Who Do We Think They Are?
Deep Purple and Metal Studies
Edited by Andy Brown
Paperback (Published)
(March 2026)
ISBN: 9781800506374
6.15 x 9.2 inches
Price: $34.00
In stock
Hardback (Published)
(March 2026)
ISBN: 9781800506367
6.15 x 9.2 inches
Price: $100.00
In stock
Contributions in the volume argue that it was Deep Purple’s success in communicating – over the course of a series of ground-breaking studio albums and especially in live performance – with a new, younger rock audience that helped to define the genre template we now recognise as “classic” heavy metal.
Who Do We Think We Are (1973) was the fourth and final studio album of the Mk2 Deep Purple line-up of Ritchie Blackmore, Ian Gillan, Roger Glover, Jon Lord and Ian Paice. At the time of release, Purple were the most successful, top grossing, stadium-touring heavy rock band on the planet; a position confirmed by the virtuoso performances captured on the double live album, Made in Japan (1972), and the Billboard chart success of the double A-side Live/Studio single “Smoke on the Water.” The idea for the title of the album came from drummer Paice, who told Melody Maker that the band received “piles of passionate letters either violently against or pro-the group”, with the angry one’s typically beginning: “Who do Deep Purple think they are?” This quote appears as part of the album artwork, a collage of press-clippings that dramatically contrast the success of the band with the controversy that surrounded it, particularly negative reviews of the band smashing up their equipment as the finale to their live performances. Like Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin, Purple were derided as proponents of “heavy metal” rock. But, as this volume’s innovative and internationally recognised Metal Music scholars argue, it was their success in communicating – over the course of a series of ground-breaking studio albums and especially in live performance – with a new, younger rock audience that helped to define the genre template we now recognise as “classic” heavy metal. Without this success, heavy metal would not have developed in the way that it did nor forged a lasting bond with its audience amidst the controversy which surrounded its rise; a controversy which centred on the way it choose to communicate with this audience, through extremes of volume and dramatic musicianship, particularly live.
Contents
List of figures and tables vii
Introduction: A Purple passage or a lasting legacy? 1, Andy R. Brown
Part One: Exploring the heavy rock band virtuosity of Deep Purple 31
1 Deep Purple’s Black Knight: The virtuoso identity of Ritchie Blackmore in defining the riff-driven heavy metal of In Rock 33, Kevin Ebert
2 Wizard of the Art: Jon Lord: A legacy In Rock keyboard 56. James Dickinson
3 Speed King: Setting the Paice 77, Simon Poole
4 Ian Gillan and the legacy of the operatic voice in heavy metal: Borrowed feminine classical virtuosity in metal masculinity 98, Francesca Stevens
5 Blackmore and Gillan’s guitar and vocal games Live in Japan: Rock falsetto as an auditory spectacle 120, Catherine Rudent
6 Taking the lead: Ritchie Blackmore and Tommy Bolin (re)shape heavy rock virtuosity 133, Kevin Fellezs
Part Two: Analysing the riff composition of Deep Purple and its studio capture 157
7 The tonal language of Deep Purple Mk2: Riffs, modes, chords and progressions 159, Esa Lilja
8 Flight of the riff: Distinguishing hard rock and metal in the seminal styles of Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin, Uriah Heep and Black Sabbath 189, Dietmar Elflein
9 Martin Birch: Catalyst. The pivotal role of Deep Purple’s sound engineer on the classic Mk2 albums 210, Jan-Peter Herbst
Part Three: Purple as pioneers of the world tour and its fan and band legacy 233
10 Heavy metal on stage: Deep Purple’s Made in Japan and the production of arena rock 235, Steve Waksman
11 From underground cafés to the Kremlin: Deep Purple’s influence on Russian hard ’n’ heavy music behind the Iron Curtain 254, Dawn Hazle
12 Darker Than Blue: The DPAS and Simon Robinson – Master of the Purple back catalogue 273, Andy R. Brown
Index 305
- Edited by Andy Brown
Other Titles in this Series
Dub In Babylon
Understanding the Evolution and Significance of Dub Reggae in Jamaica and Britain from King Tubby to Post-punk
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