Deep Purple recorded “Smoke on the Water” after a fire destroyed the Montreux Casino during the 1971 Montreux Jazz Festival.
The fire began on December 4, 1971, during a Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention concert. A flare fired by an audience member struck the casino’s ceiling, igniting the building. Deep Purple were staying nearby and watched the smoke rise over Lake Geneva. The incident became the subject of the band’s 1972 song “Smoke on the Water.”
The group had planned to record at the casino using a mobile studio rented from the Rolling Stones, but the fire forced them to find another location. They eventually recorded the album Machine Head at the Grand Hotel in Montreux, using equipment arranged in the hotel corridors.
The song’s opening guitar riff became one of rock music’s most recognizable. The title refers directly to the smoke spreading across the lake, not to a fictional disaster. The festival itself continued in later years at other venues after the casino was destroyed.