Ritchie Blackmore’s opinion on Emerson, Lake & Palmer

Although Ritchie Blackmore was one of the Deep Purple members who helped push the band toward Hard Rock in the early 1970s, he is also a big fan of Progressive Rock. He has always paid attention to the subgenre and over the decades, has shared his opinions on many bands and musicians, including the supergroup Emerson, Lake & Palmer.

What is Ritchie Blackmore’s opinion on Emerson, Lake & Palmer

Ritchie Blackmore has always been a huge Progressive Rock fan and he really likes Emerson, Lake & Palmer, especially because of the late keyboardist Keith Emerson. “I always loved watching Keith perform. I was a big fan of the Nice (Group he was in before ELP). We used to play the rounds together back in ’68, ’69. To me, he was one of the best showmen and players. A very nice guy. I always liked watching him. Some of the favorite frontmen would be Freddie Mercury, Ian Anderson, obviously Jimi Hendrix and Keith Emerson. People like that were so good at doing the show as well as playing the music,” he told Newsweek in 2017.

When Emerson tragically died in 2016 at the age of 71, Blackmore paid tribute to the musician, saying he was also one of Jon Lord’s favorites. “Sad news to hear about Keith Emerson. One of my favorite keyboard players. Used to tour with him when he was in The Nice. Always extremely exciting to watch on stage. Also one of Jon Lord’s favorites. Loved his rendition of America. He will be sadly missed. PS Not many people know this. Jimi Hendrix wanted to form a band with ELP called HELP. That was the insiders rumor I heard but it obviously never materialized,” Ritchie Blackmore said.

Greg Lake believed Blackmore smashed a TV camera with his guitar because ELP was headlining a festival over Deep Purple

Back in the 1970s, Blackmore had the chance to be in the same bill as ELP a couple of times, the most famous one when they were part of California Jam festival in 1974. That day Deep Purple played before them but in the late Greg Lake’s view, the guitarist wasn’t very happy with that and it might have been why he broke a very expensive camera. “And the other thing (that day) was watching Ritchie Blackmore putting his guitar through a sixteen thousand dollar TV camera.”

“I think he’d become annoyed over the fact that we were headlining. I think they got angry because they didn’t want to be playing in the support. (Maybe) possibly someone had lied to them. You go along and go along and the terrible thing is you find out on the day that actually you’re not the headliners. People get very angry. That was most of their gig money gone in one fowl swoop, because he bought the camera.”

He continued:

“It wasn’t just throwing a microphone down, this was a really expensive camera. I only remember that because it was so stupid you know. But it was a once in a lifetime show and probably never come again. And it was a very pivotal of show the band’s career. We were better, faster, the show was together, and we were in great shape. It was the best of ELP right there,” Greg Lake said in an interview with Ray Shasho in 2012.

Blackmore wasn’t a fan of Greg Lake only when he was in ELP, he also liked when he was briefly part of Asia. “I know Greg Lake joined Asia for just a short time and I really liked them. Don’t know what’s happened to them now, though,” he said in the 80s.

Curiously, the legendary drummer Cozy Powell, who worked with Blackmore for years in Rainbow, was part of ELP, when the band became Emerson, Lake & Powell, releasing only one album in 1986. When recalling that experience, the late drummer said that it was much easier to work with Greg and Emerson than with Blackmore.

“I worked with Ritchie Blackmore, David Coverdale and Michael Schenker. So I was used to dealing with those sort of people. After them, Keith and Greg were almost a dream. I’d worked with Ritchie Blackmore, David Coverdale and Michael Schenker. So I was used to dealing with those sort of people. After them, Keith and Greg were almost a dream.”