The Eras Tour may have ended, and there may be no more friendship bracelet ideas or 22 hats to hand out, but that doesn’t mean Taylor Swift has gone underground. In fact, ‘tis the season for her music, and no one seems more disgruntled about it than Deep Purple’s guitarist Ritchie Blackmore, aka the guy who reportedly came up with the famous riff from “Smoke On The Water.” (You know the track.)
The famous guitarist recently opened up in an interview to talk about the status of the radio these days. He said when he takes a holiday with his family – which is usually a road trip given how much he also dislikes travel – he is not pleased about his options when it comes to sound. In fact, he thinks the radio is “crap.”
I can’t really complain, but I do like to complain, and I will complain. And I think the crap they’re playing on the radio today is bloody awful.
He’s quick to note on his YouTube video he understands the popularity of the Swifts of the world, but that things have changed a lot in the time since his generation was up and coming. In fact, he likens Swift to The Beatles, which is sort of a fan compliment, if you look at it from a certain perspective.
It might be good music, but it’s not something I want to hear. When the family all get into the truck and we go on a bit of a holiday… all I hear is maybe Taylor Swift or something. I find it hard to relate to that. It’s not wrong; it’s the new generation wanting to hear that. It’s probably as great to them as The Beatles are to me, and Cream was and Jimmy Hendrix was to me.
It’s honestly a refrain Swift probably knows all too well at this point, but I can at least see what Blackmore is saying. Music has changed a lot since he was coming up in the biz. There are fewer heavy rock acts and a lot more pop music, at least in terms of what’s hitting in the mainstream. The landscape is completely different, and as he also notes he’s the old fogey now who doesn’t recognize it in the same way the young folk do.
As we all know, karma is a cat, and this probably means Blackmore will hear nothing but more Swift on the airwaves in the near future. In fact, it may behoove him to become one of those people stanning a potential marriage to Travis Kelce. That planning might just mean she may take a break from the music industry for a while.
Regardless, I doubt Swift would be bent out of shape about any of these comments if she read 'em. After all, as Swift's famous zinger goes, she's damned if she does give a damn what people say.
