THE LEGENDARY Riff | Deep Purple - Smoke On The Water LIVE | Reaction 

That "3/4...3/2 riff" is the most iconic riff ever recorded. It has been sampled so many times that you can't even count up the number of times. And it has become so associated with "Rock and Roll" in general and "guitars" specifically, that almost EVERY "new student" of the guitar learns it as one of their first "exercises" to master.

You need to listen to the "Made In Japan" LIVE version of Smoke On The Water with a killer Ritchie Blackmore Guitar Solo....

Ritchie Blackmore is a beast on the guitar. Make sure to check out his own band that he started after he left Deep Purple, called Rainbow. Ronnie James Dio was the vocalist for the first 3 albums, all of them classics. The song "Stargazer" is a good starting point with this band.

Beyond Jimi Hendrix and Cream, Deep Purple were the blueprint and the cornerstone of the foundation of Heavy Metal, and Jon Lord on keys, he was beast and looked exactly like a dude named Jon Lord with that killer 'stache

Please react to Deep Purple LAZY live 1972. This song is perfection with mind-blowing performances by every member of the band.

Jon is a beast, infact every member thats ever been in this legendary band is awesome. The new Guitarist (Simon McBride) is incredible and to my mind reminds me of Gary Moore.

The record label was absolutely right on the Smoke On The Water single release, it's a classic hit of the highest order.

60's music had ALOT of organ/keyboard sounds in it, that ran over into the 70's. Lol. Steppenwolf is one I think of, off the top of my head! But there are more. I still hear this song being played on the radio now, decades later. It will never die. Thank goodness. Lol. Thank you so much for this one.❤

Interesting note: Deep Purple had no rhythm guitar player so Jon Lord played his keyboard through a couple Marshal amps to get that chunky rock chord sound.

This song is edited Ritchie’s solo and the ending verse is cut to fit into a 30 minute rock show called in concert on abc in 1973..deep purple did a whole show at Hofstra University in New York and there are 2 more songs to this show - strange kind of woman and space Truckin.

The thing was that Smoke On The Water was just a soundcheck they did and was not meant for anything more. Then when they were about to rap it up, Martin Birch said that they were 7 minutes short of an album. So they remembered the soundcheck and Gillan and Glover wrote the lyrics.

There were organs and "pre-synthezizers" at this time. Except for Jon Lord of Deep Purple, you could check Keith Emerson of Nice and later ELP, Brian Eno of Roxy Music (and later other cooperations), Rick Wakeman of Yes, Tony Banks of Genesis, Rick van den Linden of Ekseption on organ, Edgar Winter on any instrument, like Derek Shulman of Gentle Giant. From the text: Frank Zappa and the Mothers lost all equipment in the fire. A few days later Frank Zappa was pushed and fell in a concrete pit and almost died. Mothers of Invention was disolved and Frank spent 9 months in a wheelchair, composing. One result was "Blessed relief", maybe the most reliefing song of his 100+ albums. In the new Mothers of Invention George Duke plays keybord. Check him up!!!

Back then, keyboards were part of the psychedelic rock genre very early in metal. Later the keyboard was replaced by more advanced lead guitars. Check out groups like Procol Harem, the Animals, Moody Blues, Genesis, and later Van Halen (Eddie was concert pianist before picking up a guitar), and Journey’s Jonathan Cain and Bon Jovi’s David Bryan. The guitar became a solo instrument because it has a harder sound. Record companies. In early days record companies ruled. They hired songwriters, studio musicians and singers. During this time the record executives controlled everything and made the most money. When the rock band developed into the norm, they realized this. So early artists like Linda Rhonstad, the Eagles, the Beatles, Jackson Browne etc., started writing, searched for only the best musicians and vocalists for the “sound” each band wanted to project. The bands had creative control, the studios had the connections. They had the relationships with radio executives who had to play the songs on the radio so we heard it. No RU-vid. We only had radio and records. Record company did not want to release Bohemian Rhapsody because it was too long. Radio would not play it. Imagine rock without that masterpiece Freddie fought for. Release of each record was followed by a concert tour. Record companies provided set, production staff and elaborate concert arenas with pyrotechnics and lasers etc. It then became criticized as “corporate rock”. Instead of taking the artists cash, they took cash from the arenas and stadiums. Now with RU-vid, records are a novelty so artists again lost an income stream. Ten years ago I paid $120 for a front row ticket to see Aerosmith. Waiting in line etc. The best experience ever. A week ago when they announced their final tour, I checked out prices in our local arena. That same seat was $12K. Nose bleed seats just under $500. So now Ticketmaster and the arenas are robbing us blind instead of all the other levels that bring live music to the fans. We have paid a heavy price for RU-vid.

