In 1982, Rainbow broke through the Top 40 with “Stone Cold.” Written by Deep Purple legends Ritchie Blackmore and Roger Glover, and singer Joe Lynn Turner, the song about heartbreak appeared on the band’s album Straight Between the Eyes, peaking at No. 40 on the Billboard Hot 100 on June 19, 1982. It became the British American rock band’s only U.S. Top 40 hit.
Metal Talk ranked “Stone Cold” among Rainbow’s greatest songs, going so far as to claim that it “may have been the original prototype power ballad.”
“Stone Cold” showcased the vocals of Turner, Rainbow's third lead singer after Ronnie James Dio and Graham Bonnet, who fronted the band from 1980 to 1984. The song got a major boost from heavy rotation on MTV, thanks to an early music video that featured Turner in a maze of mirrors and mannequins.
In the book The Other Side of the Rainbow, Turner admitted the band didn’t know “what they were doing” when they made the music video. “I’m walking around with google eyes, in a leather jacket, putting up the collar, and walking around in these mirrors,” he recalled, per Classic Rock. “But it did what it did for us, so no harm done.”
Ritchie Blackmore wanted a hit
As part of the legendary rock band Deep Purple, Blackmore was well known for hard rock classics such as “Smoke on the Water,” “Hush,” and “Highway Star.” But he was looking for more commercial success, so he created Rainbow as an offshoot band.
In an interview with Rolling Stone, Turner said that as a Rainbow newcomer, it was hard for him to win over fans—at first. “My theory is that fans find it difficult to reconcile what they’re used to hearing with something new,” he said. “I don’t care who you replace or whatever happens. If they don’t hear that old familiar, they’re going to crucify you. I got crucified several times.”
But Blackmore’s mission was clear. “He wanted some chart action,” Turner revealed. “At this point in time, he wanted a more commercial, accessible approach. …So yes, getting on the charts was sort of a redemption for him."
Turner also shared the backstory on “Stone Cold,” which was started when Rainbow was on the road.
“We were out on the first tour, and Roger had been left by his wife for a famous race car driver,” Turner told Classic Rock Revisited. “He was very, very broken up over it. I looked in his room and I said, ‘Rog, let’s go to the bar.’ He looked up at me, and he had crying eyes. I said, ‘What happened?’ He just looked at me and said, ‘She just stone cold up and left me.’ I knew there was a song there. I ran back to my room and started writing the lyrics. It didn’t come to fruition until we got the music.”
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