All 1972 Songs

Deep Purple

In December 1971, Deep Purple traveled to Montreux, Switzerland, to record their next album using the Rolling Stones’ mobile recording studio. Their plan was to capture the energy of a live performance by setting up in Montreux’s casino, a venue on the shores of Lake Geneva that doubled as a concert hall. The day before their recording was set to begin, Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention played the final show of the season at the casino. Midway through the concert, a fan in the audience fired a flare gun into the wooden ceiling. In an instant, flames spread, panic erupted, and the entire building was engulfed. Deep Purple, watching from their hotel across the lake, saw a massive column of smoke rolling over the water. The band relocated to the nearly empty Montreux Grand Hotel to finish their recording. As they worked, bassist Roger Glover woke from a dream with the phrase “Smoke on the Water” in his head - the perfect title for a song about the fire. Guitarist Ritchie Blackmore came up with the now-iconic riff: a simple, four-note blues scale motif that became one of the most recognizable in rock history. Lyrically, “Smoke on the Water” is almost journalistic, telling the true story of the fire, the chaos of the night, and the band’s scramble to find a new recording space. “We all came out to Montreux, on the Lake Geneva shoreline…” is exactly what happened, and “Funky Claude” refers to Claude Nobs, the Montreux Jazz Festival founder who helped rescue concertgoers during the blaze. Released in 1972 on the album “Machine Head”, the song wasn’t initially a single, but when it was released the following year, it climbed the charts worldwide. Over time, it became Deep Purple’s signature song, a staple of rock radio, and a rite of passage for beginner guitarists learning their first riffs. What began as an unexpected disaster became one of rock’s most enduring anthems – a reminder that sometimes, history’s most unforgettable songs are written almost by accident, out of chaos and chance.

Top songs of 1972 by vote