10 Hard Rock Songs Added At The Last Minute
5. Smoke on the Water - Deep Purple
Everything seemed to be going according to plan when Deep Purple started developments for their album Machine Head. Wanting to leave the dry space of the studio, the band were ready to start recording their new material live at the Casino in Montreux, Switzerland. Given how rock and roll goes though, things weren't going to stay this easy for long.
Shortly after the last show by Frank Zappa, the Casino caught fire after one of the concert attendants lit a flare gun during the show. Unable to work, the band made a makeshift studio in the Grand Hotel using the Rolling Stones' mobile studio. Though the band already had tracks like "Highway Star" and "Pictures of Home" ready to go, Ritchie Blackmore came up with the central riff of "Smoke on the Water" during the sessions.
Knowing the potential of the song, the band quickly began fleshing it out until it became an album track, with lyrics that told the story of the band's wild escapade from their original Casino idea. Even when recording the track, the band were almost shut down by the Swiss police for noise complaints, but managed to get the song finished just before they intervened. Though the song holds up as a classic, it's almost a shame that it was recorded at all. If the police managed to stop Purple from playing, many Guitar Center employees around the world may have been spared their sanity.