TIL The Deep Purple song Smoke on the Water is about an incident at a casino where Frank Zappa was playing a concert and a fan fired a flare gun which caused the casino to catch fire and burn down.
https://darrensmusicblog.com/2021/01/22/deep-purples-smoke-on-the-water-so-who-actually-was-the-stupid-with-a-flare-gun/
#til #todayilearned
https://www.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/comments/1gazia5/til_the_deep_purple_song_smoke_on_the_water_is/
https://darrensmusicblog.com/2021/01/22/deep-purples-smoke-on-the-water-so-who-actually-was-the-stupid-with-a-flare-gun/
#til #todayilearned
https://www.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/comments/1gazia5/til_the_deep_purple_song_smoke_on_the_water_is/
Deep Purple’s Smoke On The Water: so who actually was the “stupid with a flare gun”?
As most rock fans know, Deep Purple’s most famous song ‘Smoke On The Water’ was based on an actual real life event. In December 1971 the band were planning to record their forthco…Darren's music blog
johnpiers •
From memory Frank Zappa's version of the story (he was onstage at the time) was that it wasn't a flare gun, it was just something flammable that was thrown. Frank should know as he was there and Deep Purple were back in their hotel.
Zdenek Spicka was named as a possible suspect but he fled Switzerland shortly after, and as a consequence charges were never laid.