The curious history of “Smoke On The Water” in the charts

“Smoke On The Water” of the Deep Purple is undoubtedly one of the hard rock anthems par excellence. The true story of his inspiration, born from the fire that destroyed the Montreux Casino while the band was recording in the city, is an essential element in the education of every young rock fan. But this legend sometimes overshadows the song’s singular history in the sales charts.

The song was written by the entire lineup of
Deep Purple
–
Ritchie Blackmore, Ian Gillan, Roger Glover, Jon Lord
And
Ian Paice
– and was released on the album
“Machine Head”
released in March 1972. In the United States only one song from the album remained for more than a year and, even more surprisingly, in Great Britain it was not released as a single for a good five years.

The only song by
“Machine Head”
released as a single in Great Britain was
“Never before”
. The choice was undoubtedly influenced by the fact that it was the shortest song on the album, lasting less than four minutes. It reached position number 35, but
“Smoke”
and other songs from the album that would later become cornerstones of the
Deep
Purple
how
“Highway Star”
And
“Space Truckin'”
were too long for radio programming.

As tensions within the band increased, contractual obligations dictated the recording of another album. This took the form of
“Who Do We Think We Are”
released in March 1973. At that point, the American label dei
Deep Purple
Warner, decided to release a single, not taken from that album, but containing live and studio versions of
“Smoke On The Water”
. By the time of the release of the next studio album, the song was already one of the most important songs of the band’s famous live album,
“Made in Japan”
(
read the review here
).

That single entered the US singles chart on May 26, 1973 at number 85, gaining support not only from rock radio, but also from pop programmers. Within five weeks, it entered the Top 20, climbing steadily up the charts until reaching number four in late July, becoming the band’s most successful single.
Deep Purple
.

In Great Britain
“Smoke On The Water”
it was released as a single only in March 1977. Subsequently, it became the main song of a 45 rpm single containing three tracks: in addition to

“Smoke On The Water”
Also
“Child in Time”
And
“Woman From Tokyo”.