Deep Purple found the idea for their greatest hits in an accident that almost ended in tragedy during their stay in Montreux.
If a child begins to learn guitar, there is a high probability that he will be able to play. Smoke On The Water of Deep Purple. Whether for its simplicity or its genius, this composition by the British band begins with a riff that it is impossible not to recognize.
And these are those songs that fall into the category of “hummables” that are injected into the collective unconscious, and even work for the most novices. It is so popular that even the author of such riffRitchie Blackmore, stated that he was tired of playing the song live. Of course There is a great story behind that piece. and no, it does not talk about pacts with devils or make sexual references as popular theories indicated.
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“Smoke On The Water”, Deep Purple’s hit and a riff for the ages
Smoke On The Water was included on Deep Purple’s seventh studio album, Machine Head (1972)and it quickly became their best-known song. But the anecdote dates back to a year before the launch of this project.
The band was coming off a season of touring, so they decided travel to Montreux, Switzerlandto record, and they settled in the casino of this beautiful city to save taxes. There was also Frank Zappa with his Mother of Inventionthat the December 4 (the day Zappa would later die in 1993) they were going to give a show on the stage of the place where Deep Purple was staying.
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And there were the British. Just minutes before the end of the concert, when the King Kong song was playing, one of Zappa’s musicians exclaimed: ““Fire!”. Indeed, there was fire, since one of the fans had thrown a flare at the ceiling, which caused a fire. The casino, built largely of wood, burned, Zappa lost $55,000 when he ran out of equipment, and Deep Purple was left without a recording location.
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Zappa released that recording in 1992 under the title Swiss cheese/Fire! But the most affected were those of the British band, especially their bassist, Roger Gloverwho had a nightmare that inspired the title Smoke On The Water. The image of the smoke expanding across Lake Geneva was mixed with a journalistic report about what happened, which ended up being the lyrics of the song.
The song was recorded 15 days after the accident, and was the last on the list of songs that were included Machine Head. The singer, Ian Gillanperfectly describes the scene of the fire, in which names Zappa, the disturbed one with a sparkler and even a Funky Claude, which refers to Claude Nobs, then producer and director of the Montreux Jazz Festival. In fact, the latter helped many of the attendees to vacate the casino. Nobs himself helped the band find a new location to record, and even advised them to include Smoke On The Water on the disk.
Source: Ambito
I am an author and journalist who has worked in the entertainment industry for over a decade. I currently work as a news editor at a major news website, and my focus is on covering the latest trends in entertainment. I also write occasional pieces for other outlets, and have authored two books about the entertainment industry.
