Deep Purple formed in London in 1968, and most guides file them under hard rock and heavy metal. Their first chapter, though, belongs to the progressive story: before “Smoke on the Water” made them famous, Jon Lord’s classically trained keyboards were steering the band toward long suites, string sections and a full symphony orchestra. This guide follows Deep Purple from those early experiments through more than half a century of line-up changes and 24 studio albums.

The short version

Deep Purple began as a psychedelic and progressive act built around Ritchie Blackmore’s guitar, Jon Lord’s organ and Ian Paice’s drums. In 1969 singer Ian Gillan and bassist Roger Glover joined, creating the line-up usually called Mark II. In AllMusic’s account the band turned heavier from “Deep Purple in Rock” (1970) onward, and Mark II took both “Fireball” and “Machine Head” to No. 1 on the UK Official Albums Chart. The personnel kept shifting through the 1970s until the split was made public in 1976. The Mark II members reunited in 1984, and in several configurations the band has recorded ever since, most recently “Splat!” in 2026. Ian Paice is the only musician to have played in every line-up.

London, 1968: the progressive beginnings

The founding line-up brought together singer Rod Evans, guitarist Ritchie Blackmore, bassist Nick Simper, keyboardist Jon Lord and drummer Ian Paice. Their debut, “Shades of Deep Purple” (1968), mixed psychedelic, progressive and pop rock, a blend Wikipedia links to the members’ different backgrounds and to Lord’s classical training. “The Book of Taliesyn” followed the same year. The self-titled third album, released in 1969, went further: it closes with “April”, a long three-part piece that brings strings and woodwind into the band’s sound. Reviewing it for AllMusic, Bruce Eder calls it “one of the most bracing progressive rock albums ever.”

That ambition reached its peak on 24 September 1969 at the Royal Albert Hall in London. There the band performed Lord’s “Concerto for Group and Orchestra” with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Malcolm Arnold. Wikipedia, citing several sources, describes it as one of the first live albums by a major rock band with a full orchestra.

Mark II and the hard rock breakthrough

By the time of the Concerto, Evans and Simper had been replaced by Gillan and Glover. In AllMusic’s account, Blackmore then pushed the group toward a heavier, guitar-led sound, and “Deep Purple in Rock” (1970) marked the change. It reached No. 4 on the UK Official Albums Chart, and AllMusic’s Eduardo Rivadavia singles out the long “Child in Time” as its centrepiece. “Fireball” (1971) went to No. 1.

In December 1971 the band travelled to Montreux to record at the town’s casino. The building burned down during a concert by Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention, so the band recorded at the Grand Hotel instead, using the Rolling Stones’ mobile studio, and turned the episode into “Smoke on the Water”. The resulting album, “Machine Head” (1972), spent three weeks at No. 1 in the UK. Rivadavia, again for AllMusic, places it alongside Led Zeppelin’s fourth album and Black Sabbath’s “Paranoid” among the founding records of hard rock and metal.

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Album by album

24 studio albums, from “Shades of Deep Purple” (1968) to “Splat!” (2026), including the 2021 covers album “Turning to Crime”. Tap any title for its guide.

The players

Gillan and Glover left in 1973. David Coverdale (vocals) and Glenn Hughes (bass and vocals) replaced them, and this Mark III line-up made “Burn”, which reached No. 3 in the UK, and “Stormbringer”, both in 1974. Blackmore left in 1975 and Tommy Bolin took over the guitar for “Come Taste the Band” (1975). The break-up was made public in July 1976.

In April 1984 the Mark II line-up of Gillan, Blackmore, Lord, Glover and Paice reunited, and “Perfect Strangers” reached No. 5 on the UK Official Albums Chart. After Gillan’s dismissal, Joe Lynn Turner joined in 1989 and sang on “Slaves and Masters” (1990). Gillan returned in 1992 for “The Battle Rages On...” (1993). Blackmore left for the last time in November 1993; Joe Satriani filled the role temporarily before Steve Morse joined in 1994, staying until 2022. Jon Lord retired in 2002 and Don Airey took over the keyboards. Simon McBride stood in for Morse from March 2022 and became a full member that September; “=1” (2024) is his first Deep Purple album.

The current line-up is Ian Gillan, Roger Glover, Ian Paice, Don Airey and Simon McBride, the five musicians who recorded “Splat!”.

Where to start

“Machine Head” (1972) is the obvious entry point: a UK No. 1, the home of “Smoke on the Water” and “Highway Star”, and the record AllMusic ranks among the essential hard rock albums. Go next to “Deep Purple in Rock” (1970), the first studio album of the Mark II line-up and the one where the heavier sound takes shape.

If you came here for the progressive side, start with the self-titled 1969 album and its closing suite “April”, then find the live “Concerto for Group and Orchestra”. For the reunion years, AllMusic’s Bret Adams counts “Perfect Strangers” (1984) among the stronger reunion records of its kind, crediting much of it to Blackmore and Paice.

Why they matter

Deep Purple sit at a crossroads. On one side is Jon Lord’s Concerto, which Wikipedia counts among the first live albums by a major rock band with a full orchestra, and which shows how early British rock was reaching for classical forms. On the other is the run from “Deep Purple in Rock” to “Machine Head” that took Mark II to the top of the UK chart. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inducted them in 2016, honouring Blackmore, Evans, Lord, Paice, Gillan, Glover, Coverdale and Hughes.

The band has also proved unusually durable. “Splat!”, released in July 2026, reached No. 12 on the UK Official Albums Chart, 58 years after their first record. In my book Beyond the Thames I place them in the wider British story, next to the bands that took the progressive route all the way.

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