10 Criminally Underrated Classic Rock Songs You Need To Hear
3. Never Before - Deep Purple
Deep Purple were really honing down their hard rock chops by the time they got to making Machine Head. The entire record is built upon some of the greatest riffs that Ritchie Blackmore has ever come up with along with his tremendous interplay with keyboardist Jon Lord.
Another plus was the fact that the band had an actual single cut in mind with "Never Before," but with fans focusing on the harder points of the record, the song quickly fell off the charts and into obscurity. It really is a shame that the song didn't take off thanks to its song structure, which was a first for Purple.
The whole thing starts off with a great verse melody from Ian Gillan that screams classic Purple, but the chorus breakdown sections are a completely different animal. All of the instruments open up to ringing chords, giving Gillan an opportunity to take center stage with a more pop-centric melody. As Blackmore adds subtle guitar flourishes, the entire section sounds like what the Beatles would have done if they kept up their hard rock hot streak. Rather than putting on "Smoke on the Water" for the 800th time, give this song a try and see another shade of Purple than you're used to.