10 Hard Rock Bands That Completely Changed Their Sound
8. Deep Purple
Deep Purple is known as one of the key forces in the hard rock world. The band's furious energy and improvisational live performances has laid the foundation for heavy rock and metal. While the band's classics are classics for a reason, the eclecticism in their music is not talked about nearly enough.
The band's first few years were actually much further away from hard rock, with songs that seemed to have more in common with the jam band scene of the late 60's. Once the band acquired Ian Gillan and Roger Glover, they began to flesh out their classic sound with a riff-based approach to rock. When Gillan and Glover parted ways with the group, the band's life with David Coverdale and Glenn Hughes saw even more sonic departures.
Coverdale had a more bluesy background, which led to a more soulful approach to songwriting, while Hughes's experience in the world of funk led them to create a good fusion of rock and R&B. When it comes to the live stage, their performance with the London Symphony shows how talented these musicians were on a professional level. Though hard rock is definitely in Deep Purple's DNA, there's a well of other interesting styles in their catalog beyond "Smoke On The Water."