Deep Purple — Hanwell Community Centre, London

The Hanwell Community Centre in west London was one of Deep Purple's early rehearsal venues as the band established themselves in the late 1960s, and the area became associated with the loud, heavy sound they were developing. Deep Purple formed in 1968 from various members of the British beat scene and quickly evolved through phases that ranged from orchestral pop (their Concerto for Group and Orchestra with the Royal Philharmonic in 1969) to the thunderous hard rock of their Mark II lineup — Ritchie Blackmore, Ian Gillan, Roger Glover, Jon Lord, and Ian Paice — that recorded Machine Head in 1972 and produced 'Smoke on the Water' and 'Highway Star.'

'Smoke on the Water' was written about the fire that destroyed the Montreux Casino during a Frank Zappa concert in December 1971, which the band witnessed from across Lake Geneva while waiting to record at the venue. The song's opening riff is one of the most recognisable in rock history and is typically the first thing a new guitarist learns. The band recorded Machine Head at the Grand Hotel in Montreux using the Rolling Stones' mobile recording truck — a detail preserved in the song's lyrics.

Hanwell has a secondary musical connection: the Hanwell Community Centre was also reputedly a venue where The Who and the Kinks played early shows, and Pete Townshend and Townshend's guitar teacher lived in the area. West London's working-class suburbs — Hanwell, Acton, Shepherd's Bush — were a nursery for British rock in the 1960s in ways that have been less commemorated than Liverpool or Manchester.