Deep Purple’s 'Smoke on the Water': How a Disaster Led to Rock’s Most Iconic Riff

A flare gun fired by an idiot attending a concert led to the burning of a casino and a towering fire in the sky. The rock band Deep Purple happened to be in attendance and was supposed to record their new record Machine Head there the next day…they saw the whole thing. A few days later the band’s bassist Roger Glover had a nightmare about the fire and a legendary song title came to him Smoke on the Water…. sometime later a riff just as iconic came to guitarist Ritchie Blackmore that he borrowed from a famous classical piece… It would be a chore to record. They were shut down by the Police for playing too loud. Then they had to move to an abandoned hotel to record…It was a disaster. Once they recorded this legendary song. they didn’t think much of it. Ian Gillen sang the hell out of it. One day Deep Purple played it live and got a massive reaction. They decided to release it as the last single off the album and it became their biggest hit. The riveting story of the disaster in Montreux NEXT on Professor of Rock.

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