10 Hard Rock Songs That Were Supposed To Be Classics (But Tanked)

Deep Purple were never a band that needed to get by on single material. Since they spent most of their nights out on the road from one tour to another, the idea of having a hit wasn't one of their primary concerns when they could play it to their audiences directly. If there was any hope to get some actual single out into the world though, it would have been on the song Never Before.

Compared to some of the more adventurous tracks on Machine Head, this is definitely the most pop-adjacent song that they had written up until that point, only with their trademark musician flair. After building up the tension with a straightforward hard rock style rhythm, the entire song takes a drastic shift in the chorus, as Jon Lord's organ takes over the mix and Ian Gillan singing a chorus that sounds like it could have been written by the Beatles in their prime.

Considering it's Deep Purple, it doesn't stay that way for long, as Ritchie Blackmore blows right past him with one of the more inventive guitar solos on the record, shifting between pop flavored hooks and bluesier guitar runs. Even though this song sunk like a stone on the charts in favor of tracks like Smoke on the Water, this is an interesting look at a completely different shade of Purple.