Highway Star
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| "Highway Star" | ||
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| Song by Deep Purple | ||
| from the album Machine Head | ||
| Released | March 1972 | |
| Recorded | December 6 - 21, 1971 Mountain Studios Montreux, Switzerland |
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| Genre | Hard Rock | |
| Length | 6:08 | |
| Label | EMI (UK) Warner Bros. Records (US) |
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| Writer(s) | Ian Gillan Ritchie Blackmore Roger Glover Jon Lord Ian Paice |
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| Producer(s) | Deep Purple | |
| Machine Head track listing | ||
| "Highway Star" (1) |
"Maybe I'm A Leo" (2) |
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"Highway Star" is one of British rock group Deep Purple's most famous songs. It is characterised by a long classically-inspired guitar solo and organ solo. Highway Star is considered to be one of the earliest examples of speed metal. The guitar solo has been ranked 8th greatest rock guitar solo of all time. Jon Lord claimed that the organ solo is based on a Bach-like sequence.
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[edit] History
This song was born on a tour bus going to Portsmouth in 1971 when a reporter asked the band how they wrote songs. To demonstrate, guitarist Ritchie Blackmore grabbed an acoustic and began playing a riff consisting of a single "G" repeated over and over, while vocalist Ian Gillan improvised lyrics over the top. The song was refined and was performed that same night[1]. The song first appears on the 1972 LP Machine Head. The track remains one of the band's staple live performances, and was the set opener for many years. These days the song is usually an encore.
[edit] Covers
Being an early speed metal song, "Highway Star" is covered by numerous bands in the genre. Other bands (that do not fall under the "speed metal" description) have covered this song, as well.
- Faith No More has covered at least one verse of the song, which can be heard on the second disc of their greatest hits album Who Cares a Lot?.
- X-Cops, a GWAR side project, covered the song (with slightly different lyrics to better reflect the theme of the band and album) on their only album, You Have the Right to Remain Silent....
- Metal Church covered the song on their self-titled album.
- Australian classical guitar band Saffire perform an equally fast but acoustic cover of Highway Star on their 2004 CD Nostalgica.
[edit] Trivia
- A cover version of Highway Star is featured in one stage of the Nintendo DS title Elite Beat Agents, accompanying a pug on his cross-country quest home after he is accidentally hauled 400 miles away on a pickup truck.
- In The Simpsons episode Viva Ned Flanders, Homer Simpson sings a bastardized version of the song, replacing the word "car" with "Ned".
- An instrumental version of Highway Star is featured in Super Nintendo title Rock N' Roll Racing.
[edit] References
- ^ Roger Glover Interview at stevemorse.com
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