1. Born in England in 1945.
2. Wrote an uber-famous classic hard rock/old school metal guitar riff that has been compared to Beethoven’s Fifth’s dramatic opening motif for its enormous popularity/familiarity/ubiquity.
3. Now (alongside his singer wife) plays medieval/Renaissance acoustic music fused with melodic hard rock.

Years ago at a live music club in Greenwich Village, I saw an artist who claimed to have written a riff which was pilfered by Led Zeppelin, but I cannot remember his name.

Has to be the bassist from Deep Purple, but I can't remember his name.

Close, but not the bass player....

I don't know the rest of the bands names either, and don't want to cheat but 'Smoke on the Water' sprang to mind from your second clue.

Arthur will know.

Bingo. That’s perhaps close enough. I don’t know all the rules exactly, but yes, it’s the author of “Smoke On the Water”’s riff (Deep Purple’s guitarist). Surely someone can name him?

Well, that's got to be Ritchie Blackmore.

Actually, at first I was thinking of someone totally different. You would know the name, Karnak. It’s a British acoustic guitarist I saw at The Bottom Line in NYC. He played & sang an original song for which the riff was identical to a Led Zeppelin track. When introducing it, he said they had heard him do it and ripped it off.

I would have had to google his name. At least I knew the song.


Authur your up.

Anybody hear from S2000?

Blackmore it is! I’m a guitarist myself, and he’s my hero. For his post-Purple Renaissance/rock fusion, check out his current band Blackmore’s Night.

Zeppelin seems to be no stranger to plagiarism lawsuits, from what I’ve read in the news lately.

Karnak, from what I’ve glimmered from our Café interchanges, you really know music, and I’m tempted to believe you are a great guitarist! I’m friends with Joe Lynn Turner, the one-time lead singer in Ritchie Blackmore’s band, Rainbow, and who also replaced lead singer Ian Gillan in Deep Purple later on.

Animated, I haven't heard from S2000, and I'm hoping all is well with him.

OK, try this:

1. Born into a middle-class family in St. Louis, Missouri.

2. I had an interest in music from an early age.

3. While a high school student I was convicted of armed robbery and sent to a reformatory.

I could be wrong, but upon impulse I seem to want to say “Chuck Berry.”

As a huge Deep Purple/Rainbow fan, I have much respect for Joe Lynn Turner. Perhaps my favorite song of his from that era is “Spotlight Kid,” though of course there are many other greats (“Stone Cold,” “Tearing Out My Heart,” “Jealous Lover,” “Eyes of Fire,” “Street of Dreams”). Tell him I said so!

Chuck it is, Karnak! These would have been my follow-up questions:

4. After my release, I settled into married life and worked at an automobile assembly plant.

5. I developing a music style that included guitar solos and showmanship.

6. I traveled to Chicago and met Muddy Waters, who suggested I contact Leonard Chess of Chess Records.

7. My adaptation of the country song "Ida Red” (renamed as something else) sold over a million copies.

8. My original song lyrics focused on teen life and consumerism.

9. I became an established star, with several hit records, film appearances, and a lucrative touring career.

10. I spent three years in prison for transporting a 14-year-old girl across state lines.

11. After my release, I had several more hits, but these did not achieve the same success.

12. I received a four-month jail sentence and community service, for tax evasion.

13. I am among the first musicians to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on its opening in 1986.

Your turn again, Karnak ...

Well, just to move it out from music into the movies....

He played Frankenstein’s Monster (or Creature).
He played the (living, killing) Mummy.
But he is perhaps best known for playing Count Dracula.

Not Lon Chaney; a British actor.

Boris Karloff.

Bela Lugosi.

Correction- Christopher Lee. Missed the British part.

Aha. Lee it is! (Best Dracula ever.)

Critter’s turn.

Christopher Lee was one of the coolest dudes ever.

1. Recorded all of my output in improvised recording conditions such as facing the corner of a tiny room.

2. Lomax tried to book me for Carnegie Hall but I was already dead.

3. There is only one known photograph of me, though others have been investigated.

Robert Johnson?