The legendary Deep Purple and Rainbow guitarist, Ritchie Blackmore, started his musical career in 1960, the same year The Beatles were formed. However, he first achieved fame when Paul McCartney, George Harrison, John Lennon, and Ringo Starr were already changing the world.
The Beatles influenced practically every rock band that emerged after the ’60s, directly or indirectly. But did they influence Blackmore? What is his opinion of Paul McCartney?
What is Ritchie Blackmore’s opinion on Paul McCartney
Besides being one of the most influential guitar players of all time, Blackmore also is quite sincere about other bands and artists. So when he praises someone, he really thinks they are good.
He likes McCartney and even said he was the greatest composer the world had during the past 100 years. He said that in an interview with Metal Hammer magazine in 1987. “I was reading the Melody Maker the other day and there was this stuff about Paul McCartney.”
“They were just crucifying him; the best composer we’ve had in the past hundred years. They were saying that he had too much money and he was overweight with this horrible wife. I can imagine them saying the same thing about Beethoven in his day,” Ritchie Blackmore said.
A few years before, in 1976, in an interview with Melbourne Radio (Transcribed by Rock and Roll Garage), he praised The Beatles. “The Beatles were excellent. Probably the best band ever lived, without a doubt, along with Hendrix and Jethro Tull.”
“(…) I admire Paul McCartney and Ian Anderson. Especially Ian Anderson, his songs are just beyond me,” Blackmore said.
As Blackmore also previously said, when he started his career in the 60s, The Beatles were “the measure of all things”.
Interesting connections between Ritchie Blackmore and The Beatles
Deep Purple included a really interesting cover of The Beatles hit “Help” on their debut album “Shades of Deep Purple” (1968). The group gave the song a Progressive/Psychedelic Rock touch. They did a mashup with an instrumental piece and “We Can Work It Out” in 1968 on their album “The Book of Taliesyn”.
A few decades later when Deep Purple reunited their classic line-up in 1984, they simply had George Harrison as a guest on stage. Jon Lord and Ian Paice were Harrison’s neighbours and they became really good friends. So when Purple was playing in Australia and Harrison was also there, the Beatle went to see them playing live.
They gave him a guitar and Harrison joined them on stage to play a version of Little Richard’s “Lucille”. In an interview with Warner Brothers Music (Transcribed by Rock and Roll Garage) back in 1987 he recalled that moment.
“They’re my neighbors, two of them, Jon (Lord) and Ian (Paice). They live near me and I’ve known them now for probably 8, 9 years. Yet they were so famous in the 70s, I got to know them in the period after they broken up before they reformed. So I never knew their music. I mean, I heard this one thing about ‘Smoke On The Water’ or something like that. I’ve actually never seen them and I heard that they are in the Guinness Book Of Records for being the loudest group in the world.”
He continued:
“So I thought, well, I was in Australia at the time and they happened to be doing a concert in Sydney. So I thought I’d go and check them out, get my earplugs and go and see them. I really enjoyed the show. I sat on the stage for part of the show behind the loudspeakers. Then I walked down and sat right on the center of the hall and it was not too loud. It was really funny, I liked it.”
“I thought Ian, who is my neighbor, Ian Paice, he is such a good drummer and Jon Lord, rocking his organ (laughs). Ian Gillan, I thought he is just a scream, he is really funny. I enjoyed and they said ‘Hey! Here’s a guitar, come on!’ So I just went on and sang. I don’t know what it was, I was playing the wrong key but it didn’t seem to matter”.