Ian Gillan says Black Sabbath were more "important" than Deep Purple and Led Zeppelin: "Without them there would have been no grunge or heavy metal"

Deep Purple's Ian Gillan and Black Sabbath.

Ian Gillan has declared who he believes to be the "most important" from the "unholy trinity" of British rock bands, a term which he explains was coined by the press.

In a new interview with The Sun to promote Deep Purple's 23rd new album =1, the vocalist notes, "Just like ‘sex, drugs and rock and roll’, the ‘unholy trinity’ was created entirely by our good friends the music journalists.