One of the things to remember, Hard-Rock songs were not "hits" in the late 60's/early 70's. It took these bands touring, and producing great songs to finally kick the door in on FM Radio. Led Zep hit around the time heavy rock was just taking off. Earlier it was a tough sell. Audiences used to walk out on Hendrix's long guitar solos,,, Jimi was constantly apologizing for his "jamming". By the time SRV came along, audiences were paying to see guitar solos. A totally different time.

MMB, Great to hear some more Deep Purple. One of the GREATEST rock bands of all time. This was their biggest "hit" song for radio play. In 1970, FM radio was terrified of heavy/experimental songs like "Child In Time", many listeners would have run out of the room, (and not in a good way). Even in the later 70's, it was rare to hear "Child in Time" on the radio. These guys played for themselves, for other musicians, and for their Fans. Like the early days of Rap, no easy path to success.

Such a iconic piece of 70s music-thanks for taking a listen! How about taking a listen to the man Deep Purple wanted to replace Ritchie Blackmore when he left: the legendary blues rock guitarist Rory Gallagher? Not only did they want him, so did Canned Heat and the Rolling Stones. However, Rory chose to follow his own path. Since you're delving into live videos, take a look at Rory with "Calling Card" at the Hammersmith Odeon 1977, "Do You Read Me?" from Rock Goes to College 1979 or "I Wonder Who" from 1984 Belfast for a sample of his hot guitar and charismatic stage presence. Or his cover of the Chuck Berry song "Nadine" from Loreley 1982. All are great examples of why Rory is still admired by top musicians such as Brian May, Slash, Johnny Marr, the Edge and the list goes on. Please check him out!

Saw them backstage in Mpls 40-ish years ago. Sat on the speaker boxes stage left. Awesome time. God Bless!!

The speaker was Jon Lord, RIP! They performed their best stuff live...no other band compares then or now!

R.I .P JOHN LORD !

Deep Purple weren't the only artists that got it wrong... Too many artists never saw the value in what they were creating in the studio. 'Smoke on the water' was written and recorded very quickly in Montreux after the casino fire... The band went to the casino owner Claude Nobs and told him about the track but said they probably wouldn't release it cos it sounded so silly... Nobs heard 'Smoke on the water' and told the band, "No, this is going on the album!" Purple had also recorded a song called 'When a blind man cries'... but Ritchie Blackmore hated it, and it was omitted from the 'Machine head' album... Years later, 'Machine head' was remastered and "When a blind man cries" was added to the album... and it's a fan fave! I think 'Never before' was a simpler track w/ a groove, and Deep Purple thought that audiences would find that easier to digest... but the record company Warner Bros. (who had signed Black Sabbath) in 1972 said, "We can't sell this... we can sell 'Smoke on the water'..." probably because they knew what was trending at the time. Then again, Warner Bros. was not keen on these dark, heavy bands... but they sold millions of copies. Alice Cooper was a band that got on their roster in 1970, and people thought that they were trash... but when they heard the single 'Eighteen'... they flipped out! "This is gonna be huge!"... and they were right... In 1971, Alice Cooper got their first platinum record 'Love it to death'... because 'Eighteen' became a huge single. Many artists never knew that this particular song would become a hit... Nirvana didn't think much of 'Smells like teen spirit' when they recorded it... but when it was mixed, they were impressed. When guitarist Noel Gallagher of Oasis wrote the song 'Wonderwall' in 1995... his brother Liam Gallagher (lead vocals) hated it and refused to sing it! After a bit of fighting, he finally got Liam to sing 'Wonderwall' in the studio... and it became a massive hit that year. Liam sings it today as a solo artist, but still doesn't care for 'Wonderwall'... but it is THE song for Oasis fans. When Metallica was writing an album in 1990/ '91, Lars Ulrich (drums) said 'Enter Sandman' was the hit... but the other 3 said it was 'Holier than thou'... as it turned out, Lars was right. But record companies have also gotten things wrong (a lot!)... Rush's album '2112' in 1976 was not a hit because their label thought it was a masterpiece... they didn't get it. Guns N' Roses' first album 'Appetite for destruction'... Poison's first album 'Look what the cat dragged in'... Quiet Riot's 'Metal health'... Record companies didn't think any of those records would sell, but they all sold multi-platinum!

Ian Gillan on vocals is amazing. He did the original soundtrack for "Jesus Christ Superstar". Check out the song Gesthesame. Love listening to you.

THE BACKGROUND STORY ON THIS SONG IS VERY INTERESTING .. GOOD CALL!

Deep Purple *Burn (Remastered 2004)* Studio Album Version 1974 *(6min04seg)*

MMB, I love that you do stuff from the 80's, 90's, 2000's, it's expanding my knowledge too. But there is something about the late 60's and early-70's music. Bands were experimenting in the late-60's like thier lives depended on it. Taking chances, and feeding off what other bands were doing. The raw instramentals on "Ball and Chain" were not "popular" music, it was blood & guts Blues to match Janis' raw vocals. Eventually all this became "popular", but it was dangerous music in 1967.

