Saw him with Purple in 1972, Machine head tour. Didn’t know at the time that I would never see a better live band or a better guitarist/performer … and I’ve seen plenty since. In his prime NO ONE could play, write and perform like Ritchie Blackmore. Mesmerising.

I've seen Ritchie five times live in my life and he never disappointed. He is a phenomenal live musician.

Ritchie is the God of Rock Riffs. Long live Blackmore.. 🎼🎶🎸

Blackmore often has a great amount of emotion and "feeling" in his playing which to me sets him apart. Speed and lots of notes are ok, but what you feel when listening is what makes a great solo. Blackmore has always been my favorite.

As a huge Blackmore fan I was very proud that Ritche didnt show up to the Rock and Roll hall of Shame Induction. Ritchie Blackmore will always be my favorite Guitarist! 🖤

Zakk Wylde should get his own award for this interview statement

Richie Blackmore = Living Legend 🤘🤘

I've been saying this for years he's a beast on the instrument and plays with a fury thay most can never understand

Blackmore is LEGEND!

I have seen Deep Purple 15 times. Rainbow 6 times and Blackmores Night twice. Also Yngwie, Sabbath Page Clapton, Beck, West, & Santana. Ritchie Blackmore is not just a great GREAT guitarist, but a peerless composer. Star builder but the Greatest rock ARRANGER of all time. Blackmore is my own true god and there shalt be no other

Yngvie Malmsteen as always, is a bit full of himself. Ritchie deserves massive credit - he was in the '70's was the most fluent lead guitarist rocker in modal playing, with the possible exception of Frank Zappa - and not just the 7 major modes either, he was fluent in harmonic minor and altered scales as well. Another plus about Ritchie was he was so theatrical and bold: fun to watch on stage - both with Deep Purple and Rainbow. Yngvie... not so much: He will never admit it but "he stands on the shoulders of a giant" named Ritchie Blackmore.

No way is he ever underated, he is the one of the greatest of all time!!!

Mr. Blackmore should be inducted into the RRHOF with a Lifetime Achievement Award. He is the Master.

I had the pleasure of seeing Rainbow at Bingley Hall in 1983. Blackmore had hurt his back playing football with Iron Maiden that week, and hadn’t been too mobile. Lucky for us he was all better and slung his axe around like a wild man! Great gig.

My favorite stuff from Ritchie Blackmore is his live recordings of lazy and highway star from Deep Purple also the way he would trade licks with his singers and keyboardists.

Ritchie Blackmore is legendary guitar virtuoso. My opinion is the DeepPurple Made in Japan was a band at the top of their game.

Ritchie Black more ,is perfect The Best

I think in the early to mid 70s, it was Ritchie and Uli Jon Roth who were the first true guitar "virtuosos". NOBODY could touch them. They paved the way for EVH, Steve Lukather, Randy Rhoads, Yngwie and what would become 80s metal.

I’ve been playing guitar for 45 years now. And people always ask me the usual question: Who inspired me-I always give the same answer: EVERYBODY!!!” But to narrow it down, I always say Deep Purple & Blackmore-But I also include Tommy Bolin!!!

I saw Deep Purple play in NYC at a place called Gaelic Park on the upper West side which was an old minor league Baseball place where you stood or sat on the field. They were great and at one point of the show Richie threw his beautiful white Strat 20ft in the air turning his back and letting it crash on the stage feeding back like crazy!!

Mr. Richard Hugh Blackmore Real Deal Airesman ♈️ Forever Spontanous There Can Only Be One 🔥

Richie Blackmore isn't underrated he is the most influential guitar player

Thank you for doing this Video of my teen idol Ritchie Blackmore (and has remained so to date....!) 🎸🎶

I’ve seen about 15 Blackmore shows he was always exciting

Они, конечно , все отличные музыканты, но Ричи непредсказуемый, неповторимый и непревзойдённый! Гитарист от Бога! 👍✌️💜

I saw Blackmore's Rainbow at the Beacon Theater in NYC in the 70's. 22nd row. One of the LOUDEST shows I have ever been to. He blew the roof off the place. RJD on vocals and Cozy Powell on the drums. Totally awesome show!

blackmore was the man long before sabbath was around

My friend used to jam with Ritchie. His parents lived in a small town in Michigan. His parents wouldn't let him stay with them. He had to sleep in his van in they're driveway..... When I was a kid I used to crank highway star!!! I wonder if Ritchie had any students? Thanks for the vid dude .

