Ow Ow Ow, Ow Ow Whaow, Ow Ow Ow…Wha-aa-ow.
That simple G-minor melody, supposedly inspired by Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony (or perhaps Brazilian composer Carlos Lyra) and played with the tone of a Fender Stratocaster doubled by a Hammond B3 organ, is unquestionably the most famous rock-guitar riff. The apotheosis of 1970s hard-rock, the ubiquitous “Smoke on the Water” is also the unlikely story of the song’s creation and the high-water mark of long-running UK rock band Deep Purple.
In 1969, DP’s original bassist, Nick Simper, and vocalist Rod Evans, who’d sung on their first hit, “Hush,” were replaced by bassist Roger Glover and singer Ian Gillan, who joined holdovers organist Jon Lord, drummer Ian Paice, and guitarist Ritchie Blackmore to form the next incarnation of Deep Purple, identified as DP Mark II. Deep Purple (Concerto for Group and Orchestra) (1969, Tetragrammaton), In Rock (1970, Harvest/Warner Brothers), and Fireball (1971, Harvest/Warner Bros.) all showed the new lineup finding its footing as songwriters and as a cohesive musical unit. On those three albums, the group honed a version of hard-edged blues-rock that is today thought of as proto-metal.
On December 4, 1971, in Montreux,
