Concerts - Smoke On The Water
In this article we're going to tell the true behind the scenes
story of one of the most famous songs in rock history that was
actually the result of an incident at a concert.
Everyone knows the song "Smoke On The Water". Every kid who ever
picked up a guitar for the first time plunked out that four
chord blues riff. For many kids, it's the only thing they were
ever able to play. And many of these kids think they know the
story of how that song was recorded. Yes, there was a fire, a
bad one. But what most, if not all of them, don't realize is
that the fire that broke out that day was during a Frank Zappa
and the Mothers Of Invention concert.
The date was December 7, 1971. It was thirty years after the
bombing of Pearl Harbor. Maybe that should have been an omen.
Certainly this was not an insignificant date in history.
Anyway, Deep Purple, the band who recorded "Smoke On The Water"
was setting up their camp in Montreux, Switzerland to record
their next album. They were going to use a mobile recording
studio to do this which they rented from The Rolling Stones,
known as their Rolling Stones Mobile Studio. They set up at the
Montreux Entertainment Complex which was part of their casino.
This is referred to as the "gambling house" in the lyrics of the
song.
Well, on the eve of their recording session Frank Zappa and The
Mothers Of Invention were performing live in concert at the
casino's theater. They were to perform a number of their popular
songs including the epic "The Nancy & Mary Music", "Sharleena",
"Duke Of Prunes", and "Hungry Freaks Daddy". Frank Zappa was
strange to say the least. However, before they could really get
into the meat of their performance a fire broke out during the
concert. It was said to have been caused by a Swiss fan shooting
a flare gun at the ceiling, as was stated in the "some stupid
with a flare gun" line that ultimately destroyed the entire
casino complex, along with all of Frank Zappa and The Mother's
equipment.
The smoke on the water that was talked about in the song was the
smoke from the fire that spread over all of Lake Geneva. From
their hotel across the way from the casino, the members of Deep
Purple watched the fire burn and the smoke cover the lake. In
the lyrics they mention a "funky Claude" running in and out.
This was actually the director of the Montreux Jazz Festival
running in and out of the casino trying to get people to safety.
The aftermath of all this was that Deep Purple had no place to
record and Frank Zappa and the Mothers were part of the most
famous concert in history to get cancelled mid way through.
Deep Purple eventually found another place to record, using a
near empty Montreux Grand Hotel. They converted its hallways
into a makeshift recording studio.
As for Frank Zappa, the concert was cancelled and never
rescheduled. But he had become a part of history that little
kids with electric guitars will be thankful for, for a very long
time.