Deep Purple's In Rock at 50: In Praise Of Metal For The Ear

I'd like to take time out from the many crises facing the world, including the disturbing suppression of free speech here in the States, to celebrate one of the foundational recordings in the rock-and-roll metal genre. Deep Purple's In Rock album turns 50 years old today. Were it not for the fact that the song "Smoke on the Water" (from the album Machine Head) forever branded Purple as the band known for that famous riff, In Rock in my humble opinion would be more widely recognized as the band's signature piece of music. 

Deep Purple's 1970 In Rock album cover. From left to right, the band members were Ian Gillan (vocals), Ritchie Blackmore (guitar), Jon Lord (keyboards), Roger Glover (bass), and Ian Paice (drums). Though not an explicitly political band, Purple's  idea of British rockers  as enshrined on Mt. Rushmore  can be read as an ironic statement of how pop stars had replaced politicians as icons in that turbulent time. 

In Rock as an FM Radio Era Phenomenon

Since the inception of rock-and-roll as a genre, rock artists have had to manage three elements of success: unique sound, visual image, and persona. Different eras place emphasis on different elements and appeal to different senses. I'll explain by working backwards: 

The Digital Era (mid-2000s to today): 

*Rock Audience: Primarily social media users. 

*Artist Goal:  Get clicks and shares 

*Artist Emphasis: Persona 

*Sense Appeal: Touch. 

As digital technology distances us from each other, it paradoxically produces a powerful drive to "reach out and touch" others. Clicking and sharing require the literal touching of the technology, an act the consumer is most likely to engage in when identifying with the artist's persona at some deep level. That is, what an artist represents--culturally, politically, and at other levels--is as important as the music. Maybe even more important. 

The MTV Era: (roughly early 1980s to the mid-2000s):  

*Rock Audience: Primarily cable TV viewers

*Artist Goal: Get videos in heavy circulation

*Artist Emphasis: Visual Image

*Sense Appeal: Sight 

The first video ever played on MTV was the Buggles' "Video Killed the Radio Star," a humorous tune that turned out to be quite prescient. The classic rock stars of the 1960s and 1970s could never quite accept or master the requirements of the video era, from the lip syncing to the acting to the exploitation of sexuality. Radio-era artists that seamlessly made the transition to video (e.g. David Bowie, Van Halen) tended to be those who already had a strong emphasis on visual image in their acts and/or were comfortable with the "sex sells" ideology of commercial cable television. 

The FM Radio Era: (Late 1960s to the early 1980s):

*Rock Audience: Listeners

*Artist Goal: Get songs on the radio 

*Artist Emphasis: Sound 

*Sense Appeal: Aural (sound)

While developing a band persona and striking visual image were important in the FM radio era, the fact that music was consumed primarily as an aural phenomenon placed pressure on artists to develop unique sounds that could meet the high recording quality bar set by The Beach Boys' Pet Sounds, the Beatles' Rubber Soul, Bob Dylan's Blonde on Blonde, Jimi Hendrix's Are You Experienced, and other foundational recordings. FM radio in that time period was not merely a classic rock playlist. Rather, it was a space for a kind of musical creativity not allowed on the AM radio dial. Given that radio programmers were interested in more than just "hits," many artists felt empowered to take risks. 

Deep Purple's In Rock as Metal For The Ear

Seen in the above context, Deep Purple's In Rock album is classic "metal for the ear." Recorded over a period of approximately five months and released on June 3, 1970, the album contains seven songs, including two over 7-minutes in length and one over 10 minutes. (In the early FM era, bands could be confident that lengthy tunes could get a hearing.). 

Before 1970, the original Deep Purple (with vocalist Rod Evans and bassist Nick Simper) had already released three respectable rock albums. Their remake of Billy Joe Royal's "Hush" became an international hit, while the jam "Wring that Neck" provided a clue of the direction the later and heavier Purple would go in. 

Video: Deep Purple "Wring That Neck" (1968)

In Rock was the first heavy metal recording of the "Mark II" Deep Purple line-up with original members Ritchie Blackmore (guitar), Jon Lord (keyboards), and Ian Paice (drums) joined by Ian Gillan on vocals and Roger Glover on bass. 

The entire album is an extraordinary aural onslaught, but thinking about it in vinyl terms, I want to focus just on "side one." The three tunes ("Speed King," "Bloodsucker," and "Child in Time") illustrate what happens when musicians with classical, jazz, and rock roots join up with a singer who can accentuate verses with some of the most chaotic shrieking in the history of recorded music. 

Of special note in the opening track "Speed King" is the instrumental break that starts at around the 2:40 mark and ends at around 4:20. The break starts off with a kind of jazz jam featuring a slick back and forth between Blackmore's guitar and Lord's Hammond organ. It then builds up into a Jimi Hendrix inspired guitar led blast, with Gillan ending it with one of his signature shrieks. 

Video: Deep Purple "Speed King" (Note: The version of the album released in the United States in 1970 did not include the opening 1 minute, 25 second jam on the version reproduced here). 

"Bloodsucker" continues the onslaught, with Blackmore riffing up a storm on guitar, Gillan continuing to warble and wail like a man possessed, and Lord and Paice making themselves known with some super-cool breaks in between the guitar heroics. For me, songs like "Bloodsucker" make it difficult to reduce Purple to "just" a heavy metal band; the complexity of the arrangement suggests that these guys were not just jamming and making noise. This tune is a "score" in the most respectable sense of that term. 

Video: Deep Purple "Bloodsucker" 

Side one closes with one of the most epic tunes in rock history, "Child in Time." The only overtly political song on the album, "Child in Time" connected heavily with youth opposed to the Vietnam War and the general violence of the era. The main melody is actually borrowed from "Bombay Calling" by a psychedelic band of the time known as "It's a Beautiful Day." By the time Purple gets done with the tune, it's transformed into a roller coaster ride of poignancy and passion. In the current era of corrupted commercial media, it's almost hard to believe that there was a time when songs like this received regular airplay on FM radio. 

Gillan's vocals on "Child in Time," beginning at around the 2:25 mark, are remarkable and make Robert Plant and Ozzy Osborne (the time period's more prominent piercing metal front men) sound like rookies by comparison. In fact, Ian Gillan in September of 1970 would end up singing the role of Jesus Christ in the original studio recording of "Jesus Christ Superstar." I can imagine that show's writers, Andrew Lloyd Weber and Tim Rice, listening to "Child in Time" and saying, "Jesus F*cking Christ, we just found our Jesus F*cking Christ!!!"

Video: Deep Purple "Child in Time" 

I do not want this post to be interpreted as saying that metal and other kinds of rock appearing in the digital and MTV eras are and/or were crap. For anyone wishing to take the time to listen, there is and was great rock recorded during those eras, and there was lots of garbage in the FM radio era. My only purpose here was to praise one specific album, an album that probably could not have been made were it not for the existence of early FM radio values that encouraged creativity and risk taking. 

Especially if you are metal fan, say happy birthday to In Rock and be sure to give it a listen.