In a new video, Deep Purple bass player Roger Glover explains the fire that served as the inspiration he and his bandmates channeled to create the hit song “Smoke on the Water.” The song came to the English rock band after attending a wild Frank Zappa concert in Montreaux, Switzerland, which resulted in a giant fire that burned down the entire concert hall.
Later, when the band found themselves one song short of an album (Machine Head) that they were recording in Montreaux, Glover and the other band members recalled the fire they had witnessed. Glover combined this memory with a phrase that he had literally dreamed up—”smoke on the water”—and voila, a classic ’70s rock song was born.
The whole songwriting process took about 15 minutes. For Glover, the experience taught him a great lesson. “You’re at your best when you’re not trying too hard,” he said. “I think you have more fun when you don’t know that anything’s going to come of it.”
Watch “The Fire That Created Smoke on the Water” below.
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