Rainbow is the name of at least four bands:

1. A British rock band.<… Read Full Bio ↴Rainbow is the name of at least four bands:

1. A British rock band.
2. A K-Pop group (레인보우).
3. A U.S. psychedelic rock band.
4. Mid-80's Hi-NRG project.

1. Rainbow was a British rock band formed by Deep Purple founder and former guitarist Ritchie Blackmore in 1975. In addition to Blackmore, the band originally consisted of former Elf lead singer Ronnie James Dio, bassist Craig Gruber, drummer Gary Driscoll, and keyboardist Micky Lee Soule. Over the years, Rainbow went through many lineup changes. including bringing in other vocalists Graham Bonnet and Joe Lynn Turner, before it folded in 1999.

The name of the band was inspired by the Rainbow Bar and Grill, a Los Angeles, California eatery which catered to rock stars, groupies, and rock enthusiasts. It was here that Ritchie spent some of his off time from Deep Purple and met Dio, whose band Elf had toured regularly as an opening act for Deep Purple. Blackmore originally got together with Dio to record "Black Sheep of the Family" as a single, and it turned out so well they needed a B side; when the B side was recorded, however, it turned out to be even better. This led to them recording an album, and that effort caused the formation of the entire band. Rainbow's debut album, 'Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow', was released in 1975; it featured the minor hit "Man on the Silver Mountain".

Blackmore fired everybody except Dio shortly after the album was recorded. He recruited drummer Cozy Powell (formerly of the Jeff Beck Group), bassist Jimmy Bain, and keyboard player Tony Carey. This lineup went on to record the album 'Rising', which was released in May 1976 and was a big success in the U.S. (hitting #48 on the Billboard 200 chart).

For the next album, 1978's 'Long Live Rock 'n' Roll', Blackmore kept Powell and Dio and replaced the rest of the band. Blackmore had difficulty finding a bass player for this record, so he played bass himself on all but three songs ("Gates of Babylon", "Kill the King", and "Sensitive to Light"). After the release and supporting tour, Dio left Rainbow.

Blackmore continued with Rainbow, replacing Dio with ex-Marbles vocalist Graham Bonnet. Powell stayed and was joined by former Deep Purple bassist Roger Glover and keyboardist Don Airey. The first album from the new lineup, 1979's 'Down to Earth', featured the band's first single successes: "All Night Long" and "Since You Been Gone". Bonnet possessed a powerful voice on stage, yet he struggled with the band's quieter numbers and lacked Dio's range. In 1980, the band headlined the inaugural Monsters of Rock festival at Castle Donington in England. This was Powell's final performance with Rainbow.

The next album saw yet another line-up change as Bonnet and Powell were replaced by Joe Lynn Turner and Bobby Rondinelli, respectively. The title track from their 1981 album, 'Difficult to Cure', notably was a version of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. The album also contained the guitar-driven piece "Maybe Next Time". Although facing mixed success commercially, the Difficult to Cure tour was the first tour in which Rainbow headlined in the U.S.

Rainbow's next studio album was 'Straight between the Eyes'. The band added a new keyboardist, David Rosenthal. The album was more cohesive than 'Difficult to Cure' and had more success in the U.S. The band, however, was alienating some of its earlier fans with its more slick, arena rock based sound. The single "Stone Cold", a popular power ballad, had some chart success and has since been included in several multi-artist collaboration albums. The successful supporting tour skipped the U.K. completely and focused on the U.S. market.

1983's 'Bent Out of Shape' saw drummer Rondinelli fired in favour of Chuck Burgi. The album featured the single "Street of Dreams". The song's video was banned by MTV for its supposedly controversial hypnotic video clip. The resulting tour saw Rainbow return to the U.K. and also to Japan, where the band performed with a full orchestra. Though fans greatly enjoyed the band's lively touring, the band's material was getting mixed critical reviews, and its members had a sense of needing to find direction.

By the early to mid-80s, Blackmore and Glover had reformed the Deep Purple "Mark II" lineup, and Rainbow was disbanded in 1984. A final Rainbow album, 'Finyl Vinyl', was patched together from live tracks and B-sides of singles. This album contained the instrumental "Weiss Heim", made widely available for the first time.

After Ritchie Blackmore left Deep Purple for the final time in 1993, he put together a new version of Rainbow in 1994, this time named Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow. This incarnation of the band included Doogie White (vocals), Paul Morris (keyboards), Greg Smith (bass), and John O'Reilly (drums).

