Hints to Help You Solve Today’s Heardle Answer: May 18

Well, today’s Heardle might have been just a little too easy—I’m sure you’ve heard a fair few burgeoning guitar players stumble through that opening riff one too many times. 

Despite this track being an obligatory addition to any respectable rock fan’s playlist, maybe you’ve heard the famed intro but don’t quite have the title or artist nailed down. If so, you’re in luck.

We’re here to give you a few helpful clues for today’s (May 18) Heardle, and spoiler alert, reveal the answer down below.

If you need a brush up on how to play Heardle—the music-centered guessing game plays a short piece of an intro to a song. If you can guess right away, you win the game. If not, you can skip the section, revealing a little more of the track. You get six chances to guess the song and artist before the answer is unveiled.

5 HINTS FOR TODAY’S HEARDLE:

1. This song was released by an English rock outfit in 1972.

2. The band is widely considered the pioneer of heavy metal and modern-day hard rock.

3. The lead singer from this band claims the song was inspired by a flare gun mishap at a Frank Zappa show.

4. Total Guitar Magazine ranked the opening guitar lick as number 4 on its “Greatest Guitar Riffs Ever.”

5. Finally, here are a few lyrics from the song: We all came out to Montreux / On the Lake Geneva shoreline / To make records with a mobile, yeah / We didn’t have much time now

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SPOILER ALERT: TODAY’S HEARDLE ANSWER

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It was Deep Purple’s 1972 hit “Smoke on the Water.”

How’d you fare?

Deep Purple

Since forming in 1968, Deep Purple has amassed a career that spans seven decades, more than 100 million albums sold, and an induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Across their 20-plus studio albums, Deep Purple helped carve the edges of modern hard rock.

“Smoke on the Water” featured on their sixth studio album, Machine Head. Upon its release, the track soared to No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100 charts.

The lyrics were inspired by a Frank Zappa concert that the band attended in 1971 while recording Machine Head, using a mobile recording studio rented from the Rolling Stones.

On the Lake Geneva shoreline
To make records with a mobile, yeah

While Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention were playing on stage at the Montreux casino someone fired a flare gun at the rattan-covered ceiling, sending the place up in flames.

Frank Zappa and the Mothers
Were at the best place around
But some stupid with a flare gun
Burned the place to the ground

Still pushing the boundaries of rock today, Deep Purple’s latest studio album Turning to Crime, scored them the No. 1 spot on the UK Independent Albums Chart in 2021. The LP consists entirely of covers paying homage to their contemporaries— Fleetwood Mac, Bob Dylan, and Gregg Allman.