Who Do We Think They Are?

Who Do We Think They Are? Synopsis

Who Do We Think We Are (1973) was the fourth and final studio album of the Mk2 Deep Purple line-up of Ritchie Blackmore, Ian Gillan, Roger Glover, Jon Lord and Ian Paice. At the time of release, Purple were the most successful, top-grossing, stadium-touring heavy rock band on the planet; a position confirmed by the virtuoso performances captured on the double live album, Made in Japan (1972), and the Billboard chart success of the double A-side Live/Studio single "Smoke on the Water." The idea for the title of the album came from drummer Paice, who told Melody Maker that the band received "piles of passionate letters either violently against or pro-the group", with the angry one's typically beginning: "Who do Deep Purple think they are?" This quote appears as part of the album artwork, a collage of press-clippings that dramatically contrast the success of the band with the controversy that surrounded it, particularly negative reviews of the band smashing up their equipment as the finale to their live performances.

Like Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin, Purple were derided as proponents of "heavy metal" rock. But, as this volume's innovative and internationally recognised Metal Music scholars argue, it was their success in communicating - over the course of a series of ground-breaking studio albums and especially in live performance - with a new, younger rock audience that helped to define the genre template we now recognise as "classic" heavy metal.

Without this success, heavy metal would not have developed in the way that it did nor forged a lasting bond with its audience amidst the controversy which surrounded its rise; a controversy which centred on the way it choose to communicate with this audience, through extremes of volume and dramatic musicianship, particularly live.