Today, Metal Shock Finland officially started our Tribute Week To Ritchie Blackmore, running through to 20th of April. This week was chosen to coincide with Ritchie’s birthday tomorrow, 14th April. We previously invited musicians, artists and the fans to join us, by sending their artwork, designs or videos of their cover tracks of Ritchie‘s work. We will also be publishing interviews throughout the week from well known names in the music industry, discussing their thoughts about Ritchie.
It’s not hidden from anyone, what Ritchie has done to improve Rock and Heavy Metal music, you maybe a death metal lover and don’t care about Rock & Roll but it’s important for us to remember from where we came from. If you follow the roots you will see that Ritchie Blackmore is one of the most influential artists who built the base of heavy rock and metal. According to many critics and musicians, he was the first guitar shredder, and he brought and mixed some elements from classical music to heavy metal.
The idea of this celebration came from our Chief Editor, to celebrate the mightiness of our beloved artists while they are with us. “Why we should only celebrate dead artists?” stated Mohsen Fayyazi. “Isn’t it better to send our messages of love when they are with us?!” It is not our first Tribute, as we had one for Ronnie James Dio, but that was after he had passed away. This one won’t be the last. We are going to organise more in the future for Rock and Metal artists who did a great job in improving this kind of music and left their mark on the music world. We want to send this message to them that we love them and we appreciate what they have done!