DEEP PURPLE's Jon Lord interviewed in 2010 about classical, jazz & metal | Raw & Uncut 

Lord would tell you that he does. Rick Wakemam?? Keith Emerson?? They all have a classical background. Maybe even Tony Banks.

I share your sentiments. I have followed Jon's and DP's career since 1968. He proved that one need not choose between rock and classical music, that one can do both equally well. Because of him, I continued studying classical piano and playing in a rock band at the same time. And the classical training really helped my rock playing. He was a true master/maestro. I cried for weeks after hearing of his passing. Just as I cried for some time after Keith killed himself. I guess being a keyboard player, it is no surprise that my two favorite bands are DP and ELP. Jon and Keith are my two favorite musicians. I miss them both so much. I hear you about Ritchie. There are many guitarists that I think are excellent. Ritchie is the only one I will purposely listen to. His playing is that unique and that much above all the others.

I'm 26 but I was raised on 70's and 80's hard rock and heavy metal. I don't know how will I be able to deal with the death of all my idols, even more, I don't live in the US so I don't even have a good chance to seek them out to meet them.

Jim, Count me in too...rick wright's got me down as well

Jon Lord will never die, the music he leaves means he has gained immortality.

There's no tomorrow for anyone I'm just being realistic but u could be gone yourself before richie.

Saruman the White. Gandalf the Grey. Jon Lord the Purple.

The Purple Lord - sounds better

@@PhoenixMoonfire this a million times

Incidentally, both Jon and Gillan wanted to become actors earlier in their lives and it would've been interesting to see how far they'd made it but there wouldn't have been and DP then, that's for sure.

Born again is an amazing but overlooked album. Love your music taste!

@@sandipbiswas766 the screams blew my mind. I didn't even know humans could sound like that

+Gary Unsworth Good on ya bro...best of luck with ur Tribute band

Top 3 in the world 🌎

Exactly my thoughts.

1942 was Dio

In of his last interviews, Jon joked he looked like Donald Sutherland. Guess he was right

@@danielfisch389 There was an online DP fan club some years back, I forget its name right now, Jon and Roger and Paul Mann would sometimes comment there. Anyways, one fun part of it was posting pictures of lookalikes and Sutherland would be on there of course. I remember I once put a photo of Jon (from the "Love Conquers All" video) against the image of Christ (from the Shroud of Turin) or Roger on the toilet looking like Frank Zappa on the toilet, silly things like that. Jon once answered my question about some (TV?) event whether or not Frida would be there with him. Also, because Jon used to do acting before he became a famous musician, I once commented he could've played Donald Sutherland's long lost brother or something like that. Fun times.

+WickedKnightAlbel I'm pretty sure he's talking about Gillan, as Little Richard was one of his idols who inspired his singing.

+U.N. Owen Makes sense.

hes so polite about it haha

I am surprised that idiot did not ask about groupies and shit

Not really. It was the answers that weren't very good

Agreed, but Purple's contributions to metal are massive. Sabbath is the first metal band but without Purple it's hard for me to see how we get to Priest to Maiden and from there to Power and Neoclassical Metal. The riffs particularly on In Rock (along with lots of Uriah Heep riffs) were basically a blueprint for Priest, Maiden etc.

Absolutely, if you familiarise yourself with earlyDP music “heavy metal” doesn’t,t even enter the equation. The story began in 1968 when psychedelia was progressing into heavy rock with musical quality taken into a new dimension...in some cases involving poetry interwoven with glorious sounds from every instrument being played to create an ethereal sense (like the Moody Blues). Baroque and even medieval influences became more apparent with the fusion of modern day musical instruments and, in some cases, live orchestras. This can be portrayed to good effect by Deep Purple at the Royal Albert Hall ,1969.

@@neuroisis85 it was the Blue print for Priest as far Speed is concerned But Priest in origins was much closer to Trapeze than any other band

With Budgie . Its the Trio . More telluric than Sabb then , modern I was listening 1973 Budgie , Trapeze., And Priest live ...they were so raunchy compared to others bands . North bands were heavier . But Purple was the exception for 2 reasons , 1 for Bombastic In rock . That was even more in your face than couple Sabb , and Zepp albums . 2., in live shows especially , because you had 2 norths guys in mark III . Glenn hughes ( remember Trapeze ) more percussive bass playing and More Warm and growly Voice of David .. But thats it .

@@Nissardpertugiu Oh no doubt, especially on Medusa. For me I've always heard 70's Priest at least as basically Deep Purple, minus the organ, playing Black Sabbath with the dual guitars of Wishbone Ash and the drama of Queen

I say Mark 2 actually created their own genre with "In Rock". It was a genre of which was only played by them. It was a mix of jazz, classical, blues, psychedelic rock and early rock&roll driven by their own unique rhythm. It was a small miracle those five ended up together at all and became the greatest group of pure rock musicians of all-time.

Annnyway

No they weren't metal, they were hard rock. Without Purple though, metal might have never existed, and if it did, it would have sounded very, very different