Is “Smoke on the Water” based on an actual fire in the vicinity of Montreax, Switzerland?
“Age is mind over matter; if you don’t mind, it don’t matter.” -Leroy “Satchel” Paige
Yes. The band was either playing or staying at a hotel there.
The hotel I am thinking of was the Grand Hotel, where I think they played later that week. They were actually in a recording studio nearby when the club caught fire. The band playing at the time were The Mothers of Invention (or some other Frank Zappa incarnation). Members of the band apparently helped a guy name Claude Nobs (Funky Claude from the song) pull teenagers out of the burning club. That’s all I remember.
According to Roger Glover, DP was scheduled to record their next album at the hotel/casino. The night (or two) before they were to begin, however, the place caught fire, pretty much the way the lyrics say it did. They wound up recording the record that would become “Machine Head” in the (chilly) hallways of another hotel that was closed for the season. The booklet with the latest “Machine Head” reissue has the whole story.
It’s a long way to heaven, but only three short steps to hell.
It pretty much happened the way the song says it does. I just want to know what “some stupid with a flare gun” was thinking…
I always get a little nervous when I hear “Smoke on the Water” played over the PA system at the Fremont Casino. I cringe when I hear “they burned down the gambling house/it died with an awful sound…”
Such a conflagration could put me out of a job. I could find another one fairly easily, but not at a place that’s as much fun to work.
The trouble with Sir Launcelot is by the time he comes riding up, you’ve already married King Arthur.
Upon opening this thread, I had to put Machine Head into the CD player.
On a radio interview some time ago, two of Deep Purple’s band members recalled the concert fire: when Frank Zappa announced to the audience that there was a fire in the building, he said, in his unique Zappa voice, “Don’t panic.” He then ran immediately to the nearest exit.
“A lot of Christians wear crosses around their necks. You think when Jesus comes back, he ever wants to see a cross?” – Bill Hicks
I remember hearing someplace that Frank Zappa was NOT amused by this song, sorry though, no idea where that comes from