"Space Truckin'" is a song by British hard rock band Deep Purple. It is the seventh and final track on the ''

Machine Head A machine head (also referred to as a tuning machine, tuner, or gear head) is a geared apparatus for tuning stringed musical instruments by adjusting string tension. Machine heads are used on mandolins, guitars, double basses and others, and ar ...

'' album and its lyrics talk of space travel. Guitarist

Ritchie Blackmore Richard Hugh Blackmore (born 14 April 1945) is an English guitarist and songwriter. He was a founding member of Deep Purple in 1968, playing jam-style hard rock music that mixed guitar riffs and organ sounds. He is prolific in creating guita ...

claims in '' Classic Albums: Deep Purple – The Making of Machine Head'' that the song composition started with the half-step riffs in the refrain, which were inspired by the

theme music Theme music is a musical composition that is often written specifically for radio programming, television shows, video games, or films and is usually played during the title sequence, opening credits, closing credits, and in some instances at so ...

for the '' Batman'' TV programme composed by

Neal Hefti Neal Paul Hefti (October 29, 1922 – October 11, 2008) was an American jazz trumpeter, composer, and arranger. He wrote music for '' The Odd Couple'' movie and TV series and for the ''Batman'' TV series. He began arranging professionally in his ...

. Blackmore asked singer

Ian Gillan Ian Gillan (born 19 August 1945) is a British singer who is best known as the lead singer and lyricist for the rock band Deep Purple. He is known for his powerful and wide-ranging singing voice. Initially influenced by Elvis Presley, Gillan ...

if he could write any lyrics over the riff, and the rest of the song evolved from there.

Live performances

When it was first performed live, the band appended an instrumental that was originally part of the song "

Mandrake Root "Mandrake Root" is a song by Deep Purple that is featured on their debut album '' Shades of Deep Purple''. The title is in reference to the mandrake plant, but is also the name of a pre-Purple band that Blackmore was trying to form in German ...

" from their first album but gradually evolved into a showcase for

Jon Lord John Douglas Lord (9 June 194116 July 2012) was an English orchestral and rock composer, pianist, and Hammond organ player known for his pioneering work in fusing rock with classical or baroque forms, especially with the British rock band Deep ...

's Hammond organ and Ritchie Blackmore's guitar solos. This usually took the length of the overall song to over twenty minutes, and it was always performed as the last number of the main set. A good example of this arrangement can be found on the '' Made in Japan'' album, wherein Blackmore also quotes the "cello" solo of "Fools" off '' Fireball''. Jon Lord played his solo through a

ring modulator In electronics, ring modulation is a signal processing function, an implementation of frequency mixing, in which two signals are combined to yield an output signal. One signal, called the carrier, is typically a sine wave or another simple ...

or played some of it on an

ARP synthesizer ARP Instruments, Inc. was a Lexington, Massachusetts manufacturer of electronic musical instruments, founded by Alan Robert Pearlman in 1969. It created a popular and commercially successful range of synthesizers throughout the 1970s before de ...

. Meanwhile, Ritchie Blackmore usually split the guitar solo into two halves, a quiet section with just drums, then a loud section with the full band. The second half was often when Blackmore would smash his guitar, play it with his feet or throw it into the air. One of the most infamous incidents where that happened was at the California Jam festival in 1974, where he dropped one guitar over the edge of the stage, smashed a second against a TV camera, then set his amplifier on fire, which then subsequently exploded. When Deep Purple reformed in 1984, this extended arrangement was reworked, and later included snippets of other songs. During the Man of All Ages tour, the final part of the song, which originally featured high-pitched screaming by Gillan (now 71), instead featured high-pitched guitar in the same key as his original vocals. On the remastered version of their 1982 album '' Live in London'' (recorded in 1974), there is a 31-minute-long live version of the song. It consists of a lot of improvising from the band members and in one part of the song they play the main riff from " Child in Time".

Cover versions

* British heavy metal band

Iron Maiden Iron Maiden are an English heavy metal band formed in Leyton, East London, in 1975 by bassist and primary songwriter Steve Harris. While fluid in the early years of the band, the lineup for most of the band's history has consisted of Harri ...

has contributed cover of "Space Truckin'" for the tribute album '' Re-Machined: A Tribute to Deep Purple's Machine Head'' to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Deep Purple's 1972 release ''Machine Head''. * American guitarist

Ace Frehley Paul Daniel "Ace" Frehley (; born April 27, 1951) is an American musician, best known as the original lead guitarist and co-founding member of the hard rock band Kiss. He invented the persona of The Spaceman (a.k.a. Space Ace) and played wit ...

has covered "Space Truckin'" for his 2020 album '' Origins Vol. 2''. * Dream Theater covered this and the whole '' Made in Japan'' album. *

Arjen Anthony Lucassen Arjen Anthony Lucassen (born 3 April 1960) is a Dutch singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist musician and record producer best known for his long-running progressive metal/ rock opera project Ayreon. Lucassen started his career in 1980 as t ...

