Roger Glover of Deep Purple Shares the True Story Behind the Fire That Inspired ‘Smoke on the Water’

In an animated episode of Great Big Story, the great bassist Roger Glover of Deep Purple shared the very true story behind their iconic song “Smoke on the Water“, noting that the lyrics revealed everything that happened that day.

We realized we were a song short so the band improvised and had an idea – Why don’t we write a song about what happened to us here in Montreux? The whole venture of trying to make a record and the place burning down.

Lori Dorn
Lori Dorn

Lori is a Laughing Squid Contributing Editor based in New York City who has been writing blog posts for over a decade. She also enjoys making jewelry, playing guitar, taking photos and mixing craft cocktails.