Deep Purple 1994–present
 In April 1984, eight years after the demise of Deep Purple, a full-scale (and legal) reunion took place. It was announced on BBC radio's The Friday Rock Show that the classic early 70s line-up of Blackmore, Gillan, Glover, Lord, and Paice was reforming and recording new material. The band signed deals with Rainbow's labels, Polydor Records in Europe and Mercury in North America (both labels were at the time owned by PolyGram, and are now part of the Universal Music Group). The album Perfect Strangers was released in October 1984. A solid release, it sold extremely well, and included the singles and concert staples Knockin' At Your Back Door and Perfect Strangers. The reunion tour followed, starting in Australia and wending its way across the world to the USA, then into Europe by the following summer. Financially, the tour was also a tremendous success. The UK homecoming proved limited, as they elected to play just a single festival show at Knebworth (with main support from the Scorpions). The weather was bad, but 80,000 turned up anyway.
The line-up then recorded The House of Blue Light in 1986, which was followed by a world tour in 1987. This was followed by another live album Nobody's Perfect (1988) which was culled from several shows on this tour, but still largely based around the by-now familiar Made in Japan set-list. In the UK a new version of Hush was released to mark 20 years of the band. In 1989, Ian Gillan was fired from the band, as his relations with Blackmore had again soured, and their musical differences had widened too far. Gillan's replacement was former Rainbow vocalist Joe Lynn Turner. This line-up recorded just one album, Slaves & Masters (1990) and toured in support. It is one of Blackmore's favourite Purple albums, though some fans regard it as little more than a Rainbow album. In fact, caustic critics dubbed the album Deep Rainbow. Despite the renewed excellence of the band during this period, many hard-core fans were unhappy with Turner, preferring Gillan.
With the tour done, Turner was forced out, as Lord, Paice and Glover wanted Gillan back in the fold. Blackmore relented and the classic line-up recorded The Battle Rages On in 1993. During the European tour during the fall of 1993, tensions between Gillan and Blackmore came to a head yet again. Blackmore walked out in November 1993, never to return. Joe Satriani was drafted in, so the live dates (in Japan) in December could be completed. Satriani stayed on for a European Summer tour in 1994, and he was asked to stay permanently, but his record contract commitments prevented this. The band unanimously chose Dixie Dregs/Kansas guitarist Steve Morse to become Blackmore's permanent successor.
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