Star One Star One was an Indian pay television network based in Mumbai. It was launched on 1 November 2004 and was it owned by Star TV and distributed worldwide by Fox International Channels. In November 2006, Star One was launched in the UK on Sky. ...

covered the song during their 2002 European tour, as seen on the ''Live on Earth'' DVD. * American

thrash metal Thrash metal (or simply thrash) is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music characterized by its overall aggression and often fast tempo.Kahn-Harris, Keith, ''Extreme Metal: Music and Culture on the Edge'', pp. 2–3, 9. Oxford: Berg, 2007, . ...

band Overkill included a cover of the song on their 1999 album, ''

Coverkill ''Coverkill'' is a cover album released by thrash metal band Overkill in 1999. The album consists of cover songs by artists that influenced the band, including Deep Purple, Black Sabbath, Motörhead, Kiss, Judas Priest, Jethro Tull, Ramones, Se ...

''. * Serbian hard rock band Cactus Jack released a cover on their 2003 '' Deep Purple Tribute'' album. * American industrial metal band Ministry include their version of the song in the all-covers album ''

Cover Up A cover-up is an attempt, whether successful or not, to :wikt:conceal, conceal evidence of wrongdoing, error, incompetence, or other embarrassment, embarrassing information. Research has distinguished personal cover-ups (covering up one's own ...

''. * Tesla's version is the first track on their album '' Real to Reel''. * American thrash metal band

Vengeance Rising Vengeance Rising was an American Christian thrash metal band from Los Angeles, California. Fronted by vocalist Roger Martinez, they originally formed as Vengeance in 1987, but changed their name in 1989 to avoid conflict with another band from t ...

covered the song on their 1990 album ''Once Dead''. *

William Shatner William Shatner (born March 22, 1931) is a Canadian actor. In a career spanning seven decades, he is best known for his portrayal of James T. Kirk in the ''Star Trek'' franchise, from his 1965 debut as the captain of the starship ''Enterpris ...

covered the song on his album ''

Seeking Major Tom ''Seeking Major Tom'' is the fourth studio album by William Shatner. It was released October 11, 2011 in the US by Cleopatra Records. Production The album features many noted musicians, including Patrick Kennison, Sheryl Crow, John Wetton, Patr ...

''. *

Kraus Kraus is a German surname meaning "curly". Notable people with the surname include: * Adalbert Kraus (born 1937), German tenor * Adam Kraus (born 1984), American footballer * Adolf Kraus (1850–1928), lawyer and Jewish leader * Adolph Robert ...

covered this song in 2011. * American punk band

The Meatmen The Meatmen are an American punk band headed by Tesco Vee, originally existing from 1981 to 1988, before reforming in the mid-1990s, and again in the 2000s. They were known for their outrageous stage antics and offensive lyrics. They reformed ...

covered the song as a bonus track on the 2008 re-issue of their album, ''Pope on a Rope''. *

A Sound of Thunder "A Sound of Thunder" is a science fiction short story by American writer Ray Bradbury, first published in ''Collier's'' magazine in the June 28, 1952, issue and later in Bradbury's collection '' The Golden Apples of the Sun'' in 1953. P ...

included a cover of the song on their 2016 album, ''Who Do You Think We Are?''. *

Spock's Beard Spock's Beard is an American progressive rock band formed in Los Angeles. The band was formed in 1992 by brothers Neal (lead vocals, keyboards) and Alan Morse (vocals, guitars), John Ballard (bass) and Nick D'Virgilio (drums). Ballard was r ...

often played the song as an encore on their 2000 tour. They included a recording on their live album '' There and Here''. *

Kip Winger Charles Frederick Kip Winger (born June 21, 1961) is an American bass guitarist and singer, active as a member of the rock band Winger and as a solo artist. He initially gained notability as a member of Alice Cooper's band, contributing bass an ...

and

Tony MacAlpine Tony MacAlpine (born August 29, 1960) is an American musician and composer. In a career spanning four decades, he has released twelve studio albums. MacAlpine is best known as an instrumental rock and heavy metal solo guitarist, although he has ...

covered this song, and it is included in the 1994 album, ''Smoke on the Water: A Tribute to Deep Purple''.

In pop culture

*The intro was featured on the TV show ''

WKRP in Cincinnati ''WKRP in Cincinnati'' is an American sitcom television series about the misadventures of the staff of a struggling fictional radio station in Cincinnati, Ohio. The show was created by Hugh Wilson and was based upon his experiences working ...

'', on the episode "The Airplane Show". (Syndicated reruns of the episode replaced the track with generic music.) *The song is a downloadable track for the ''Rock Band'' series of

music video game A music video game, also commonly known as a music game, is a video game where the gameplay is meaningfully and often almost entirely oriented around the player's interactions with a musical score or individual songs. Music video games may take a ...

s as of 30 December 2008. *The song appeared in the film ''

Lords of Dogtown ''Lords of Dogtown'' is a 2005 American biographical drama film directed by Catherine Hardwicke and written by Stacy Peralta. The film follows a group of young skateboarders in Santa Monica, California during the 70s. This is the first (and so ...