Richie Blackmore is my spirit animal. 🐺

I saw Blackmore at his Last gig with Deep Purple. He down off stage and stood on a chair ( 4 seats from me) and wailed on highway star. I shot 4rolls of film on just that.

Ritchie Blackmore has been the influence for two my second and third favorite guitarists. Dave Murray and Janick Gers. My first favorite is Ritchie Blackmore, I take a ton of inspiration from him in my playing as well.

There are several reasons why Blackmore was so special in his prime. However, I think the main one is his ability to play breathtakingly fast with a high level of precision. As just one example of this, check out his playing on Child In Time on the Made In Japan album. At the end of his guitar solo he plays a 3-string riff six times over to close the solo. Jon Lord joins him for the last four of them. In fact, this particular riff was written primarily to suit Jon (as it's fairly straightforward to play on keys) but Blackmore learned it and he could play it just as fast on guitar as Jon could (and Jon was rapid). At that time, Blackmore was 27 years old and, in this respect, was at the top of his game.

Primo,, Great Guitarist..Zak’s big 3 straight up..

Richie Blackmore was prime moving force in two super groups:Deep Purple and Rainbow.Never heard anyone better.

Another Founding Father of the 60's who influenced a ton of musicians for future generations to come. I feel blessed to have witness his playing live playing songs he wrote and made famous with both Deep Purple and the many Rainbow line-ups. Like all the great all he has to do is play a couple notes and you now who it is.

Ive seen Richie 3 times and meet him twice ( a real gent and gave lots to time to the fans) to many great solos to chose from, when you are dealing with a true master Musician every note re recorded shows his class if Edward Van Halen is the Mozart/Picasso of the Guitar ( and he is!) Ritchie Blackmore is the Beethoven/Rembrandt ( and he is).

Zak is hilarious and speaking the truth

I'm a fan. Started with Fireball when i was 16 in '73. Stumbled thru Strange Kind Of Woman (just learning to play). Saw DP for Stormbringer, Cow Palace. Gig was great,,,album, well... Like 5 Strats 'used' that night, ending with one on a strap, one played with his feet, one in pieces, one feeding back against a stack of Marshalls and one on a stand awaiting it's fate. Not normally a fan of smashing but this was a trip. Saw some vids from his home bar during the pandemic. They were pretty cool. Great player,,,,some guy from Sweeden was a fan, too :)

Thanks for the vid man!

When I seen Purple and RICHIE played Beethoven's ninth for his guitar solo. Absolutely awesome.

The Zack Wylde part was just great lol.

Legend

ZAKK said it Best. Period....

Ritchie is the king of kings of hard rock and heavy metal guitarists.

Van Halen was another but so many to mantion...I have never heard a rock or metal guitarist talking badly about Blackmore playing.

underrated ?? people forget, but Richie in 70s and early 80s was somethink like semigod

My favorite Blackmore stuff is actually his work with his very gorgeous wife in Candice Nights. The traditional, Celtic fusion-esque guitar and songwriting arrangements are so packed with Epigenetic mysterious moments which is truly in my blood from my Celtic and Spanish heritage. I can just feel this music throughput my blood. Candice has a very strong American talent in her vocals and performance not to mention her beauty (what a lucky guy) Ritchie was for meeting her. Candice Nights is a special band to me and always will be. Ritchies fingerstyle acoustic playing is wondrous and so full of warmth.

8:33 omg!

I Love Zakks comments!

Zak was spot on and Ywingnie is delusional...

Schon, Wylde, Strauss, Oliva. My fav four to date.

Pretty rad. Here before,,, Love Zakk giving cred to Joe Montana. I wasn't ever a fan until the 'dynasty' years but my first concert was at Kezar with LZ Houses. I'm just a 16 year old kid then but thought to myself 'Didn't the 'Niners used to play here?" Answer was yes. My older brother (15 years) used to take the street car with friends and hang out with players after a game. They were just kids but the players were good guys. The Brady Bunch were pretty great but c'mon! He was a Joe Cool fan, too. btw, last time out in '05, we covered Smoke,,,i used to break D strings before i shifted the 'box' ;)

Did we really have to hear Wylde ramble on so much?

I find it very hard to believe that Blackmore acted like a Malmsteen fanboy.

