10 Rock Music Songs That Have Been Played The Most Live
4. Smoke On The Water (2,143 Times)
Deep Purple have played their signature song, Smoke on the Water, 2,143 times in concert, which is about the same number of times anyone working in a guitar store can expect to hear people mangling its riff on a daily basis.
Taken from the eardrum-busting group's 1972 album Machine Head, Smoke on the Water chronicles the real life fire at the Montreux Casino in 1971.
During a concert by The Mothers of Invention - Frank Zappa's band - a fan set off a flare gun inside the venue, which set the place ablaze. As the casino is located by the side of Lake Geneva, you can see where the name of the song came from.
The track is by far and away the one most people think of when they think of Deep Purple. It might not be the most musically impressive or complex tune of all time, but people still go absolutely nuts for it.
The band, in their many different incarnations, basically have no choice but to play this thing in concert. Maybe that's why so many people have come and gone from Deep Purple over the years - they're sick of hearing it.