Smoke on the Water," originally from the great Deep Purple album "Machine Head," has one of the most iconic riffs in all of rock courtesy of Ritchie Blackmore and his Strat. Easily the most recognizable and popular song from Deep Purple's catalogue, the song chronicles an actual event. In December 1971 Deep Purple was in Montreux, Switzerland to record an album at the Montreux Casino next to Lake Geneva using mobile recording equipment owned by the Rolling Stones. During a Frank Zappa concert on December 4, a fan set off a flare gun, setting the ceiling on fire and burning the complex to the ground. The flames and smoke drifted over the lake, while the members of Deep Purple watched. The band then had to scramble for a venue to record "Machine Head" in, and finally settled on the Montreux Grand Hotel. The song is quite an accurate piece of history, and definitely one of the heaviest, most listenable pieces of musical history ever recorded.
Download
