Lately I’ve been listening to an old high school favorite, Deep Purple’s Machine Head. The bluesy groove “Lazy” was always my favorite on the album, although I have found greater appreciation for “Highway Star,” “Space Truckin’,” and, for possibly the first time, “Smoke on the Water,” a ubiquitous #4 hit in 1973 in a shortened version. My perhaps grammar nazi beef was the line “Some stupid with a flare gun (/ Burned the place to the ground”). I couldn’t get past it. It’s so stupid itself, when, for example, the word “fool” would scan just as well and not feel so dumb. The good news is I’ve been able to set that aside and at last just let the heavy riff come to me—one of the best in classic-rock annals, so much so you may well be exhausted with it at this point. But, suddenly, I’m not. In the 5:42 that it lasts, the riff rolls through three times before wandering off in the somewhat protracted finish. The first appearance is the start of the song, of course, establishing it by basic elements—played twice on the electric guitar (Ritchie Blackmore), then drums come in (Ian Paice), then the bass revs up (Roger Glover), pushing it wide across the field of vision like someone flinging open double doors. Then the singer (Ian Gillan), the name-checking (“Frank Zappa and the Mothers”), and the terrible line. Now I’m staying with it. Jon Lord’s Hammond organ has joined the party. A verse or two, a chorus, and the riff returns, the band now fully engaged and moving like a freight train coming up to speed (the “official video” for once does little harm to the song, leaning into the down-the-road-in-a-heavy-machine vibe with cartoon animation). More verses, the chorus again, and back to the riff, taking on its own life. A guitar solo starts, not particularly inspired until ... return of the riff. The guitar suddenly finds its voice against the heavy momentum. At about 3:39 it turns into something glorious and sublime.
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