Highway Star

Deep Purple, 1972. Solo by Ritchie Blackmore.

Blackmore wrote this one out in advance, Bach-style arpeggios and all. It is a template for neoclassical rock a decade before the term existed.

Blackmore rarely composed his solos in advance, but this one he wrote out note for note about a week before the session, wanting it to sound like a fast car. The core is a run of rigid, rapid arpeggios over a Dm, Gm, C and A sequence he described as a familiar Bach progression, which gives the solo its baroque flavour. Jon Lord's organ solo earlier in the song works in a similar harmonic-minor vein, so the two feel like companion pieces. This fusion of classical harmony with hard rock drive became the foundation that neoclassical players would build on in the 1980s. Listen for the arpeggio section, where the guitar stops sounding like blues and starts sounding like a harpsichord at full volume.

Highway Star by Deep Purple is ranked #10 in our consensus of 79 guitar-solo lists. The solo is played by Ritchie Blackmore and the song was released in 1972. It appears on 41 lists, placing as high as #1 (Nomad Diary).

The story of Highway Star

The song was born on a tour bus in 1971. On the way to a show at Portsmouth Guildhall, a journalist asked how Deep Purple wrote their music. By way of an answer, Ritchie Blackmore grabbed an acoustic guitar and hammered out a riff on a single repeated G note, while Ian Gillan made up lyrics on the spot about a car, a girl and speed. The band worked it up quickly and, according to Songfacts, played it at the Guildhall that same night.

The track was recorded in December 1971 in Montreux, Switzerland, for the album Machine Head. The plan had been to use the Montreux Casino, but it burned down during a Frank Zappa concert on 3 December, the event later immortalised in 'Smoke on the Water'. After police shut down a brief stint at a local theatre over noise, the band set up in the closed Grand Hotel, with the Rolling Stones' mobile studio parked outside and engineer Martin Birch at the controls.

Conditions were improvised: cables snaked through corridors, and musicians had to walk through bedrooms and across balconies to reach the mobile truck to listen back. The band responded by simply playing until they were happy rather than constantly checking playbacks, which Blackmore felt helped capture spontaneity. All five members received a writing credit. Martin Birch engineered and mixed the sessions, with Jeremy Gee assisting.

Machine Head was released on 30 March 1972 and went to No. 1 in the UK. 'Highway Star' opened the album and replaced 'Speed King' as the band's usual concert opener. A shortened single followed in Japan and the US, but it did not chart in America. Later, a 1997 remix of the album offered a slightly longer version of the track.

The solo

Unlike most of his playing, Ritchie Blackmore's solo on 'Highway Star' was fully composed. He has said he wrote it out note for note about a week before the session, wanting it to sound like someone driving a fast car. To get there he used rigid, rapid arpeggios across a chord sequence he described as a very familiar Bach progression, Dm, Gm, C and A, giving the solo its baroque, neo-classical character. After the verses, Jon Lord takes about a minute of fast, arpeggiated Hammond organ in a similar harmonic-minor, Baroque-influenced vein, and Blackmore's extended guitar solo follows the third verse. Blackmore said he kept playing the same notes on stage for years, but that the tempo crept up night after night.

Legacy

The song became a blueprint for speed and neo-classical flourish in hard rock and metal, and a standard opener for Deep Purple concerts. Guitar World readers ranked Blackmore's solo No. 15 among the 100 greatest guitar solos. Record World thought the US single could put the band back on top of the charts, and The Guardian described Blackmore's playing on Made in Japan as a force of nature mixing Bach and Hendrix. Guitarists from Steve Vai to Joe Satriani and Dream Theater have covered it.

Top 10 facts about Highway Star

The riff and lyrics were improvised on a tour bus to Portsmouth when a reporter asked how the band wrote songs.
Wikipedia
According to Songfacts, the band debuted the song at Portsmouth Guildhall the very night it was written, 13 September 1971.
Songfacts
Blackmore wrote the solo out note for note about a week before recording it.
Guitar World
The solo uses arpeggios over a Bach-derived Dm–Gm–C–A progression, intended to evoke fast driving.
Guitar World
Blackmore said the live solo got faster over the years as the band drank more whiskey.
Guitar World
The album was recorded in the corridors of Montreux's closed Grand Hotel after the Casino burned down.
Wikipedia
Jon Lord's organ solo lasts about a minute and draws on harmonic minor scales and Baroque style.
Wikipedia
Guitar World readers ranked the guitar solo No. 15 among the greatest guitar solos.
Wikipedia
Buckcherry's cover served as the theme for TNT's NASCAR coverage in 2009.
Wikipedia
A 2018 version for The Expanse rewrote the lyrics partly in the show's invented Belter Creole language, swapping cars for spaceships.
Wikipedia

Live versions

Made in Japan (1972) The most celebrated live version, with Blackmore's solo played at blistering speed.
Beat-Club (German TV) (1971) Early televised performance recorded in September 1971, before the studio version.
Nobody's Perfect (1988) Live album from the reunited Mark II line-up.
Come Hell or High Water (1994) Live release from the reunited Mark II line-up in the 1990s.
From the Setting Sun... (In Wacken) (2015) Later-era performance with Steve Morse on guitar.

Notable covers

Dream Theater Progressive-metal band known for playing it live.
Buckcherry (2009) Used as the theme for TNT's NASCAR broadcasts.
Steve Vai with Glenn Hughes and Chad Smith (2012) All-star live performance highlighted by Guitar World.
Chickenfoot (Joe Satriani) Satriani took on Blackmore's solo in concert.
Type O Negative Gothic-metal band that recorded a version.
Cory Todd (2018) Rewritten sci-fi version for TV series The Expanse.

In our lists

See Them Live — #4
The Greatest Solo of Every Year — #29
The 25 Greatest Hard Rock Guitar Solos — #3
The 1970s — #8
Played on a Stratocaster — #5
Most Agreed-Upon — #11
Critics' Picks — #20
Fans' Picks — #9

Sources

Who played the guitar solo on Highway Star?

Ritchie Blackmore played the solo on Deep Purple's Highway Star (1972).

What guitar was used on the Highway Star solo?

A fender stratocaster through a Marshall amp, according to widely reported accounts.

Where does Highway Star rank among the greatest guitar solos?

#10 in the GreatestSolos consensus of 79 published lists; it appears on 41 of them.

Who wrote Highway Star?

All five members of Deep Purple's Mark II line-up share the credit: Blackmore, Gillan, Glover, Lord and Paice.

What album is Highway Star on?

It opens Deep Purple's 1972 album Machine Head.

Was the Highway Star solo improvised?

No. Blackmore composed it note for note about a week before recording it.

What is the chord progression in the Highway Star solo?

Blackmore described it as a Bach progression of Dm, Gm, C and A, played with fast arpeggios.

Where was Highway Star recorded?

At the Grand Hotel in Montreux, Switzerland, in December 1971, using the Rolling Stones Mobile Studio.