Rainbow Stargazer Reaction Musician First Listen

Reaction to Rainbow's song Stargazer

[steliospots]

Come on Rainbow is the first power metal band..the first three albums are gold..you must do your research because Ritchie Blackmore and Ronnie James Dio are one of the Godfather's oh hard rock and heavy metal.. listen to light in the black is the next story of stargazer.kill the king, gates of Babylon and so much more..this song is written back to 1976 and one of tha main influence of Bruce Dickinson

[andersgranstrom]

Hits me every time: "-What a masterpiece this truly is!" RIP King Ronnie

[jalkabre]

One of my favorite bands. Ritchie Blackmore (guitar), Ronnie James Dio (vocals), Cozy Powell, (drums) Jimmy Bain, (bass) and Tony Carey (keyboard). Such a great group. So many great songs, , good rabbit hole to explore. Temple of the king, Kill the King, Catch the Rainbow, Long Live Rock n Roll, Man on the Silver Mountain, Gates of Babylon, The Shed....and many more with other lead singers.

[anthonyjd]

There was absolutely no falsetto in this song just absolute powerful vocal capabilities all those notes were hit from a regular voice no falsetto also the guitarist in his band just to give you an idea how good he was I had a shirt that said Blackmore is God you cannot slight disband becauseLike deep purple started progressive metal and what it sounds like today rainbow took it to the next level

[CrazyhorseDK]

welcome to the greatest rock metal voice there ever will be Ronnie James Dio

[csphoenix]

They took their name from the Rainbow bar & grill in Los Angeles which they frequented a lot. Great line-up here -
Ronnie James Dio - vocals
Ritchie Blackmore, - guitars
Cozy Powell - drums
Jmmy Bain - bass
Tony Carey - keyboards and orchestrations

[DGSPhoto]

Just to make it easier than "Smoke on the Water", he now comes up with a 4-note riff that's gonna stick in your head for ever! Bought this when it first came out and still listening to it now - nearly every day with all the reactions! "Light in the Black" is a must to finish this epic story! Once you understand the story, you should realise that, in the main, it was told with just the guitar solo! As well as the name of the LA Bar, the use of the computerised 3, 000-light structure they used on the early tours came from Blackmore's legendary performance at the California Jam in 1974.

[StringfellowHawke-zbdp]

They employed the strings and french horns sections of the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra to inject the sounds at 8:58, leading to more dramatic finale of the song.

[sumonjamal]

Rainbow was the band formed by Deep Purple guitarist Ritchie Blackmore in 1976, originally debuting as Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow. His first vocalist was American singer Ronnie James Dio from the band Elf (which played the first Rainbow album). This was from the 2nd album 'Rising' which featured the legendary British drummer Cozy Powell and bassist Jimmy Bain (Sadly, Dio, Powell & Bain have since passed away). 'Stargazer' was obviously inspired by the epic 'Kashmir' by Led Zeppelin... Blackmore had been inspired to play heavy rock in 1970 after hearing Jimi Hendrix and Led Zeppelin.
Ritchie Blackmore was Deep Purple's legendary guitarist and when the band was peaking in 1973, the band splintered w/ both vocalist Ian Gillan and Roger Glover leaving... Blackmore wanted to bail as well, but agreed to stay - vocalist David Coverdale and bassist/ vocalist Glenn Hughes joined in 1974 and the album 'Burn' sent Deep Purple into stadium-sized success. Unfortunately, Blackmore was dissatisfied w/ this 'new' Deep Purple, and after the 'Stormbringer' album and tour, Blackmore quit Deep Purple in 1975. It made no sense to leave when Deep Purple was peaking commercially, but he didn't care... he wanted out.
The band hired guitarist Tommy Bolin to replace Blackmore, but after 1 album 'Come taste the band' failed to make an impact, Deep Purple split by 1976. Fans did not want a Deep Purple without Ritchie Blackmore any more than Led Zeppelin without Jimmy Page.

The thing about Ritchie Blackmore was as a guitarist, he was brilliant... incendiary, charismatic, unpredictable and incredibly talented... he was considered a guitar icon of the 70's... However, he could also be moody, sullen, temperamental, easily offended and a pain to deal w/ if he didn't get his way. His performances were legendary when he was good... when he was bad from one of his moods, he was a disaster. He would dictate how when the band played... his guitar solos were often improvised, and he was bored easily; he hated playing 'greatest hits' sets. Ultimately, his decision to form Rainbow lay w/ his ability to control whatever was being played, rather than coming to a band that had it's own ideas - Rainbow would be under his guidance completely and changed members frequently.
Elf was a heavy rock band formed by legendary singer Ronnie James Dio, a short fellow w/ a big voice... he had been singing R&B and do-wop music in the 60's, and he got into heavy music by 1970 after hearing Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath. Elf opened for Deep Purple, and when Ritchie Blackmore bailed on Deep Purple in 1975, he asked Elf to record his first Rainbow album... Once that was released in 1976, Blackmore only kept singer Ronnie James Dio in Rainbow and hired new musicians to tour, including bassists Jimmy Bain and Bob Daisley... Rainbow generated strong commercial success in Europe, but in America, where disco ruled the charts by 1977, they were not as successful as Deep Purple.
In 1979, Ronnie James Dio was fired after 3 studio albums, because Blackmore wanted a more commercial sound... and Dio wanted Rainbow to stay heavy w/ his themes of fantasy and folklore... Dio replaced Ozzy Osbourne in Black Sabbath by 1980 and brought success back to the band... But in 1982, he left Sabbath and decided to form his own band Dio in 1983, which went achieved platinum success in that decade.

