Some Stupid with a Flare Gun…

The second you hear the riff, you know you love the track. You get the air guitars out. No matter how bad you sound doing it, you sing it too. Ba-ba-baa-ba-ba-babaa, ba-ba-baa-ba-baaaaa…

So the inspiration behind Deep Purple’s “Smoke On The Water” is well-known – heck, the giveaway is in the song lyrics (and this blog title) – “some stupid with a flare gun burned the place to the ground”. It tells the story of Switzerland’s Montreux Casino being set on fire during a Frank Zappa gig, which took place on December 4th, 1971 – which makes it 44 years ago today.

The Casino has become famous for its Montreux Jazz Festival, started in 1967 by music promoter Claude Nobs. But on the day just four years later, he would become a hero – saving a number of young people who had hidden inside the actual casino itself, believing they would be sheltered from the flames. Of course that wasn’t the case, but thanks to Nobs, they would be OK.

Following a re-build, the casino was re-opened in 1975. During that time, the Jazz Festival was held in other auditoriums. Due to its success, it’s gone on to much bigger venues – however, it never forgets its origins as the odd show here-and-there is still held at the casino.

Ashley Redman
Still ba-ba-baa’ing…