The new band released Stranger in Us All in 1995 and embarked on an extensive world tour to promote it from late 1995 to late 1997. For the tour John O'Reilly was replaced by Chuck Burgi and then by John Micelli for the U.S. leg of the tour (as well as their final show in Esbjerg, Denmark).

The tour proved very successful, and a show in Germany was professionally filmed by Rockpalast. It has never officially been released, but has been heavily bootleged. The live shows featured frequent changes in set lists and musical improvisations that proved popular with bootleggers, and many shows are still traded over a decade later.

However, fed up with stadium rock, Blackmore turned his attention to rennaisance and mediaeval music, a lifelong interest of his. Rainbow was put on hold once again and played its final concert in Denmark in 1999. Blackmore, together with his partner Candice Night as vocalist, then formed the renaissance-influenced Blackmore's Night.

2. Rainbow, the tag for all releases by the K-Pop group 레인보우, responsible for tracks: "A", "Gossip Girl", "Mach", and about a dozen more.

3. One of any number of Los Angeles, U.S.A.groups of their time (1968), Rainbow's best-known LP was After the Storm The album's one cover is a take with saxophone of Willie Dixon's "I Just Want to Make Love to You". The lineup was: Darrell Devlin (drums), Bob Gay (bass),
W. David Mohr (keyboards), and Harry Vavela (guitars).

4. Rainbow was a short-lived Hi-NRG project by Allan Coelho (of Tapps and more) that released only one single, Humpty Dumpty, in 1986.

Drinking With The Devil
Rainbow Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

I never left like this before
I think I'm gonna explode
Had so much I couldn't take no more
I'm heading for an overload
Oh no here I go
I can see the end
Looked around and I heard the sound
Of have one more my friend

Drinking with the devil
Gonna raise some hell
I'm just a rock and roll rebel
Got my soul to sell

Out all night till the sun comes up
You know I'm never gonna learn
Raise my glass and fill my cup
I'm playing with fire
And I'm gonna get burned
Like before he walked through the door
A glass was in his hand
Sat me down and poured me one more
And I was drinking with the devil
Gonna raise some hell
I'm just a rock and roll rebel
Got my soul to sell

Out all night till the sun comes up
You know I'm never gonna learn
Raise my glass and fill my cup
I'm playing with fire
And I'm gonna get burned
Like before he walked through the door
A glass was in his hand
Sat me down and poured me one more
And said I'm at your command yes I am
Drinking with the devil
Gonna raise some hell
I'm just a rock and roll rebel
Got my soul to sell

Drinking with the devil
You know I had my fill

Drinking with the devil
And he sticks me with the bill

Overall Meaning

The lyrics of Rainbow's song "Drinking With The Devil" depict the consequences of excessive alcohol consumption, the dangers of indulging in it, and the risk of losing one's soul to the devil. The persona in the song is portrayed as a defiant rock and roll rebel who is addicted to drinking and living life on the edge, despite the obvious dangers. The persona starts by expressing the intensity of their intoxication, feeling like they are about to explode and heading for an overload. However, instead of stopping, they decide to heed the devil's call to have one more and continue drinking.

The second verse starts with a sense of inevitability to the persona's behavior, stating that they are out all night till the sun comes up and never learn. The devil appears and literally takes control of the situation, pouring the persona one more drink and claiming to be at their command. The chorus repeats the line "Drinking with the devil/Gonna raise some hell/I'm just a rock and roll rebel/Got my soul to sell" and emphasizes the persona's lack of control and the devil's power over them.

Overall, the song can be seen as a commentary on addiction and the necessity for self-control. The devil in the song can be seen not just as a literal entity but also a representation of the persona's darker impulses, urging them to indulge in self-destructive behavior.

Line by Line Meaning

I never left like this before
I have never felt like this earlier

I think I'm gonna explode
I feel like I can't take it anymore

Had so much I couldn't take no more
Drank so much that it became unbearable

I'm heading for an overload
I am on the verge of losing control

Oh no here I go
I am about to do something regrettable

I can see the end
I know that my behavior will have consequences

Looked around and I heard the sound
I noticed my surroundings and heard the encouragement to drink more

Of have one more my friend
People around me are telling me to drink more

Drinking with the devil
I am drinking excessively

Gonna raise some hell
I am going to become reckless

I'm just a rock and roll rebel
I am a wild and rebellious person