Smoke on the Water: History and Key Facts

"Smoke on the Water" is a song by English rock band Deep Purple, released on their 1972 studio album Machine Head. The song's lyrics are based on true events, chronicling the 1971 fire at Montreux Casino in Montreux, Switzerland. It is considered the band's signature song and its guitar riff is considered to be one of the most iconic in rock history.

In 2004, Rolling Stone magazine placed "Smoke on the Water" number 434 on its list of the "500 Greatest Songs of All Time". Total Guitar magazine ranked the song's riff number 4 on its "Greatest Guitar Riffs Ever" list, and in March 2005, Q magazine placed it at number 12 in its list of the 100 greatest guitar tracks.

In 2017, the song was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.

Source and attribution

Text excerpted from Smoke on the Water by Wikipedia contributors, available under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0. The extract is abridged and formatting has been adjusted; the adapted text on this page is shared under the same licence. Revision history.