Guitar heroes are a funny old breed, and one of the most enigmatic of this set is Ritchie Blackmore. A hard rock and metal icon who took the baton from Jimi Hendrix and set the scene for Eddie Van Halen, his pioneering, dynamic and atmospheric sound remains one of his era’s most important.

However, just like many guitar-playing maestros of his heyday, Blackmore is a curmudgeon with distinct views on the world. He knows what he likes, and what he doesn’t, and has always been bold in discussing such thoughts in public, detailing an array of famous artists whom he isn’t a fan of. From his contemporary Eric Clapton to the entire punk genre, a lot furrows his brow.

As well as firmly sitting in the ‘hater’ camp, which adds another dimension to his legacy, Blackmore has committed to many moments of pure rock ‘n’ roll chaos that leaves us regular folk aghast like many of his six-string peers. His highlights reel includes a drunken altercation with Led Zeppelin drummer John Bonham in Los Angeles’ Rainbow and, of course, the California Jam incident in 1974, which saw him smash up his guitar on stage before his amp exploded into flames and caught his hair on fire.

Although a disagreement with the organisers led to the outburst at the California Jam, it has always seemed rather affected, particularly given his lightly tapping of his guitar on the camera, not going whole hog smashing the glass to bits, and the clearly prepared amp explosion. However, not long after, the guitarist would put this stunt to shame with some genuine rock ‘n’ roll destruction after a disagreement with prog rockers Yes, a group whose sound had partially inspired Deep Purple’s prog exploration on their hit 1974 album, Burn.

Deep Purple frontman Ian Gillan revealed all when speaking to Ultimate Classic Rock. He recalled a time in the early-mid 1970s when the band played at the precursor to Reading Festival in Plumpton, East Sussex. It was run by Jack Barrie from London’s iconic Marquee Club and also featured Yes.

It was Yes’ attitude that caused Blackmore to wreak more devastation than he had at California Jam. Gillan thinks that at the time, the prog outfit was “a bit miffed” because they wanted to close the show, but it wasn’t in their contract. Given their world-famous status, it was in Deep Purple’s contract they were the ones set to close the festival. The pompous Yes was having none of it, and their diva behaviour sent Blackmore into a righteous rage. He showed them, though; he’s not one to be messed with.

Gillan said: “It was [in our contract] that Deep Purple would close the show, so they refused to leave the hotel room. Jack said, ‘Guys, would you mind going on a bit earlier? I don’t want to push you but it would help me and it would help the crowd.’ ‘Yeah sure, okay, no worries.’ Then, Ritchie [Blackmore] decided that if we weren’t going to close, nobody was.”

In response, the furious Blackmore ordered someone to get him some gasoline. He doused the equipment in it, then had one of his roadies light a broom with a petrol-coated rag on the end of it and used it to ignite the gear. The fumes exploded, Gillan remembered, and within just half an hour, the emergency services were on hand.

He explained: “The police, the fire brigade and ambulances were all coming in and there was complete chaos. Everything was on the front page of the Sunday papers the next morning, and it was all quite rock ‘n’ roll.”