RITCHIE BLACKMORE Vs. IAN GILLAN: Classic 1993 TV Clip Posted At YouTube

A classic video clip of DEEP PURPLE members Ritchie Blackmore (guitar) and Ian Gillan (vocals) engaged in a war of words during separate interviews with the Swedish TV program "Metal Magazinet" in October 1993 has been posted at YouTube. A transcript of the three-minute segment follows:

Ritchie: "Ian and I, we're very strong-minded people, so I think we were, like, clashing a little bit at this point. A lot of drinking going down, a lot of… really, there wasn't too much music being played. So I said to the rest of the band, 'What's Ian doing other than drinking and getting crazy?' 'Well, that's really what he's doing.' So I turned around and said, 'I'd really rather not carry on this arrangement. Let's get somebody else in who's gonna sing something properly.' So they went along with that, and that's all. Ian seemed to fire himself [by] going his own merry way. I think he was… maybe he was being very antagonistic at the time because he wanted to be fired — he didn't want to say, 'I'm leaving.' Ian, being a very strong character, just wants to go his own way when he wants to. And he and I very rarely… We don't talk very often."

Ian: "I've never denied the fact that I could be, and probably am, as much, if not more, responsible for the breakups than Ritchie was by my attitude and the things that I wanted to say and the direction I wanted PURPLE to go in and the things I was excited for them to do and the frustrations I felt. And perhaps I pushed too hard — I think I probably did. But you're never able to be objective in the situation, so I was able to think of that when this whole project came up, and looking at it, I saw very clearly that Ritchie has had — for all his perceived faults and all his real faults — he has had a clear direction, undiluted. He's a giant amongst guitar players, and I don't think anyone would dispute that. But he's an intellectual dwarf. I didn't say that. I mean, what I'm saying is he's insecure. I didn't say that. I didn't say that. Yes, I did."

Ritchie: "One of these days when we're playing on the road, I'm going to attack Ian Gillan in the back alley. He's bigger than me, and he's probably a better fighter, so I'm gonna do it with a few friends of mine — probably Swedish. We'll beat him up. But he won't know it's me."

(Thanks: Jtull)