Lost Vids of Early MTV - Rainbow - All night Long (1979) / Since you’ve been gone (1979)

Rainbow (also known as Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow or Blackmore's Rainbow) were an English rock band, controlled by former Deep Purple guitarist Ritchie Blackmore from 1975 to 1984 and 1994 to 1997. It was originally established with former Elf members, though over the years Rainbow went through many lineup changes. In addition to lead singers Ronnie James Dio, Graham Bonnet, Joe Lynn Turner and Doogie White, the project consisted of numerous backing musicians. The music started out as mostly the mystical themes and epic compositions, yet went in a more streamlined commercial style following original singer's departure from the group Blackmore attempted to replace Dio with Ian Gillan, but Gillan turned him down. After a series of auditions, former vocalist/guitarist of The Marbles, Graham Bonnet was recruited instead. Gillan would replace Dio later in his career, in Black Sabbath. Powell stayed, but Daisley and Stone were both fired, the latter being replaced by keyboardist Don Airey (later in Deep Purple). The band was, at first, auditioning for bass players, but, at Cozy Powell's suggestion, it was then agreed that Roger Glover would go back to his old instrument and join the band as a full-time musician, and not only, as originally intended, as a producer and songwriter.[9] The first album from the new lineup, Down to Earth, featured the band's first major singles chart successes, “All Night Long“ and the Russ Ballard-penned “Since You Been Gone“. In 1980, the band headlined the inaugural 'Monsters of Rock' festival at Castle Donington in England. However, this was Powell's last Rainbow gig, as he had already given his notice to quit, disliking Blackmore's increasingly pop metal direction. He would go on to play for Michael Schenker, Whitesnake (founded by Blackmore's former Deep Purple bandmate David Coverdale) and Black Sabbath. Bonnet was fired the night Powell quit due to a drunken performance. Soon after, he would also join the Michael Schenker Group, and later pursued a solo career. Ironically, Bonnet was fired from MSG due to similar problems as with Rainbow. Joe Lynn Turner in 2008. The Turner-fronted “Stone Cold“ was Rainbow's only Top 40 hit in the United the next album, Bonnet and Powell were replaced by Americans Joe Lynn Turner and Bobby Rondinelli, respectively. The title track from the album, Difficult to Cure, was a version of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. The album also contained the guitar piece, “Maybe Next Time“. After the supporting tour, Don Airey then quit over musical direction and was replaced on keyboards by David Rosenthal.