Deep Purple “Smoke on the Water” charted

Smoke on the Water Deep Purple

Writer(s): Ritchie Blackmore, Ian Gillan, Roger Glover, Jon Lord, Ian Paice (see lyrics here) First Charted: May 26, 1973 Peak: 4 US, 3 CB, 11 GR, 2 HR, 1 CL, 21 UK, 2 CN, 54 AU, 1 DF (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): 1.0 US, 0.4 UK Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 221.23 video, 520.78 streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: Ritchie Blackmore’s opening guitar riff may be “the most famous in rock history.” TB Total Guitar magazine ranked it the fourth greatest guitar riff ever. WK Keyboardist Jon Lord said the song’s working title was “‘Durh Durh Durh’ – a transliteration of the riff.” RS500 It has become “the classic air guitar song,” TC “painstakingly imitated by budding guitar players of many future generations, and also patiently taught to the younger set by Jack Black in the movie School of Rock.” UCR Jeff Tweedy of Wilco said, “This riff is absolutely the first thing I ever played on guitar, back when I was seven or eight years old.” JT He said “this riff is so dunderheaded and massive it blots out the sun” JT but “I cannot deny its importance to me, and countless others, as a budding musician.” JT “By the time I was a full-blown teenager, this bong-bruised, coughed-up lung of a song had evolved…to signify a distinct type of danger to a sensitive boy like myself.” JT The song came about in 1971 during Deep Purple’s visit to Montreux, Switzerland – home of the famed Montreux Jazz Festival. Ian Paice, the band’s drummer, said, “We were fed up with traditional recording studios…We had played the Casino earlier that year, and the space was ideal” MM for recording their sixth album, Machine Head. The band went to see Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention at the Casino and a concert-goer shot off a flare gun during the show. The place caught fire and destroyed the venue. Lead singer Ian Gillan said the band went to a restaurant nearby and watched the Casino burn. MM Bassist Roger Glover came up with the title “Smoke on the Water” to describe what he called “probably the biggest fire I’d ever seen…in my life.” WK The lyrics, written by Gilland and Glover in about twenty minutes, MM offered up a scene-by-scene account of the debacle. UCR With their recording studio gone, Paice explained that they adjusted to new digs at Le Pavillion, a grand theater nearby that was closed for the winter. The band had already rented the Rolling Stones mobile studio and parked it outside, set up their gear inside, MM and converted hallways and stairwells into a makeshift studio. WK The band were were rushed to finish and wrote much of the material on the spot. However, “Smoke on the Water” serves as “evidence that perhaps sponaeity was a very good thing.” UCR The Machine Head album was released in March 1972 and supported by the release of the singles “Highway Star” and “Never Before.” Glover thought the latter would be the album’s big hit; DT in fact, none of the band anticipated “Smoke on the Water” being a hit. TB It wasn’t until more than a year later it was released as a single and went top 5 in the U.S. and Canada. WK With Gillan’s “banshee range” TC and Lord’s “pretensions towards classical music” TC they became a foundational band in the shaping of heavy metal. Resources: DMDB encyclopedia entry for Deep Purple TC Toby Creswell (2005). 1001 Songs: The Great Songs of All Time. Thunder’s Mouth Press: New York, NY. Pages 650-1. MM Marc Myers (12/6/2022). Anatomy of 55 More Songs. Grove Press: New York, NY. Pages 151-6. RS500 Rolling Stone (2004). “The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time“ DT Dave Thompson (2011). 1000 Songs That Rock Your World. Krause Publications: Iola, WI. Page 164. TB Thunder Bay Press (2006). Singles: Six Decades of Hot Hits & Classic Cuts. Outline Press Ltd.: San Diego, CA. Pages 144-5. JT Jeff Tweedy (11/7/2023). World Within a Song. Dutton/Penguin Random House. Pages 1-3. UCR UltimateClassicRock.com (6/20/2013). “Top 100 Classic Rock Songs” WK Wikipedia Last updated 4/29/2024.

