Today's Heardle answer: Wednesday, May 18, 2022 

In recent years, there has been a massive shift in interest from hardcore mobile and computer games to simpler, more user-friendly browser-based games. Many such games have become popular over the past year, and Heardle is one of them. It has received immense popularity and response since its release in early 2022. The game was created by software engineer James Wardle.

Heardle's popularity stems from the particularly familiar and intriguing premise of the word-guessing game Wordle. Many games tried to replicate the Wordle format, but most of them failed to make a mark. Heardle, on the other hand, was well-received for its innovative musical twist and the ability to draw participants in.

The rules of the game are fairly simple. A player has to guess the name of a song based on a small part of the intro. Each player is given six attempts, with the duration of the clip increasing with each failed attempt. The challenge for the player is to guess the song with the least number of attempts.

As everyone may not have the knowledge and trivia skills to remember all the songs and their intros, here are some clues and ultimately the solution to today's Heardle question.

The official website of the game states that the songs for the daily challenge are picked from a list of most-streamed songs over the past decade. This automatically gives an edge to contemporary music enthusiasts and listeners.

The solution to today's question is rather straightforward. In fact, it is one of the most popular intros in the history of Rock and Roll. However, for those having trouble remembering it, here are some clues, as shared by Forbes, to help you along the way:

"This is listed as a hard-rock/heavy-metal song on Wikipedia. It was released in 1973. It reached number four on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and number 21 in the U.K. The guitarist who came up with the iconic riff at the heart of the song said it was based on an inversion of Ludwig van Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5."

The iconic riff that kickstarts the song and is based on Ludwig Van Beethoven's 5th Symphony was written by Ritchie Blackmore. It is widely considered one of the greatest guitar riffs of all time.

If you are still having trouble guessing the right answer, read on.

The correct answer for May 18, 2022, is Smoke on the Water by Deep Purple.

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More about Smoke on the Water

Smoke on the Water is a song by the English rock band Deep Purple, released in 1967 as a part of their sixth studio album Machine Head. The song is based on real events occurring during the fire at Montreux Casino in 1971. It is widely considered a rock and roll classic, and the guitar riff is ranked number four on Total Guitar's Greatest Guitar Riffs Ever.

Speaking about the song and its composition, bassist Roger Glover recalled:

"We started jamming a bit...And Ritchie just started this riff. I don’t know if he had the riff beforehand or whether he made it up on the spot, but it was a kind of mid-tempo, ploddy kind of riff. It came together fairly quickly. ‘Well this is a verse, we need a chorus. How about this? How about that? Let’s do a solo.’ And by the time we started recording it, it was [about] midnight."

The song was later extensively covered, with artists like Black Sabbath also joining the line. The song peaked at number four on US Billboard Hot 100.

New songs for the Heardle daily challenge are released at 12.00 AM ET.