Dragon rock

Tuned in to PlanetRock as always during work today. At one point, the host mentioned Don Airey, who guested with Black Sabbath on Never Say Die, and with Rainbow on Down to Earth. I immediately opened up a session with the All Music Guide to re-read the brief bio for Rainbow. Their début album Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow is generally regarded as the first example of dragon rock. After a little digging I found out what this meant: this style of rock is characterised by lyrics about (to wit) men in silver mountains, medieval kings and torture (remember Iron Maiden?). We learn something everyday. Wonder if Led Zeppelin's Tolkien-inspired songs (including the legendary Stairway to Heaven) would qualify ...