I had a relative that played this song to death…but I didn’t mind. Machine Head is a great hard rock album.
The intro to this song is worth the price of admission. Jon Lord’s organ has a filthy dirty sound. The half-step riffs in the refrain were inspired by the theme music for the Batman TV program composed by Neal Hefti. Blackmore asked singer Ian Gillan if he could write any lyrics over the riff, and the rest of the song evolved from there.
Machine Head peaked at #1 in the UK, #1 in Canada, and #7 in the Billboard Album Charts in 1972. Ian Gillan, Ritchie Blackmore, Roger Glover, Jon Lord, and Ian Paice – are all credited as writers of this song.
This song actually got into space when the astronaut Kalpana Chawla took a copy of the Machine Head album with her on board the Space Shuttle Columbia, which sadly disintegrated before it could land back on Earth during its 2003 mission. Chawla got to know Deep Purple guitarist Steve Morse, which is why she brought the album with her. Morse wrote a song called “Contact Lost,” which appeared on the 2003 Deep Purple album Bananas in memory of Chawla and the others on board.
The album Machine Head was recorded in a hotel. The plan was to use the Montreux Casino in Switzerland as a studio to help capture their live sound, but the day after they got there, it burned down during a Frank Zappa concert. We all know that story told so well as told in Smoke On The Water.
They ended up recording this at the Grand Hotel and they used the Rolling Stones mobile unit that Zeppelin and a few others used at that time. That was a genius idea…you could have a studio in your house or an old castle somewhere if you wanted.
Ace Frehley covered this song in 2020.
Space Truckin
Well, we had a lot of luck on Venus
We always had a ball on Mars
We’re meeting all the groovy people
We’ve rocked the Milky Way so far
We danced around with Borealis
We’re space trucking ’round the the stars
Come on, come on, come on
Let’s go space truckin’
Come on, come on, come on
Space truckin’
Remember when we did the moonshot?
And pony trekker led the way
We’d move to the Canaveral moonstop
And every ‘naut would dance and sway
We got music in our solar system
We’re space truckin’ ’round the stars
Come on, come on, come on
Let’s go space truckin’
Come on, come on, come on
Space truckin’
The fireball that we rode was moving
But now we’ve got a new machine
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah the freaks said
Man those cats can really swing
They’ve got music in their solar system
They’ve rocked around the Milky Way
They dance around the Borealis
They’re space truckin’ everyday
Come on, come on, come on
Let’s go space truckin’
Come on, come on, come on
Space truckin’
Come on, come on, come on
Let’s go space truckin’
Come on, come on, come on
Space truckin’
Yeah, yeah, yeah, space truckin’
Yeah, yeah, yeah, space truckin’
Yeah, yeah, yeah, space truckin’
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Yeah, yeah, yeah, space truckin’
Yeah, yeah, yeah
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A great driving straight ahead rock track where each guy gets to flex there musical muscle and Gillian delivers a great vocal…. Good pick Sir Max A lot!
I like this also and most of their work through this period. He has one of those v1oices that work great with hard rock. Thanks Deke
Sir Max A Lot I love that nickname for you, Max. You da Max, Sir Max A Lot.
That works!
Oh, lord…Sir Max A Lot…LOL!
I’ve been called a lot worse!
😆
I liked the story about Kalpana Chawla bringing a copy of this with her on board the Space Shuttle Columbia.
I didn’t expect that at all when I was researching it.
I would have brought “Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun”, but then, I’m not an astronaut.
Good song. I had to look through their discography a bit, because I remember my brother playing a version that seemingly never ended – the song for anyone who thought ‘American Pie’ was far too edited and abbreviated – but I found that was a live version from ‘Made in Japan’. to me, Jon Lord’s keyboards were what made them a bit better than a lot of their competition in hard rock back then.
Yes…his keyboards made them different than others I agree. It pushed them over the top and the riffs that they came up with…like yea Smoke on the Water and My Woman from Tokyo
Yup. Another really good cover is Chickenfoots’
Thanks CB…I’ll check that out. I like them a lot…
Don’t know much DP but the boys were really rocking out on that live clip!
Machine Head is an iconic hard rock album. Used to have it but another one lost along the way. I do have Space Truckin’ favorited and in my spotify playlist and love it every time it comes on. This blows me away: “The album Machine Head was recorded in a hotel.” The whole story around it is so danged cool, what else could the album be but far out and kick ass. I love Ian Gillan’s voice and he rocked out Jesus Christ Superstar as well. Great choice to cover on this beautiful Thursday afternoon.
His voice is great…and my favorite member by far was Jon Lords Keyboards. It is my favorite album by them…yea it’s a classic.
p.s. favorited in Spotify after Christian brought it back to me in one of his The Sunday Six playlists. Thanks, Christian!
I remember that one…I wanted to do My Woman From Tokyo but I already did back a long time ago.
Brilliant album / brilliant track. Totally agree on the organ piece. It instantly announces itself as a Seventies classic. 🙂
The whole live version is relentless in the instrumental break, but in a good way.
Well, I learned something new. I had no idea that The Mothers of Invention burned down a casino. Now, I have context for Smoke On The Water.
No they didn’t burn it down….but they were there when it burned down….some dude started the fire…I forgot how
OH. OK. I was thinking “Bad Zappa!” LOL!
lol no… but Deep Purple did get a great song out of it
Really!
Smoke on the Water tells the story of it burning down
Yeah. I said, above, that I finally have some context on the song. Learn something new, everyday. 🥰
Sorry… we are on our way back from Atlanta and I hate checking by a phone… you are used to it more than I am
Unfortunately…yes.
I must say…after listening to the above, I really like Frehley’s take…of course, I like Frehley.
Yea he does have a good version of it.
Great pick. I love that tune and the album, which is my favorite album by Deep Purple and my favorite hard rock record. I got it on vinyl in the late ‘70s and still own that copy.
What I always found cool about Deep Purple is that the organ got “equal treatment” to the guitar as a lead instrument. Jon Lord was a beast of a keyboarder.
To me Jon Lord separated them from other hard rock bands…I really like this era of them
I love you threw the Ace cover on there. Not as good, but its Ace, what’s not to love!!
To me…Ace was KISS’s Keith Richards…
Good point…