Deep Purple (Photo: Andy Crossland for Live4ever Media)
Deep Purple frontman Ian Gillan has told Classic Rock he holds ‘no respect’ for those behind the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame after his band was nominated once again for induction earlier this month.
“I have no respect for them,” he said. “They’re the kind of people that having seen A Hard Day’s Night decided that The Monkees would be America’s equivalent to The Beatles. They’ve no idea what goes on in the big, wide world outside of their self-arbitrating surroundings.”
“To me, those people are bloody arrogant and rude. I’ve heard that somebody on their committee dismissed us as one-hit wonders. I couldn’t figure out whether that hit was ‘Hush’, ‘Kentucky Woman’, ‘Black Night’, ‘Strange Kind Of Woman’, ‘Child In Time’, ‘Perfect Strangers’, ‘Knocking At Your Back Door’ or perhaps even ‘Smoke On The Water’.”
Other leading names up for the Hall Of Fame next year include The Smiths, Chic and Chicago. 2016 inductees will be announced at a ceremony in New York next April.