The Queen guitarist and astrophysicist Brian May is not the only Rock star who is interested in the universe and it’s mysteries. Deep Purple released in 2017 their twentieth studio album called “Infinity” and the band’s vocalist Ian Gillan was asked in an interview with Radio Rock 106.6 (Transcribed by Rock and Roll Garage) at the time of the release of the record, if he believed the universe was infinite.
When Ian Gillan gave his opinion on the universe infinity
When asked if he thinks the universe can be infinite, Ian Gillan said: “I don’t think it can be, but I think it’s part of something which must be. It’s a complicated answer but what I think it happens is there must be a metamorphosis or a change. To describe it, it’s easy to imagine things going on forever and ever. But anything needs cohesion, if it’s going to do that. But that’s just one part of the story, it’s the expansion.”
“Scientists have talked about a a dark energy or things like this which is not enough to create the expansion of the universe. There is something missing as far as they’re concern. But they’re using conventional physics and conventional measuring sticks. Everything that Euclid gave us was perfect for the angles, holding up buildings, fighting gravity so they don’t fall. Now we know there is no such thing as parallel lines.”
He continued:
“In fact there is not even such a thing as a straight line. It doesn’t exist. It may in a very small scale appear to existe. But if you take it to further links it breaks down. It’s impossible to imagine (where infinity stops) because we don’t have the tools. When I was a little boy, I was eight years old when I heard the word ‘infinity’, it frightened me. The teacher in my school said “infinity means it goes on forever, it never ends.'”
“Then I was in bed in the summertime, thinking that everything stops somewhere. My room, the garden, the street, the country, the beach, the sea, the planet, the sky, the stars, awwww beyond the stars. In my mind I’ve built a brick wall beyond everything you could imagine around the universe. In my mind there was just a huge brick wall and then I could go to sleep because I’ve felt contained,” Ian Gillan said.
Curiously, one of Deep Purple’s biggest hits, written by Ian Gillan and his bandmates was “Space Truckin’. The song was released on their 1972 famous album “Machine Head”. The lyrics tell the story of a truck drive from space that had a “lot of luck” on Venus and always had a “ball on Mars”.