Definitive Riff Driven To Eternity

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In case you’ve been so busy practicing your guitar that you missed this story:

More than 1,680 guitar players turned out, tuned up and took part in what organizers say was a world record rendition of Deep Purple’s “Smoke on the Water” — a song that was the first many of them ever learned.
Some came from as far away as California and Germany on Sunday to take part in a Kansas City radio station’s effort to break a Guinness world record for the most eople playing the same song simultaneously. The record had been 1,323 people playing the same song in Vancouver, British Columbia, in 1994.
“It was cool to see little kids playing, people who had been playing for their whole lives, like older people, and then I’m sure there were people like me who just picked up the song a couple days before,” said Autumn McPherson, of Winfield, a senior at the University of Kansas.

1,683 Guitarists Play ‘Smoke On Water’

And if you wonder where this song came from:

This is about a fire in the Casino at Montreux, Switzerland. The band was going to record Machine Head there right after a Frank Zappa concert, but someone fired a flare gun at the ceiling which set the place on fire. The band was relocated to another hotel and recorded the album in the Rolling Stones mobile studio.
Frank Zappa, who is mentioned in the lyrics, lost all his equipment in the fire. He then broke his leg a few days later when a fan pulled him into the crowd at a show in England. This prompted Ian Gillan to say “Break a leg, Frank,” into the microphone after recording this for a BBC special in 1972.
Roger Glover came up with the image of smoke on the water. He thought it was a great title, but was reluctant to use it because it sounded like a drug song.
The water is Lake Geneva, which the casino overlooked.
The band did not think this would be a hit and rarely played it live. It took off when they released it as a US single over a year after the album came out.

Song Facts

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