One of the greatest guitarists of his generation, Ritchie Blackmore was a crucial figure in the evolution of Hard Rock, first as a founding member of Deep Purple and then as the leader of his own band, Rainbow. Revered by Heavy Rock musicians throughout his career, Ritchie actually had a very broad musical taste.
Especially during the first decades of his musical career, he was quite aware of what was happening in music. Over the years he shared his opinion on many groups his fans might not expect, such as ABBA.
What is Ritchie Blackmore’s opinion on ABBA
To the surprise of many fans, Ritchie Blackmore is actually a huge fan of ABBA and said that they are the biggest Pop group of all time after The Beatles. He once recalled that almost all the Rainbow members were as well, including the legendary drummer Cozy Powell.”It was funny, because (in) 1976, 1977, we (Rainbow) were in a French Chateau. We were all sitting around the fire and it was about four in the morning, the place was very haunted by Chopin, that’s another story. But Cozy (Powell) suddenly turned up and said ‘You know, who my favorite band is? It’s ABBA’ and we went: ‘Ooooh! ABBA?’ He’s like ‘Yeah, I know, I know… But that’s my favorite band'”.
“Then I said: ‘And mine’ (laughs). Then the bass player went ‘And mine’ and we were suddenly all (saying) ‘Let’s play some ABBA!’ Cozy ran out of the room and came back with this cassette, put on ABBA and we sat there listening to ABBA for four hours by the fire, these Hard Rock guys that (acted like) ‘No, we got to play Hard Rock’. I’m not sure what Ronnie (James Dio) thought of then. I think he was a bit perplexed,” Ritchie Blackmore said in an interview on Rainbow’s channel (Transcribed by Rock and Roll Garage).
During an online questions and answers session with fans a couple of years ago, Ritchie was asked which was his favorite band of all time and he said that “probably” was the Swedish Pop group. “I think Abba was the best band. I always listened to ABBA when I was (younger).”
He continued:
“It was so melodic, and it just worked. It was fantastic. And they are probably my favorite band of all time. And I know it’s uncool to say that in certain areas. (But) they were wonderful,” he said. He admired them so much, that when asked in the 90s by fans who were the greatest composers of the 20th century, he said: “I think that Lennon and McCartney and the two guys in ABBA”.
Blackmore was referring to Björn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson, who were the band’s main songwriters. In addition to singing, Björn also played guitar, while Benny played keyboards, synthesizers, piano, and accordion. Agnetha Fältskog and Anni-Frid ‘Frida’ Lyngstad focused on lead and backing vocals.
Why Ritchie Blackmore is a big fan of Pop music and when he revealed John Bonham also was
“I like Pop music and talking to Bonzo (John Bonham), he’s the same way. I said ‘What do you listen to?’ He said ‘Pop music’. (Then) I said ‘You have such a great technique, you’ve must listen to Jazz’. He said ‘No, Pop music’ and it’s true, Pop music can have a lot of advantages. I just like the melodic factor involved in Pop. I think I wrote with Joe (Lynn Turner), one of my favorite tunes, which was ‘Street of Dreams’. That for me was the ultimate Rainbow song.”
“I love that song, (when it comes) on the jukebox I go ‘I’m proud of that’. Because it was exactly where I wanted to go. ‘Stargazer’, ‘Gates of Babylon’, that was great too but it was kind of edgy; (‘Street of Dreams’) was smooth and poppy. The fact that I could write something that was poppy was something new for me and I like that groove. I also loved people like ABBA, which was very uncool in those days to say you liked ABBA.”
But I loved all that Pop orientation of melodic factor of where it would go, as opposed to the heavy Rock, just to be Hard Rock. Look, I love Hard Rock but I just don’t to play ‘crash, crash, crash’ for the sake of it. I’ve got to hear a melody.
He continued:
Melody was always at the bottom for me musically where I was going,” Ritchie Blackmore said in an interview on his Youtube Channel in 2016 (Transcribed by Rock and Roll Garage). Ronnie James Dio said a few times that the fact Ritchie Blackmore wanted to make Rainbow’s music more melodic and give it a Pop touch was the main reason he left the band.
The change in sound was clear, since the following album, “Down to Earth” (1979), with Graham Bonnet on vocals, and the ones with Joe Lynn Turner, “Difficult to Cure” (1981), “Straight Between the Eyes” (1982) and “Bent Out of Shape” (1983), were quite different from the previous ones recorded with Dio.
Formed in Stockholm, Sweden, in 1972, ABBA is one of the most influential and successful bands of all time. They have sold an estimated 400 million records worldwide, much more than bands like The Rolling Stones and Pink Floyd.