Saw him with Deep Purple twice, Rainbow twice. Probably the best rock guitarist ever. I've seen Zeppelin too (1979 Knebworth), Sabbath three times, (best was when Van Halen were supporting).

Well said Zakk 👏🏻😂😂

RITCHIE BLACKMORE GENIO DE LA GUITARRA CREADOR DEL SPEED METAL PROTO METAL ,HARD E HEAVY,SOLO ESCUCHEN IN ROCK !!TODO EMPEZÓ AHÍ🔥🔥🔥

zakk is right ! blackmore , iommi and page !

Ritchie was one of the greatest on an electric guitar untill he got lazy and start believing what people said about him. He turned into an asshole in his final years of Deep Purple. But from 68 up to 85-86 he was in a class of his own.

Good clip, but you cut off a lot of good stuff in the interviews with May, Lukather, and Vai.

Ritchie do something for the poor and downtrodden ,they need you.

Saw him twice. Total contempt for the audience and his band mates. Thank God Eddie came along and kicked him in to touch.

Blackmore was good but also an arrogant, conceited prick who ignored fans, even spat on them, refused autographs and didn't think he had to talk to anyone. He even snubbed Eddie when he was up and coming!

Blackmore is the most influincial guitarist of all t

Not a fan of Zac's guitar playing, but he is so right about all this. Not saying he is bad, but never found his style interesting.

I appreciate the so-called "virtuoso", but, my favourite was really between Tony Iommi, Jimmy Page, and David Gilmore.

Malmsteens dad just kiddin #kenvorland

Out of these 3 guitarists. Beck is my favourite.

Its a pity that guitarists are compared to other guitarists. Satriani is a great guitarist but he is unique aswell. They all have something to offer.

2:11 Barry Manilow should be in there too. 😊

As for Zakk's statement: I'm pretty sure Ritchie wouldn't even mention SOTW if he ever did an acceptance speech😆 (apart from that: he never will).

Why does Zakk Wylde talk approximately 3,000 times more than Steve Lukather

He wrote a bunch of the most famous rock songs of all times. That is a fact. Zack is right: Blackmore, Page, Iommy, add Hendrix, Clapton and Jeff Beck, add Zappa, Gilmoure and Al DiMeola and the Trinity-Trinity is perfect. The Old Testament of Rock. Add Van Halen, Rhoads, George Lynch and Uli Jon Roth and you have the definition of the New Testsment of guitar heroes. Add Satriani, Vai and Malmsteen G3 of the revision of the New Testament. Add Jason Becker, Shawn Lane and Paul Gilbert and you have the dawning of the Age of Aquarius... And: There is no G.O.A.T. And: What is Alan Holdsworth? A spektre?

underated? ppl forget but during 70s he was demigod

Richie Blackmore is not underrated!!!!

Don't agree he's underrated. Among musos Blackmore is in legendary status. Zak Wilde nailed it. There is an obvious American bias in "hall of fame" type theatres against British and European acts and players, surprisingly not shared by American musos themselves. Ditto Zak Wilde's spot on remarks. I mean Rory Gallagher hasn't even made to the rock/blues hall of fame. WTF? I have a sneaking suspicion there is a a fair bit of economics attached to such decisions. I mean Purple gets there only after playing for over 50 years and containing the legends I have mentioned.

Bro, you have a great ASMR voice, do some more talking..

Did he pass away or something?!

10:08 Ritchie Blackmore as a guitarist? Yes! As a human being? No.

Does Joe have hair loss issues?