Stevie Wonder hit #1 with “You Are the Sunshine of My Life”

You Are the Sunshine of My Life Stevie Wonder

Writer(s): Stevie Wonder (see lyrics here) First Charted: March 16, 1973 Peak: 1 US, 1 CB, 2 GR, 1 HR, 1 AC, 3 RB, 8 CL, 7 UK, 5 CN (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 27.14 video, -- streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: This song followed “Superstition,” the lead single from 1972’s Talking Book, to the top of the Billboard Hot 100 – ten years after Wonder’s first run to the top with 1963’s “Fingertips (Part 2).” It received nominations for Grammys for Record and Song of the Year and won for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance. In accepting the award, Wonder said, “I would like to thank all of you for making this night the sunshine of my life.” FB It is “a disarmingly simple love song,” JB “but of course, it’s only the composition that’s simple.” JB Its “candy-coated pop” TL could make it feel “nauseating or naively charming, or even nausteatingly charming.” SL-85 It is probably why it is also “one of the most covered (and ‘lounged’) songs ever.” SL-84 The song also showcased “a rare generosity in someone of Stevie’s star status” SL-84 in that the song’s first few vocal lines are given to Jim Gilstrap and Gloria Barley (although some accounts say it is Lani Groves). All three were backup singers for Wonder. WK The song was actually recorded during the making of Music of My Mind, Wonder’s previous album, but held back because it was “deemed unsuitiable for the mood of that album.” SL-84 There was also speculation that the song was held off for awhile since Wonder had entered into a relationship with Barley although still married to Syreeta Wright, SL-85 who’d been the inspiration for the song. FB Wright was a secretary and aspiring singer at Motown Records who married Wonder in 1970. According to some sources, the pair divorced in 1972, but Wright claimed they were married until 1975. SF Resources: DMDB encyclopedia entry for Stevie Wonder FB Fred Bronson (2003). The Billboard Book of Number One Hits (5th edition). Billboard Books: New York, NY. Page 333. JB John Bush, All Music Guide SL Steve Lodder (2005). Stevie Wonder: A Musical Guide to the Classic Albums. Backbeat Books: San Francisco, CA. SF Songfacts TL Josh Tyrangiel and Alan Light (11/13/2006). Time Magazine “All-TIME 100 Albums” WK Wikipedia Related Links: First posted 11/7/2020; last updated 12/26/2022.

Pink Floyd “Money” released

Money Pink Floyd

Writer(s): Roger Waters (see lyrics here) Released: May 7, 1973 First Charted: May 12, 1973 Peak: 13 US, 10 CB, 10 HR, 1 CL, 37 AR, 18 CN, 10 AU, 1 DF (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): -- US, 0.4 UK Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 67.5 video, 368.27 streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: Since their formation in 1965, Pink Floyd had seen consistent success in their native UK with all eight of their albums reaching the top 10. However, their highest peak in the United States was #46 for 1972’s Obscured by Clouds. They’d fared even worse on the singles front. Out of ten singles, none had reached the Billboard Hot 100. 1973’s Dark Side of the Moon changed Pink Floyd’s fortunes for good. The album got to #1 in the United States, spent more weeks on the Billboard album chart than any other in history (18+ years and counting), and has become one of the world’s best-selling albums of all time. The album gave Pink Floyd its first taste of success on the singles front in the United States with the #13 peak of “Money.” It was not released as a single in the UK. The song is sometimes misinterpreted as “a tribute to money” but “a supremely weary Roger Waters lyric lets you know what he thinks about the dash for cash” DT and it’s “about the bad things money can bring.” SF Musically, the song is unusual for its use of a 7/8 time signature. The song has also become well known for its use of studio effects such as the cash register ring, jingling of coins, and sounds of tearing paper. The demo for the song, including some of the sound effects, were recorded in Roger Waters’ makeshift recording studio in his garden shed. WK The song was re-recorded in 1981 for the compilation A Collection of Great Dance Songs because Capitol Records wouldn’t license the track to Columbia Records in the United States. In 2003 the song was covered for the movie The Italian Job by the supergroup Velvet Revolver, which consisted of members of Guns N’ Roses along with former Stone Temple Pilots’ frontman Scott Weiland. Resources: DMDB encyclopedia entry for Pink Floyd SF Songfacts DT Dave Thompson (2011). 1000 Songs That Rock Your World. Krause Publications: Iola, WI. Page 24. WK Wikipedia Related Links: First posted 8/4/2022; last updated 3/30/2023.