About the Book
What does the name Deep Purple really mean? For some, it's simply another name among many in rock history. For music lovers, however, it's a sound that has ignited the souls of entire generations. It's the roar of a Hammond competing equally with a frantic electric guitar, it's a scream that pierces the silence, it's an immortal riff born amidst the flames of a burning casino on the shores of Lake Geneva. This book, Deep Purple, is the profound, passionate, and discursive account of the long, fascinating, and often tormented adventure of one of the most legendary bands in rock history. It's not a simple biographical essay, it's not a collection of dates and albums strung together. It's a living narrative, following step by step the birth, evolution, and continuous rebirth of a group that has reinvented itself many times without ever losing its original spirit. From their first cries in 1968, when they were still called Roundabout and were trying to find their place in an exploding musical world, to the 1970s, when with albums like In Rock, Fireball, Machine Head, and the legendary Made in Japan, they helped shape hard rock and proto-metal, on a par with giants like Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath. The reader will be accompanied on a journey filled with epic episodes and dramatic turns: the quarrels between Ritchie Blackmore and Ian Gillan, the sudden exits, the unexpected additions, the hiatuses, and the reunions. They will discover how crucial the addition of musicians like Glenn Hughes, David Coverdale, Joe Lynn Turner, and Steve Morse was, and how each new incarnation-each "Mark," as the different bands are called-brought new life, new musical languages, without ever betraying their core identity. Each chapter of this book is a section of a rock opera written in flesh, sweat, and passion. We discuss classical and progressive influences, the desire to experiment with symphony orchestras, but also the return to their roots, the call of simplicity and pure power, as demonstrated by their most recent works (Now What?!, inFinite, Whoosh!, and Turning to Crime). Finally, we arrive at the present, with the surprising album =1, released in 2024, which demonstrates that, after sixty years, Deep Purple are not a band of the past, but a vital and tireless presence on the contemporary scene. With a fluid, engaging, and profoundly human style, Deep Purple doesn't simply chronicle a band: it captures its spirit. It's a faithful yet passionate portrait of a group that has resisted trends, internal tensions, and the passing of time, to continue doing what they've always done best: playing music. And doing so with the energy, creativity, and dignity of those who know that rock isn't just a musical genre, but an art form, a faith, a reason for living. This book is dedicated to those who have always held Deep Purple in their hearts, but also to those who are discovering them now. Because every generation needs heroes. And Deep Purple, simply, have never stopped being one.
