Purple have been eligible for more than 20 years and were also recently named top of the list in a public poll of acts that should be admitted to the Rock Hall.

Gillan tells Classic Rock: "I have no respect for them. They're the kind of people that having seen A Hard Day's Night decided that The Monkees would be America's equivalent to the Beatles. They've no idea what goes on in the big, wide world outside of their self-arbitrating surroundings.

"To me, those people are bloody arrogant and rude. I've heard that somebody on their committee dismissed us as one-hit wonders. I couldn't figure out whether that hit was Hush, Kentucky Woman, Black Night, Strange Kind Of Woman, Child In Time, Perfect Strangers, Knocking At Your Back Door or perhaps even Smoke On The Water.

"I'm very grateful for the other bands and artists that stood up for us with a view to our induction - that's nice of them. But I wish that the Hall Of Fame had had the discretion to ask us first. It's now become a debate in which we are too late to have the final word."