Glenn Hughes has revealed his experience attending the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction of his former band Deep Purple, calling the experience “fucking uncomfortable”.
At an in-person Q&A event in Sydney, Australia on October 3, Hughes spoke about receiving the honour with Deep Purple, in which Hughes served as bassist and vocalist from 1973 to 1976 alongside lead vocalist (and subsequent Whitesnake founder) David Coverdale.
The duo appeared on the albums ‘Burn’ (1974), ‘Stormbringer’ (1974), and ‘Come Taste The Band’ (1976).
Hughes attended the ceremony with Coverdale, where they accepted the honour with current band members Ian Gillan, Roger Glover and Ian Paice. In a fan capture of the Q&A, Hughes is seen alleging that he received the cold treatment from the latter members at the event.
“There was no, ‘How are you tonight?’ None of that,” he said. “There was no family vibe, there was no hugging, there was no handshaking, there was no, ‘How’re you doing, pal?’ None of that. And it was fucking uncomfortable. Let me tell you, it was uncomfortable.”
He continued, saying that at the end of the event, he wanted to congratulate Gillan with a hug, but Gillan had put his arm out “’cause he did not want me to get near him”. Hughes added that the incident “really upset me to the point of tears”.
“So I grabbed him… and said to him, ‘Oh shit.’ I can’t tell you what I said, but I thought it was very fucking stupid to do it on live TV where you have to show resentment or whatever you wanna call it. I was really upset.”
“It didn’t make me angry. It really hurt my feelings. Why did he do that? I don’t know.”
Hughes added: “I’ve had my fair share of crappy, weird things happen. I wasn’t the nicest guy when I was drunk. But to do that to a family member whilst I was thanking and congratulating him on his award… He didn’t wanna know it, didn’t wanna fucking know. That was really rude.”
Watch the band accept the honour below – Hughes’ speech begins at 07:45.
Aside from Hughes’ feelings about the night, the induction of Deep Purple into the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame was not without controversy. Ritchie Blackmore, former guitarist and co-founder of the band, was not present the ceremony as he claimed in a Facebook post that he was barred from attending by the band’s manager Bruce Payne.
Per Blabbermouth, Gillan responded to the allegations by stating it was “a hard decision” based on the award ceremony’s requirement for inductees to perform at the event.
He claimed that the band’s then-guitarist Steve Morse and current keyboardist Don Airey did not qualify to be part of the induction, due to their late inclusions into the band.
And so, the decision to only include the band’s current long-serving members for the performance was made as “a mark of respect to Steve and Don,” Gillan explained, while past members like Hughes, Coverdale and Blackmore were invited to appear with the band to accept the induction. Former keyboardist Jon Lord was inducted posthumously due to his death in 2012.
This past year, Deep Purple embarked on their ‘=1 More Time’ tour in support of their latest album ‘=1’, and it included a performance at Montreux Jazz Festival. In NME‘s five-star review of the event, Andrew Trendell wrote: “The Guinness Book Of World Records crowned Deep Purple as “the globe’s loudest band” in their ‘70s heyday, and you’d be forgiven for thinking they were trying to reclaim their title tonight.”
“Bones rattle and teeth shake as the band shred into the night, providing a worldie of a set for this “unbelievable, formidable, magnificent, superb” audience.”
