Legendary guitarist Jimi Hendrix was almost as well known for his energetic, anything-can-happen stage performances as for his innovative musicianship. But during a brief tour of Sweden in January of 1968, the guitarist got a little too wild off stage and got himself arrested, for which he was detained for two weeks.
On January 3, 1968, the Jimi Hendrix Experience landed in Gothenburg for a quick four-date tour of Sweden and Denmark. The musicians checked into the Hotel Opalen, then decided to go out to a club. After partying at Klubb Karl, the group returned to the hotel at 2AM, where they continued to party in the room of drummer Mitch Mitchell with some other friends.
Sometime around 4AM on January 4, a guest staying on the floor below complained to the hotel’s night receptionist about a disturbance in the room above, and when he let himself into the room, he discovered Hendrix lying on the bed in a pool of blood, with the room in devastation after a violent rampage. The guitarist had broken the window and injured his hand while wrecking the room in an apparent drug-and-booze filled fury, and he was arrested and transported to the hospital for treatment after police were called to the scene.
Hendrix was charged with criminal damage, and local authorities placed him under a travel ban, forcing him to report to the police station every day at 2PM for the next two weeks. On Jan. 16, 1968 Hendrix had his day in court, receiving a fine of 3,200 Swedish Crowns.
Sadly, it was not to be the guitarist’s only trouble because of alcohol and drugs. Friends of Hendrix have often recalled that the normally peaceful musician was apt to become violently angry if he drank, including one incident in which a girlfriend reportedly had to have stitches after Hendrix struck her above the eye with a bottle in a drunken rage. In 1969 Hendrix faced charges of drug possession after Canadian customs agents found heroin and hashish in his luggage, though he later beat those charges.
On Sept. 17, 1970, Hendrix passed away from asphyxiating on his own vomit after a massive overdose of barbiturates, becoming one of an eerie string of rockers who died at the age of 27.
Jimi Hendrix wasn’t one to play by the rules, and on Jan. 4, 1969, during a guest appearance on the Lulu television show, the guitar legend was up to the task. While Lulu was a great pop singer, she and Hendrix were pretty much worlds apart in the public eye,. Still, the producers of her BBC TV show booked the Jimi Hendrix Experience and approached Hendrix about singing a duet with Lulu on her big hit, ‘To Sir With Love,’ which was not first and foremost on Hendrix’ mind, to say the least.
The band were scheduled to perform two songs, one from their latest LP, ‘Electric Ladyland,’ and later in the show, they were to do their first U.K. hit, ‘Hey Joe.’ According to Noel Redding in his autobiography, ‘Are You Experienced?,’ Lulu would join the band to finish up ‘Hey Joe’ before a segue into her signature song. To deal with the stress of the situation, Redding said the band were “so straight it was only natural that we would try to combat that atmosphere by having a smoke in our dressing room. In our haste, the lump of hash got away and slipped down the sink drainpipe,” he continued. “I found a maintenance man and begged tools from him with the story of a lost ring. He was too helpful, offering to dismantle the drain for us. It took ages to dissuade him, but we succeeded in our task and had a great smoke.”
The band went on and performed ‘Voodoo Child’ as scheduled, but once Lulu introduced the band for their classic take on ‘Hey Joe,’ the Experience veered loudly off script. A raucous freeform feedback-drenched jam eventually gave way to ‘Hey Joe,’ but then midway through, Hendrix stopped the band, announcing, “We’d like to stop playing this rubbish and dedicate a song to the Cream, regardless of what kind of group they may be in. We dedicate this to Eric Clapton, Ginger Baker and Jack Bruce.”
At that moment, the band plowed through an instrumental version of the Cream classic ‘Sunshine Of Your Love.’ Cream had just announced their breakup, hence the tribute. “We played past the point where Lulu might have joined us,” said Redding. “Played through the time for talking at the end, played through [producer] Stanley [Dorfman] tearing his hair, pointing to his watch and silently screaming at us.”
This stunt, which led to a ban on Hendrix and friends by the BBC, would be imitated eight years later by Elvis Costello during an appearance on ‘Saturday Night Live.’ Costello and the Attractions started off playing ‘Less Than Zero,’ before he stopped the song and the band kicked into ‘Radio Radio.’ NBC banned Costello for 12 years. He later admitted that it was indeed an homage to Hendrix on the Lulu show.
Watch The Jimi Hendrix Experience On The Lulu Show
Happy 2014 you guys. Thank you all for your support and for keeping Jimi alive. Sorry I can't respond to all your messages personally but I love you all.
Legendary guitarist Jimi Hendrix was almost as well known for his energetic, anything-can-happen stage performances as for his innovative musicianship. But during a brief tour of Sweden in January of 1968, the guitarist got a little too wild off stage and got himself arrested, for which he was detained for two weeks.
