Jimi Hendrix

St. James Encyclopedia of Pop Culture by David B. Wilson

Jimi Hendrix was the quintessential 1960s rock star. A black superstar in what was by then predominantly a white industry and an American who first found success in Great Britain, Hendrix embodied many of the contradictions of the late 1960s music scene. As a guitar player, he single-handedly redefined the genre's most important instrument and remains widely considered the best ever to have played it. As a performer, he combined showmanship and musicianship in equal parts, and played the best remembered sets of the two best remembered music festivals of the period. His death at age 27 from an overdose of drugs (albeit prescription) completed the picture of what became a cultural archetype of the late twentieth century: that of the enormously talented, misunderstood rock star whose meteoric rise to fame is matched by a tragic fall and early death.

Johnny Allen Hendrix was born in Seattle on November 7, 1942, to 17-year-old Lucille Hendrix while his father, Al, was in the army. His early childhood was one of nonstop confusion, as he lodged with a variety of family members in houses and hotels as far away as Texas, California, and Vancouver. In 1946 Al changed his son's name to James Marshall. Lucille died in 1958 when Jimmy was 15, the same year he got his first guitar. He began playing in the high school band until he dropped out in 1960. Arrested for riding in a stolen car, Hendrix received a suspended sentence by promising to sign up with the military. He became a parachutist in the 101st Airborne in 1961. He soon tired of the military life, though, and was discharged after breaking his ankle in 1962. At this point he became a professional musician, setting up his own group in Nashville with army buddy Billy Cox, and backing up a variety of rhythm-and-blues artists who came through town. In the spring of 1963, Hendrix left Nashville as part of "Gorgeous" George Odell's band.

For the next three years, Hendrix backed up many of the biggest names in R & B--the Isley Brothers, Little Richard, Ike and Tina Turner, King Curtis, Sam and Dave--though he made no significant recordings. Anxious to make his own music, he settled in New York City in 1965 and by early 1966 was focusing his efforts on his own band, Jimmy James and the Blue Flames. They performed in the Greenwich Village folk-rock club Café Wha? for a pittance in front of a scant audience, but his astonishing command of blues, soul and rock guitar styles greatly impressed fellow musicians like Mike Bloomfield, John Hammond Jr., and a small group of cognoscenti. In September of 1966, Animals bassist Chas. Chandler, who was looking to make his mark as a manager and producer, signed Hendrix and took him to England.

London was in the midst of a blues craze, led by John Mayall, the Rolling Stones, and Eric Clapton. It was immediately apparent that Hendrix was head and shoulders above the top local guitarists: Clapton, Jeff Beck, and Pete Townshend all made a point of seeing Hendrix wherever he was playing, before he had a recording contract or even a band. After sitting in at London's hippest clubs, Hendrix formed the Jimi Hendrix Experience with two young white Englishmen, bassist Noel Redding and drummer Mitch Mitchell. At Chandler's insistence, the group's first single was a cover, "Hey Joe," but the gifted guitarist soon demonstrated his skill as a composer and came up with the next single, "Purple Haze"--probably his best known composition. Though there is no evidence that Hendrix had taken LSD at that point, his generous use of guitar effects--unusual intervals like flatted fifths and sharp ninths, and bizarre lyrical themes--perfectly suited him to lead the psychedelic movement which was starting to sweep through rock 'n' roll.

Released in the spring of 1967, the first Experience album, Are You Experienced? was a tour de force, replete with complex guitar sounds that had never been heard before. By then, following the Beatles' lead, every British band that counted was scrambling to pile up as many weird sounds and special effects as they could, but none had Hendrix's touch for making consistent musical sense with them. Like Stevie Wonder a few years later, Hendrix humanized electronic effects, using the rapidly advancing technology of the late 1960s to communicate timeless emotions. And when it suited the material, he could create perfectly beautiful music without any effects at all (as in"The Wind Cries Mary," the third Experience single). The album also contained his first protest song, "I Don't Live Today," which he often dedicated in concert "to the American Indian." And he wasn't above exploiting the stereotype of the macho black male, as in "Fire."

The U.S. release of the album was supplemented with the "A" sides of the first three singles; two blues numbers were excised, helping create the myth of Hendrix as an ahistorical, purely intuitive talent. A highly anticipated performance at the Monterey Pop Festival in June 1967 marked the Experience's American debut, complete with guitar-burning theatrics, and cemented Hendrix's reputation as an international star, though his wild appearance and demeanor tended to be promoted at the expense of his musicianship. A second album, Axis: Bold As Love, followed close behind the first; it contained his most-covered composition, "Little Wing," the individualist anthem "If 6 Was 9," and an experimental tape collage, "EXP," plus innovative use of effects like wah-wah and phasing.