Rainbow hired singer Graham Bonnet in 1979 and recorded a more pop rock album 'Down to Earth'... In 1980, vocalist Joe Lynn Turner joined Rainbow and scored their biggest commercial hits between 1981 and 1983. Ultimately, Ritchie Blackmore disbanded Rainbow in 1984 to reunite w/ Deep Purple.

[Rhythmic]

The whole album is that great. One song after another. We wore the fuck out of this album when we were kids. Dio was one of the greatest singers of the 20th century in any genre of music. Not just in the hard rock/proto metal era he made his name in and played a major role in creating. He literally had the vocal chops of an opera singer. I recently found out that Richie initially wrote the music for this song on a cello. Which makes sense since he was heavily influenced by his classical guitar roots. I just didn't know he played cello too. Cozy Powell was one of the greatest rock drummers of that era. His big break was getting the drum chair in the Jeff Beck Group a few years before he went off with Richie. He did three albums and tours with Jeff which tells you everything you need to know about his qualifications as a badass drummer right there. He actually filled Carl Palmer's chair on an ELP tour years later because Carl was out on tour with Asia. For that tour they were calling themselves Emerson, Lake and Powell. Keith loved Cozy and vice versa. They were good friends. He died too soon but he died doing what he loved. Being a major badass drummer playing with really cool bands all over the world and hanging at the pub with his friends between tours. He was in between gigs and touring when died in an auto accident on the way home from his favorite pub. It wasn't a DUI. Just an accident. Richie was as brilliant and insufferable back then as he is now and sabotaged this band and his own career for reasons only he knows. And Dio's body of work and his enormous contributions to rock and metal are indisputable. He died a difficult death from cancer which is sad because by all accounts he was a very nice man. But he was surrounded by his wife of many years and his family when he passed.

[martinarscott]

Great reaction, I believe the moral behind the story is don't blindly follow, to the detriment of all else, those who make false or wildly unrealistic promises - the wizard was promising if they built his tower he could reach the stars and would take them with him, so they spent 6 years building, many died in the process, and when they completed it the wizard climbed to the top only to fall to his death....

[mickeyhank]

Thanks for the excellent reaction. You asked where they got their name...If memory serves it was from the name of a bar in L.A. -- The Rainbow -- that the guitarist (Ritchie Blackmore) often frequented at that time. 1974-75. He left Deep Purple to form this band. One could say that Blackmore also liked the aspect of the new band name, Rainbow, also having colors in its title like Deep Purple did, but now many colors, not just one, and he did try to have this new band have more shades to their music. I liked your comment, "it's a grand piece of music". And comparing it to Kashmir is smart, accurate. This came out about a year later.

[jeremiahrose]

I absolutely love this song, heard it hundreds of times and will listen to it hundreds of times more.

[Stefan-]

At least three of the five members are among the absolute top legends of Heavy Metal and the rest are no slouches for sure as well. The singer Ronnie James Dio is by many considered to be the best Metal singer of all time and the guitarplayer Ritchie Blackmore is up there as well as is the drummer Cozy Powell. The keyboard player Tony Carey did some awesome keyboard playing on this record and the bassplayer Jimmy Bain was a very solid bassplayer that went on to be in the Dio band for many years. Dio, Powel and Bain are sadly no longer with us (Rock In Peace)

[AngryPostmanStockholm]

I understand the generation jump but it blows my mind a guitarist never heard of Rainbow for example ; )
Great reaction anyhow, Now it's time for some Deep Purple
"My eyes are bleeeeding and my heart is leaving heeeere" ✊

[lisahumphries]

There was a short lived concept in the 70s of rock opera. The Who’s Tommy (The Pinball Wizard) is the most known example.
Some bands created songs like Stargazer that had an operatic feel to it.

[nedrini]

Hey John. I wish you would do the dream theater version of this song.

[collinnicholasns]

An epic song one of Dio's best performances. The song is written from the point of view of a slave, it's mostly about the false idols we put our faith in, he spends years of his life working to build this tower with the promise that the wizard will fly when it's done, but when he goes to fly he just falls to the earth, destroying the faith he had, and in the end he is questioning what to do now. Also if you are checking out the father's of metal you have to check out deep purple, iron maiden, and Judas priest, most people are familiar with led zeppelin and black Sabbath, but those were the bands that put together the pieces that forged metal as we know it today.

[Hector-ylkh]

The song is about the vacuous nature of ego. The Wizard drives the peasants under his control to death and pain just to manifest a testament to his pointless ego - the tower of stone. All for nothing. He jumps off so lost in his own vanity he thinks he can fly but dies instead. Deep for a rock song yeah? Why is rock always underestimated? Blackmore is famous for Phrygian dominants and harmonic minors in some of his songs but is happy around pentatonics and power chords. He is a legendary figure among guitarists and his riffs have become standard background education for any aspiring hard rock player.

[二本延長]

Richie wrote violin and viola part too!