IN: Deep Purple are an English rock band formed in Hertford in 1968. The band is considered to be among the pioneers of heavy metal and modern hard rock, although their musical approach changed over the years. Originally formed as a progressive rock band, the band shifted to a heavier sound in 1970. Deep Purple, together with Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath, have been referred to as the "unholy trinity of British hard rock and heavy metal in the early to mid-seventies".

The end came on tour in England on 15 March 1976 at the Liverpool Empire Theatre. In the words of Jon Lord:  "At one point during the show, Glenn said to the audience, 'I'm sorry we're not playing very well, but we're very tired and jet-lagged.' And I remember spluttering to myself, 'Speak for yourself.' I was working like a Trojan to try and make this work ... Paicey was playing like a madman just to keep it all together ... Coverdale was singing his socks off. So to hear this guy who was extremely high on various substances telling the audience, 'I'm sorry, We aren't playing well' kind of rankled me a bit. I came off stage and went straight to my dressing room, which I was sharing with Ian Paice, and I said, 'Ian ... that's it, isn't it? That's absolutely the end of this band as far as I'm concerned. Why are we doing this to ourselves?' So he and I shook hands and said, 'It's over. Thank God.' About ten minutes later, Coverdale came in, big blustery guy that he is, and he said, 'I'm leaving the band!' And we said, 'David, there's no band to leave.'"  The break-up was finally made public in July 1976, with then-manager Rob Cooksey issuing the simple statement: "the band will not record or perform together as Deep Purple again". Later in the year, Bolin had just finished recording his second solo album, Private Eyes, when, on 4 December 1976, tragedy struck. In a Miami hotel room, during a tour supporting Jeff Beck, Bolin was found unconscious by his girlfriend and bandmates. Unable to wake him, she hurriedly called paramedics, but it was too late. The official cause of death was multiple-drug intoxication. Bolin was 25 years old.  After the break-up, most of the past and present members of Deep Purple went on to have considerable success in a number of other bands, including Gillan, Whitesnake and Rainbow. There were, however, a number of promoter-led attempts to get the band to reform, especially with the revival of the hard rock market in the late 1970s and early 1980s. In 1980, a touring version of the band surfaced with Rod Evans as the only member who had ever been in Deep Purple, eventually ending in successful legal action from the legitimate Deep Purple camp over unauthorised use of the name. Evans was ordered to pay damages of US$672,000 for using the band name without permission.

Why did the band split?

OUT: Glenn said to the audience, 'I'm sorry we're not playing very well, but we're very tired and jet-lagged.'


IN: The Smiths were an English rock band formed in Manchester in 1982. The band consisted of vocalist Morrissey, guitarist Johnny Marr, bassist Andy Rourke and drummer Mike Joyce. Critics have called them one of the most important bands to emerge from the British independent music scene of the 1980s. NME named the Smiths the "most influential artist ever" in a 2002 poll.

Morrissey and Johnny Marr dictated the musical direction of the Smiths. Marr said in 1990 that it "was a 50/50 thing between Morrissey and me. We were completely in sync about which way we should go for each record". The Smiths "non-rhythm-and-blues, whiter-than-white fusion of 1960s rock and post-punk was a repudiation of contemporary dance pop", and the band purposely rejected synthesisers and dance music. However, from their second album Meat is Murder, Marr embellished their songs with keyboards. They sometimes used Sergei Prokofiev's Montagues and Capulets as entrance music at live shows.  Marr's jangly guitar-playing was influenced by Roger McGuinn of The Byrds, Neil Young's work with Crazy Horse, George Harrison (with The Beatles), James Honeyman-Scott of The Pretenders, and Bert Jansch of Pentangle. Marr often tuned his guitar up a full step to F-sharp to accommodate Morrissey's vocal range, and also used open tunings. Citing producer Phil Spector as an influence, Marr said, "I like the idea of records, even those with plenty of space, that sound 'symphonic'. I like the idea of all the players merging into one atmosphere". Marr's other favourite guitarists are James Williamson of The Stooges, Rory Gallagher, Pete Townshend of The Who, Jimi Hendrix, Marc Bolan of T. Rex, Keith Richards of The Rolling Stones and John McGeoch of Magazine and Siouxsie and the Banshees.  Morrissey's role was to create vocal melodies and lyrics. Morrissey's songwriting was influenced by punk rock and post-punk bands such as the New York Dolls, The Cramps, The Specials and The Cult, along with 1960s girl groups, and singers such as Dusty Springfield, Sandie Shaw, Marianne Faithfull, and Timi Yuro. Morrissey's lyrics, while superficially depressing, were often full of mordant humour; John Peel remarked that the Smiths were one of the few bands capable of making him laugh out loud. Influenced by his childhood interest in the social realism of 1960s "kitchen sink" television plays, Morrissey wrote about ordinary people and their experiences with despair, rejection and death. While "songs such as 'Still Ill' sealed his role as spokesman for disaffected youth", Morrissey's "manic-depressive rants" and his "'woe-is-me' posture inspired some hostile critics to dismiss the Smiths as 'miserabilists.'"  A study has found that the Smiths employed the greatest vocabulary range of all bands to emerge from Manchester, using more than 1,100 different words in their first three albums.

How was this tracked?

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