October 27, 2020 ▸ Entertainment, History, People

Episode 528: Jimi Hendrix: Best There Ever Will Be

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On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we talk about the man named the greatest guitarist of all time by Rolling Stone magazine, the one and only Jimi Hendrix. Hendrix was a virtuoso by any measure. His first album almost toppled Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club from the charts, and his four studio albums forever changed rock and roll as well as thoughts on what you could do with a guitar. And this was all by the age of 27! Jimi was an interesting and complex man, a drug addict to be sure, and a violent drunk. But when he died due to drug use in 1970, he left the music industry a different place than he found it.

Born to a 17 year old mom and a G.I. serving in WWII, Jimi had a rough upbringing. He was often raised by relatives and his grandmother, and when he was born, they had to lock his father up in the brig, so he wouldn’t go AWOL to try and get to the birth. His mom and dad eventually divorced, some saying his mom abandoned them. His father worked hard to put food on the table and eventually helped Jimi buy his first electric guitar. (This after he walked around his school with a broom, pretending it to be a guitar all year…)

Once he got his guitars, he started obsessing and self-learning. He had small gigs almost immediately, but his music career was detoured by a (court mandated?) enlistment in the Army as a paratrooper. He was by all accounts a bad soldier known to sleep on duty and ignore orders. He was honorably discharged, but only after meeting Billy Cox, who would go on to play with him for years to come.

Jimi toured the south in what was then called the Chitterlin’ Circuit, and he eventually started to get noticed. He toured with some bands and did studio work for everyone from Tina and Ike Turner to Little Richard, B.B. King, Sam Cooke and the Isley Brothers. But his showboating and tendency to take center stage made them not want to work with him.

Eventually, he moved to New York and met Keith Richard’s girlfriend. From there, he made enough contacts to head to London and form his seminal band, The Jimmi Hendrix Experience. His first album was a runaway success in the UK, and eventually, he was a star in the US and globally. He infamously lit his guitar on fire at the Monterey Pop Music Festival, played the Star Spangled Banner in the rain at Woodstock, and was a pioneer of psychedelic music.

He defined the 1960s in ways nobody else could. So, how exactly did he die? What did he do that made Paul McCartney think was the biggest honor of his life? What happened the time he got kidnapped? Why do they say he was a mean drunk? Was “excuse me while I kiss this guy” on purpose? Listen, laugh, learn.

Visit Our Sources:

https://www.biography.com/musician/jimi-hendrix

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimi_Hendrix

https://www.allmusic.com/artist/jimi-hendrix-mn0000354105

https://www.theatlantic.com/culture/archive/2020/09/how-jimi-hendrix-london-years-changed-music/616399/

https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/517664/10-fast-facts-about-jimi-hendrix

https://www.celebritynetworth.com/articles/entertainment-articles/how-much-was-jimi-hendrix-worth-when-he-died/#:~:text=New%20recordings%20released%20over%20the,and%20died%2049%20years%20ago.