In an in-person Q&A event in Sidney, Glenn Hughes speaks for the first time about the night Deep Purple was honored at the 31st annual Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony. Still touched, he describes his experience and calls it “damn unpleasant.”
Hughes was in the band from 1973 to 1976 as bassist and singer alongside lead singer David Coverdale. The duo also took part in the band’s induction ceremony into the Hall of Fame. Together with current band members Ian Gillan, Roger Glover and Ian Paice, Coverdale and Hughes then accepted the award. But instead of congratulations and warm words, Hughes only received the cold shoulder from the current band members, as he reveals in the Q&A.
“There was no ‘How are you tonight?’ None of that,” says Hughes, describing the band’s behavior. “There was no family atmosphere, no hugs, no handshakes, no ‘How are you, buddy?’ None of that. And it was pretty damn uncomfortable.”
Ian Gillan fends off Hughes’ hug
The tip of the iceberg then seemed to be an incident with Ian Gillan, the band’s current lead singer. After the ceremony, Hughes wanted to congratulate him with a warm hug, but he fended off the hug with an outstretched hand. “He didn’t want me to go near him,” Hughes said of the incident. “It didn’t make me angry. It really hurt my feelings though. Why did he do that? I don’t know it.”
The incident seems to have stuck with the band’s former bassist. Hughes added: “A lot of shitty, weird things have happened to me. I wasn’t the nicest guy when I was drunk. But to do that to a family member while I was thanking him and congratulating him on his award… He didn’t want to know, he sure as hell didn’t want to know. That was really rude.”
Only a few members of Deep Purple were allowed to attend
In addition to Hughes’ take on the evening, the celebratory reception was marred by other controversies. One of the biggest criticisms: Not all former members of the band were invited to take part in the event. Gillan told Blabbermouth that it was a “tough decision” because the awards ceremony required those inductees to perform at the event.
Among other things, Ritchie Blackmore, former guitarist and co-founder of the band, was not present at the ceremony. In a post on Facebook, the 79-year-old claims that he was banned from attending by the band’s manager, Bruce Payne.
Gillan justifies the absence of then-guitarist Steve Morse and current keyboardist Don Airey by saying that they were not qualified to take part because they joined the band late.