I composed Smoke on the water...:-) I also composed two songs for ZZ Top and helped name the band. I also composed for Queen...Now Freddy did agree to change one word in the lyrics We will Rock you, so since my father filmed football and baseball games, I asked him to help get that song played at stadiums ....worked out great, don't you think?...;-) And many, many others.... Surprise !!! With Smoke on the Water, I did ask that the band change the lyrics, to Smoke in the air, but they explained it meant the smoke (mist) on a lake in the early morning, so I gave my approval. I also wrote for Jimmy Page...:-) And so many others. I should be in the Rock n Roll Hall of fame! What's up with that? I can go public now! Hey maybe Blackmore will tell everyone when he gets in the Hall of fame? Anyway, all the band's I wrote for , per our agreement, had to keep my identity private, in order to keep my family safe from 4 serial killers that attacked me around 1965 in Baltimore Maryland. The FBI put my family into the victim witness protection program, so I couldn't go public. I did play lead guitar, and at a few recording studios along with a bar/restaurant in Annapolis MD before I was 12 years old. I suffered an injury to a finger, at age 12, which ended my lead guitar playing...:-( So thanks to all those bands for honoring our agreement. Now I'm going to need that 1 favor, per our agreement. Help save the Missouri river. (FYI: I played so well, that Frank Zappa offered me a contract at age 11, but I couldn't accept it, so I gave him a song...;-) ) Elvis Presley gave me my first guitar, when I was 5 years old, to cheer me up after those serial killers hurt me. I was bedridden for a very long time and home schooled for awhile as I recovered. God spoke through me, and taught a physician how to re-attach my arm...:-) It's not 100 percent, that's why I could never hold my guitar the correct way...;-) I also traveled with my father, along with the Beatles, when I was 4 years old, and they got the MBE awards. We all had a private dinner with Queen Elizabeth II, after her horse bit me...and I was allowed to bring my friends along, the Beatles, since we were traveling with them.....;-) There are photos of it. I wrote back and forth to The Queen my entire life. Queen Elizabeth II even came to the U.S. Capitol one day, where I was working in law enforcement on midnights. I volunteered to stay over and work without pay to see her. She winked at me...;-) The Queen was just like my mother...:-) The Beatle, who I called Spock, taught me how to play the tambourine on the flight. The pilot sat me on his lap, and let me fly the plane ....:-) My father was very nervous when I did that....;-) I think I met Johnny Cash first, when my father was filming him...:-) You see, back in the day I couldn't tell anyone I was in the victim witness protection program with the FBI, that was their rule. So, when I composed for Pink Floyd, I told them what I wanted to do in life, which was to become a police officer . That's why Pink Floyd came up with the idea to fly that large pink pig...it was to remind me later on in life, that I composed for them...:-) Also, the band's didn't know I became a licensed physician in PA in 1968, when I was 7 years old. Then I graduated from Harvard Law, Valdictorian before I graduated in 1978 from public high school. I had taken my GED years earlier, and didn't find any law from preventing me from attending college and high school...:-) My career in federal law enforcement, as a Sergeant, ended after almost 15 years, from my last severe on duty injury...:-(

Yngwie 😂😂

Malmsteen never admit that Ritchie was his influence just a jerk

he is a great player, but as a person, he's a jerk.

Ritchie Blackmore should retire and focus on raising his 10 year old son and 12 year old daughter, he has been struggling with joint aches for years he has more than enough money to live well retire with style, dont become one of those musicians who needs to be on stage until death.

Dude, are you fallin' asleep?

Why do you sound so depressed?

I saw deep purple in 1974 at k e i l Auditorium St Louis Missouri Richie grabbed a frisbee out of the hand of one of the fans in the front row and used it on the neck of the guitar during the song Burn Richie was a good guitarist even though some of the songs like Smoke on the Water were very simple to play I thought he was a good Showman however he didn't Stack Up when you compare him to other guitarist such as Jeff Beck Jan Ackerman and Joe Satriani

I do not think Ritchie Blackmore is underrated.

Iommi was never competition for blackmore...Toni just isn't that good

Wow, forgive my perception, I thought Zakk would be more intelligent and repspectful. He obviously has not heard much of Ritchie Blackmore.

Deep Purple never did it for me. Something missing, Sabbath had it.

Black Sabbath never played ONE song or ONE show better than Deep Purple....period.

I put him in the same category as tony iommi a very simple player that any teenage kid could come up with, nowhere near the accomplished player's like Jimi Hendrix, Eddie Van Halen and Randy Rhoads, Smoke on the Water is so simple i didn't even have to try to learn it i just picked up a guitar and played it without even watching someone else just playing it out of my head, i understand why these famous much better guitar players are saying what they are about this guy because they feel.they should show this guy respect, i was never impressed with Richey Blackmore and sense im not a famous person i dont have to claim i like something i dont really care for just because others expect it.

The most overrated guitarplayer in the history of music. Many good and classic songs with Deep Purple and Rainbow though.

most overrated guitarist ever

Zakk said it all

Is this an interview with Joe Satriani???

He’s not underrated, anybody that knows what classical rock is knows who Richie Blackmore is ! Those who don’t know are the ones who don’t play instruments and listen to commercial garbage on the radio.

He was way more talented and creative than clapton, page, iommi together , he was far ..