'', the documentary ''Warren Miller's Dynasty'' and the video game '' Guitar Hero: Van Halen''. *The 1997 remix of the song was featured in the first and last episodes of ''

Ash vs Evil Dead Ash or ashes are the solid remnants of fires. Specifically, ''ash'' refers to all non-aqueous, non- gaseous residues that remain after something burns. In analytical chemistry, to analyse the mineral and metal content of chemical samples, ash ...

''. *"Space Truckin'" played in orbit as a wake-up call for the Red Team on Flight Day 3 of the crew of

STS-107 STS-107 was the 113th flight of the Space Shuttle program, and the 28th and final flight of Space Shuttle ''Columbia''. The mission launched from Kennedy Space Center in Florida on January 16, 2003, and during its 15 days, 22 hours, 20 minutes ...

; it was specially played for Mission Specialist

Kalpana Chawla Kalpana Chawla (17 March 1962 – 1 February 2003) was an Indian-born American astronaut and mechanical engineer who was the first woman of Indian origin to go to space. She first flew on Space Shuttle ''Columbia'' in 1997 as a mission speciali ...

, who was later one of the seven crew killed in the

Space Shuttle Columbia Space Shuttle ''Columbia'' (OV-102) was a Space Shuttle orbiter manufactured by Rockwell International and operated by NASA. Named after the first American ship to circumnavigate the upper North American Pacific coast and the female personif ...

disaster A disaster is a serious problem occurring over a short or long period of time that causes widespread human, material, economic or environmental loss which exceeds the ability of the affected community or society to cope using its own resources ...

. A fan of the band, she traded e-mails with group members while in space. Guitarist

Steve Morse Steve J. Morse (born July 28, 1954) is an American guitarist, best known as the founder of the Dixie Dregs and as the lead guitarist of Deep Purple from 1994 to 2022. Morse has also enjoyed a successful solo career and was briefly a member of ...

, vocalist

, bass guitarist

Roger Glover Roger David Glover (born 30 November 1945) is a Welsh bassist, songwriter, and record producer. He is best known as the member of the hard rock bands Deep Purple and Rainbow. As a member of Deep Purple, Glover was inducted into the Rock and R ...

, drummer

Ian Paice Ian Anderson Paice (born 29 June 1948) is an English musician, best known as the drummer and last remaining original member of the rock band Deep Purple. He is often cited as one of the greatest drummers of all-time. He remains the only membe ...

and keyboardist Don Airey were recording ''

Bananas A banana is an elongated, edible fruit – botanically a berry – produced by several kinds of large herbaceous flowering plants in the genus ''Musa''. In some countries, bananas used for cooking may be called "plantains", distinguis ...

'' when the disaster occurred. Chawla had taken three CDs onboard Columbia: Deep Purple's landmark 1972 album ''

'', 1996's '' Purpendicular'' and

Rainbow A rainbow is a meteorological phenomenon that is caused by reflection, refraction and dispersion of light in water droplets resulting in a spectrum of light appearing in the sky. It takes the form of a multicoloured circular arc. Rainbows c ...

's 1979 album '' Down to Earth'' (Glover and Airey were members of Rainbow at the time). To honor her, Deep Purple closed ''Bananas'' with "Contact Lost". *The song was used in naming the Stand ability of Kaato Higashikata in Part 8 of Jojo's Bizarre Adventure, ''

JoJolion is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Hirohiko Araki, and is the eighth part of the larger ''JoJo's Bizarre Adventure'' series. Set in Japan in 2011, it follows Josuke Higashikata, a young man afflicted by retrograde amnesia, ...

''. *"Basically, this is '

Smoke On The Water "Smoke on the Water" is a song by English rock band Deep Purple, first released from the band's sixth studio album ''Machine Head'' (1972), which chronicles the 1971 fire at Montreux Casino. In a 2004 publication by ''Rolling Stone'' magaz ...

', but in space," remarked

Tim Wheeler Timothy James Arthur Wheeler (born 4 January 1977) is a Northern Irish singer, songwriter, and musician for the alternative rock band Ash. He has written nearly all of Ash's notable works, such as " Oh Yeah", "Shining Light", " Girl from Mars" ...

Ash Ash or ashes are the solid remnants of fires. Specifically, ''ash'' refers to all non-aqueous, non- gaseous residues that remain after something burns. In analytical chemistry, to analyse the mineral and metal content of chemical samples, ash ...

. "All Deep Purple's songs seem to be about being in a gang and, true to form, this is too – but, this time, they're intergalactic travellers. The lyrics are utter nonsense, but it doesn't matter. It's just a real stomper of a song with a great riff. I like

's organ sound. It's so distorted, it's like a guitar."

Personnel

– vocals *

– guitar *

– bass guitar *

– keyboards *

– drums, percussion

References

{{Authority control Deep Purple songs 1972 songs Songs written by Ian Gillan Songs written by Roger Glover Songs written by Ritchie Blackmore Songs written by Jon Lord Songs written by Ian Paice Songs about spaceflight List songs