Your reasoning about labels is absolutely fair. I like Never Before - it's quite subtle, well-developed and melodic, also with a good riff, but not as catchy, but which song has a more catchy riff? By the way, when Ritchie recalled the first meeting with Gillan, he, among other things, said that in addition to his voice, he liked the fact that Ian looked like Jim Morrison. 😊 As for Jon Lord, there were a lot of great bands at the time that used keyboards as their lead solo instrument, like Uriah Heep with Ken Hensley or ELP with the great Keith Emerson, and Yes with the equally great Rick Wakeman, but they were all more prog-rock bands, and Deep Purple, although it has not lost the diversity and innovative look of progressives, they have reduced their snobbery a little, added swagger, energy and aggression of rock and roll, diluted with humor and positive and created the perfect formula for hard rock. Cheers.

My dad always plays this song to test new speakers 👍🏻

"Legendary RIFF" The Grand Canyon is a legendary rift.

Show out for sure! That’s Rock and Roll, brother!

Interviewee was Jon Lord.

I’m glad you enjoy this music. It really shows. You should do some Emerson, Lake and Palmer if you like keyboard playing. But Jon definitely has some soul in his playing. Wonder where he learned that? Please try ‘Pictures of Home’ by DP. Not a hit song, but a good deep track that you look forward to hearing after you’ve heard the hits enough times. Ever band member gets featured in the song.

I can see Never Before being seen as more "radio friendly." More in line with other hits. But that's precisely why Smoke On the Water broke out. It was more distinctively "aggressive."

Thanks for showing this interview! Never saw it before. This iconic group is fire!

Because it’s the most unique riff in the history of rock ‘n’ roll

The Machine Head album sold 35 million copies. More than all there other albums combined…

This was the first song my son learned to play on guitar. I have a recording of him at 12 playing this really well with my husband ( who passed last year suddenly) on the drums.

i can walk into any guitar store in the country, and hang out for an hour or two, and hear some young kid coming in to try out his first guitar, and what is the first thing he tries to play, but Smoke on the Water... it's a simple but powerful riff, and i'm betting that that's the first rock riff 99% of guitar players today learned first.

Great song. Recommendation: Ronny James Dio-almost anything he did but I’d say “Rainbow in the Dark” to start you off with a blast.

Good observation! He does look like Jim Morrison! You're so young to know all these great musicians!!!!

Everybody's daddy mothers 5th cousins aunt and uncle knows this as John Lord basically said...Never Before is a cool groove song, but John probably ,the band, thought Smoke ON the Water was too controversial for a hit single .... They do have a song BURN from the Mark 3 era . Check it out ..

Never before, is a catchy more commercial poppier song and was written with the intention of being a single release. Smoke on the water I suppose they thought was a more personal song , written and recorded in a hurry and meant as a deeper album cut with little potential as a single. The band also recorded a bluesy ballad during the Machine head album sessions called When a blind man cries, which was rejected for inclusion on the album by Blackmore who wasn’t keen on it but wound up on the B side of Never before, ironically fans of the band love it and it finally made the track listing when the album was re released for its 25th anniversary.

The comedian Craig Ferguson has a funny story about trying to find drugs to hear them in Glasgow Scotland. I think it was his first concert at about 13-14.

That's funny you saying Gillan looks like Jim Morrison, cause Blackmore wanted a Jim Morrison front man. With his looks and presence. They found Gillan and fired their first singer. Gillan and the bass player Roger Glover was a package deal. Peace

This is a heavily edited version. There is no guitar solo, verses are missing. Check out the Made in Japan version. IMO, the definitive version of Smoke.

His hair is making him look a lot like Jim Morrison there.

try space truckin from made in japan double album if you REALLY want to see Jon show out deep purple meets bethoven 86

Another Iconic rock song. Thanks. If you want another rock band who uses keyboards a lot, try Styx. Especially Come Sail Away. The album version, not the single.

The problem with this concert is that is what a short concert and probably therefore they just did two verses on Smoke, so you don't get the whole story.

Based on a true story

Unfortunately this version doesn’t contain the last verse.

Machine Head is a top 10 favorite album for me. Check out Space Truckin'

No mention of them making the record in the rolling stones studio? Did they miss some lyrics

I don't know if anyone posted on any any of your vids, but if you want another great keyboards band, check out Uriah Heep. Start with "Look At Yourself".

btw, it's a 'riff', not a 'rift' (rift is a disagreement). Cheers

Just so you know, its riff, not rift.

Doors is another band with major keyboard emphasis.

Sorry, "Gethsemane

That was Jon Lord. To bad this the edited this version taking out the guitar solo and the third verse. Never before was more radio friendly but not a better song. There’s a difference.

It's "riff." Just saying.... Nice reaction.