1683 Guitarists play Smoke on the water at once.

[Joe Fields]

A new world record was set in Kansas City this last weekend, when almost 1700 guitarists gathered at Community America Ballpark near Kansas City to rock out on Smoke on the Water. They are now in the Guinness Book of World Records.

http://www.kyys.com/

[AggieGal]

1. A lot of pickin going on

Sounded OK for that many at once.

[evlbstrd]

2. That's very cool.

A colossal waste of time but goofy enough to be cool. And right here in my Major Metropolitan Area(TM).

[Joe Fields]

3. Yup, if I played the guitar, I would have been there...

[evlbstrd]

5. Smoke on the Water?

Hell, even I can play those chords.

[Joe Fields]

6. I'm a southpaw.

[evlbstrd]

7. So's McCartney.

[Joe Fields]

10. Yeah, but he has talent. I couldn't play a broom.

[evlbstrd]

15. How about a tennis racket?

[Joe Fields]

16. Tried one once. couldnt figure out how to tune it.

[evlbstrd]

22. Ack.

Bummer.

[mitchum]

26. Tune it to open E , Joe...

E B E G# B E
then all you have to do is lay your forefinger across the neck

Standard tuning is for suckers! :)

[Bassic]

27. Neither could McCartney

But he learned.

[mainegreen]

4. How did they get them here? Time machine? I imagine it sounded silly on the lute.

Oh, wait.

[Gen. Jack D. Ripper]

8. Making it now-officially-the most over-played song in the history of the Universe n/t

[Joe Fields]

11. Face it. You're not going to get 1683 guitarists to play Voodoo Chile...

slight return...

[lost-in-nj]

9. This song

is supposed to be about a bar not to far away from me in
Greenwood Lake, NJ. It was a famous bar that burnt to the ground....
Up until about 5 years ago you could still see the skeleton of the building...

I don't like the song but its nice to know the history...

I THINK the bar was called Mothers...
They TRIED to open another one in my town but NOPE
it didn't work....


lost

[Oeditpus Rex]

12. It happened in Montreaux, Switzerland

The lyrics of the song tell a true story: on December 4, 1971, Deep Purple had set up camp in Montreux, Switzerland to record an album using a mobile recording studio (rented from the Rolling Stones and known as the Rolling Stones Mobile Studio - referred to as the "Rolling truck Stones thing" in the song lyric) at the entertainment complex that was part of the Montreux Casino (referred to as "the gambling house" in the song lyric). On the eve of the recording session a concert featuring Frank Zappa and The Mothers of Invention was held in the casino's theatre; during the concert a fire broke out (caused by someone in the audience shooting a flare gun at the ceiling <1>, as mentioned in the "some stupid with a flare gun" line) that eventually destroyed the entire casino complex, along with all the Mothers' equipment. The "smoke on the water" that became the title of the song (credited to bass player Roger Glover, who related how the title occurred to him when he suddenly woke from a dream a few days later) referred to the smoke from the fire spreading over Lake Geneva from the burning casino as the members of Deep Purple watched the fire from their hotel across the lake. The "Funky Claude" running in and out is referring to Claude Nobs, the director of the Montreux Jazz Festival who helped some of the audience to escape the fire.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smoke_on_the_Water

[Kajsa]

18. GMTA, Rex.

:hi:

[Oeditpus Rex]

24. Heh

I was hurryin' to post that because I know a lotta folks know about it. :hi:

[Kajsa]

14. Actually, it's a true story

of the casino fire in Montreux, Switzerland,
situated on Lake Geneva.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smoke_on_the_Water#History

I worked for an American family in Zurich, Switzerland,
May, 1972.
Their kids were all Deep Purple fans and played that song
over and over and over.

I still like it, though.

[Blue-Jay]

13. That's a lot of suck in one place.

[Joe Fields]

17. Yeah, but it's kinda cool. People came from all over the country for it.

[Blue-Jay]

19. They should've played Freebird.

[Joe Fields]

20. 1683 talented axe grinders playing freebird would have been awesome!

[Blue-Jay]

21. .

:cry:

[ghostsofgiants]

25. Only if it ends like this...

(Note: If you've never seen The Devil's Rejects and don't like spoilers, don't bother watching.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tfhPxv4fKEE

[datasuspect]

28. yes, you are right, this was a squandered opportunity

[Kat45]

23. They tried to go for that record in Boston once, but not enough guitarists showed up.