Incredibly Dark Stories Behind Influential Song(“Smoke On The Water”)

“Smoke On The Water” By Deep Purple

In December 1971, Deep Purple arrived in Switzerland to record their groundbreaking album Machine Head at the Montreux Casino using the Rolling Stones Mobile Studio. Having performed there earlier in the year, the band were fond of the venue and had good relations with its owner, Claude Nobs.The night before recording commenced, the Casino hosted a concert by Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention. A little more than a few hours into Zappa’s set, the concert was interrupted when a member of the audience fired a distress rocket into a rattan-covered ceiling. A fire broke out instantly, and though nobody was seriously hurt, the flames laid waste to the entire Montreux Casino complex, along with all of Frank Zappa’s equipment and Deep Purple’s recording plans.After a false start at a nearby theater called the Pavillion, during which the sessions were undermined by locals complaining to the police about the noise, the band relocated to the out-of-season Grand Hotel. Amidst the chaos, the first track recorded was a mid-tempo rocker anchored by a simple riff consisting of four inverted power chords, inspired in part by the intro to the first movement of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony. Bassist Roger Glover came up with the title “Smoke On The Water” after recalling the pall of smoke blown over Lake Geneva as the fire gutted the Casino. Almost instantly, he and singer Ian Gillan wasted no time putting words together that told the story of the chaos surrounding the recording sessions, thus creating one of the best-loved and most memorable songs in the history of hard rock.“What I love about ‘Smoke On The Water,’ ” recounted organist Jon Lord, “if you want to know the story, listen to the words.”

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