10 Hard Rock Debut Albums That Suck

You never really knew what to expect when it came to Deep Purple. At the start of the hard rock revolution, these seasoned pros were taking all the bits and pieces from jazz, blues, and even classical music and mixing it into their own glorious ball of noise. That is...if you're talking about the classic version of the band.

Whereas some people talk about the virtues of Ian Gillan and Roger Glover or even Glenn Hughes and David Coverdale, that's not how these guys originally started out. Brought up in the jam band scene, much of Shades of Deep Purple tends to play out like a second-rate version of someone like Vanilla Fudge or Humble Pie, with half of the songs being reimaginings of classic rock songs like Help and Hey Joe. Though the guitar prowess coming from Ritchie Blackmore is spot on, it doesn't really fit when put next to Rod Evans' warbly low register.

While the single Hush did give them their first hit on the charts, it was only a matter of time before they realized they were in need of a change. After a few more albums of the same schtick, these guys made the conscious decision to go in their own direction, ditching Evans and bassist Nick Simper for Glover and Gillan. There may have been a lot of potential in the beginning, but if they kept going down this road, there's a good chance they would have been known as one hit wonders today.