Coverdale for a Plant-watering LP in the nineties, a situation so ridiculous that the only option left was for everyone to go right back to where they had started from.
Hurrah! Ozzy was back with Sabbath, Deep Purple were (briefly) Mark II again, and Zeppelin’s Page and Plant reunited, if only to spite John Paul Jones. Metal fans could again salute the originators without suffering involuntary wild-eyed snorts of incredulity at seeing Ian Gillan fronting Sabbath, Joe Lynn Turner steering Purple, or Pat Butcher from Eastenders settling herself on Bonham's old drum stool. There were less controversial versions of Rainbow and Whitesnake knocking about, and Ronnie James Dio even resurrected his self-referencing band. The legends were back where the legends were made.
But that bandswapping lark was fun while it lasted. Here's how it looked just before it turned farcical with Sabbath's 'Born Again' album;
Black Sabbath 1981:
Ronnie James Dio – vocals
Tony Iommi – guitar
Geezer Butler – bass guitar
Vinny Appice – drums
Geoff Nicholls – keyboards
Deep Purple 1981 (defunct since 1976):
David Coverdale: lead vocals
Tommy Bolin: lead guitar
Glenn Hughes: bass guitar, lead vocals
Jon Lord: organ, piano, keyboards, synthesizer,
Ian Paice: drums
Rainbow 1981:
Joe Lynn Turner - vocals
Ritchie Blackmore - guitar
Don Airey - keyboards
Roger Glover - bass
Bobby Rondinelli - drums
Whitesnake 1981:
David Coverdale – vocals
Micky Moody – guitar
Bernie Marsden – guitar
Jon Lord – keyboards
Neil Murray – bass guitar
Ian Paice – drums
Ozzy Osbourne 1981:
Ozzy Osbourne – Vocals,
Randy Rhoads – Guitar,
Bob Daisley – Bass,
Lee Kerslake – Percussion, Drums, Bells, Tympani
Don Airey - Keyboards
Ian Gillan 1981:
Ian Gillan - vocals
Janick Gers - guitar
Colin Towns - keyboards
John McCoy - bass guitar
Mick Underwood - drums
Mark Perry’s 1992 family tree gives a fuller picture, as does Pete Frame and Simon Robinson’s Deep Purple Roots And Branches. If you want to see a ridiculously long list of fantastic rock albums, take a look at Don Airey's discography.
----------------
Now playing: Dio - Heaven And Hell
via FoxyTunes
0 comments:
Post a Comment