In 1967, I was a sophomore at The Ohio State University in Columbus. After classes, I hung out at the Char-Bar and Charbert’s, the hip restaurant next door that attracted intellectuals and nut cases by day and local bikers at night. That’s where I met Kenny Weiss.
Kenny was a lead vocalist in many campus rock bands and later was in the James Gang. He tutored me in the best rock albums. In college in the ’60s, it seemed as if a classic album came out every day. Without iTunes, YouTube and all the stuff around today, you couldn’t keep up without the help of hip rocker friends.
One day in the late spring of ’67, Kenny said I had to hear an album by a guy named Jimi Hendrix. The guy’s name alone was cool. Then Kenny told me the album’s name—“Are You Experienced?” which was a great question, since I really wasn’t. I figured after I’d heard the album a few times, that problem would be solved.
Soon after Kenny told me about Hendrix, I borrowed the album from a friend. Another friend with a great stereo system said I could let myself into his place to listen to it. The first track was “Purple Haze” and opened with that sawing electric guitar riff and the electric bass underneath. Then the drums kicked in, and Jimi started singing: “Purple haze all in my brain / lately things don’t seem the same / actin’ funny but I don’t know why / ‘scuse me while I kiss the sky.”
I was floating. Hendrix’s guitar licks and all those ambient voices floating around in the song had an energy and hopefulness for me. At that moment in my life, I wasn’t worried about anything and was far from having to deal with the real-world pressures that awaited me after college. The lyrics didn’t have much to do with the song’s instrumental texture or the bridge, and that’s what got me. Who cares what the words mean? It was the feeling of everything mixed together. Today, the sound of Hendrix still takes me back to a time in my life before auditions, stand-up at clubs and the pressure to be funny. It was just music awakening my ambition, energy and respect for just doing what feels right.
Sometimes I would dream of meeting Hendrix and ask him, "Please show me how you played this ..."
But it wasn't just this or that lick. His music was much more than the sum of its parts.
If he hadn't died, what would he have grown into? What music are we missing today? Would he have become our own Mozart or just faded away? We'll never know.
I came to Philadelphia in 1967, Philadelphia College of Art in 1967 - bliss. I had been listening to Blues from Chicago living in the Midwest, walking down Market St. in Center City Philadelphia I passed by Sam Goody that had Purple Haze playing out to the sidewalk, I went inside and bought it and then wore it out.
Cogs and I made the trip from Brunswick to see Hendrix and The Experience at the National Guard Armory in Lewiston, Maine on March 16, 1968.
Jimi could blow a speaker out better than anybody.
@Christopher Hanks Lucky you. I was 12 then and years from my first rock concert, by which time JH had left this world behind. Wish I'd been about 5 years older back in the '60s.
For me Hendrix's most awesome music was from his "Electric Ladyland" -- especially the side that began with "1983 (A Merman I Should Turn to Be)." Very trippy and transcendental -- as in transcending to the other side. Have fond memories of listening to those tracks through some exceptionally wonderful times.
@GRANT FJERMEDAL I go with "Voodoo Child (Slight Return)." The dive-bomb guitar licks near the end eerily evoked the U.S. carpet bombing campaigns going on simultaneously in Vietnam. And the lyrics! "If I don't meet you no more in this world, I'll meet you in the next one, don't be late- don't be late!" I hope JH was right about that.
Truth is that Hendrix was an original electric bluesman and more of a master and synthesizer of that tradition than the British knockoff artists, good as they were/are: Clapton, Page, Beck, etc. I saw a documentary of Hendrix from the '70's on TCM this spring. In it, Pete Townsend tells of Hendrix' tour of '67 depicted in the article. Clapton, who never deigned to reach out to him before, invited Townsend to go to a movie and appeared rattled by the phenomenon of Hendrix. There is literally no telling how much Hendrix would have advanced the state of the art had he lived. Maybe that's why he didn't. To re-watch the Hendrix Woodstock footage is to be experienced.
@Tom Mundy Agree. Clapton is a skilled journeyman (and a mediocre songwriter and vocalist with a few exceptions; before his decidedly mixed solo career he was privileged to play in groups with better songwriters and singers: Jack Bruce in Cream, Steve Winwood in Blind Faith, etc.). Hendrix was an original non pareil- an artist and genius on the level of Dylan in pop music and whom no guitar stylist in rock has come close to equaling in the 45 years since he died- and a fine songwriter and blues vocalist to boot.
Hendrix and Richard Lewis are great.
Small beer, but isn't "The Ohio State University" grammatically boorish at best, incorrect at worse? I mean, how many Ohio State universities are there? if "The" is the thing, should probably be renamed The State University of Ohio.
When he first played the Star Spangled banner, everyone felt it was heresy, unpatriotic, rebellious, and worse. Very few realized that he earned his wings with the 101st Airborne. Now, some may argue that his military 'career' was spotty, but that's another story.
Back to the song and his rendition. To many, it really captures the actual scene of mayhem that Francis Scott Key tried to describe. Key was limited to a tune (although it does require exceptional range on the part of any singer) and great lyrics. Hendrix added a lot of color, audio / visual effect and emotion.
Not for everyone, but it is an outstanding work of art.
@JAMES MATLOCK He was reflecting ambivalence at a very tumultuous time in U.S. history. You can call it "knocking" the anthem if you wish. But he wasn't a simplistic America-hater at all.
@JAMES MATLOCK Jimi on the Dick Cavett Show: "I don’t know, man. All I did was play it. I’m American, and so I played it…I thought it was beautiful, but then there you go."
Why was Cavett moved to ask Hendrix about the way he played it?
However, I'm glad to learn of the quote. From now on I'll just accept Hendrix's word that he meant no disrespect
@steve kallaugher -- Cavett asked how he felt about being called the greatest guitar player on the planet. He said all he wanted was to be the best guitar player "in this chair" where he was sitting. Good approach to life
@JAMES MATLOCK Cavett was inquiring about the fact that some found it disrespectful. Here's the clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-ZYUaRKQkk
Hendrix blew the lid off the constraints of conventional rock music and blues at the time. As a frustrated left-handed guitar player, I saw Hendrix as a sonic, musical, cultural and visual revolutionary. I grew up some, and no longer worship music as a false savior. However, Jimi just plain re-invented the whole shebang. Summer of 1967 changed the sound track of my life, and my thoughts about what is possible in any realm of endeavor. May his music rock on forever.
Seriously, is anyone going to admit what they were actually doing while listening to Jimi Hendrix in the 60's?
Hendrix blues work is greatly underappreciated. He did a fanatastic rendition of catfish blues and hoochie coochie man. A true genius....
I thought I was a hot guitar player in 1968 when I first saw Jimi Hendrix with Experience and he blew me away. God only knows how good he could have been. I was blessed to hear and see his greatness.
The memory of Jimmy Hendrix will always be tied for me to his"All Along the Watchtower" track, a feat of musical genius unmatched to this day.
Felt that way listening to "Axis: Bold as Love". What an incredible, original artist.
@JAMES SORENSEN Voodoo Child slight return) escapes Earth's gravity. I've never heard a guitar solo so emotive except for Eddie (Funkadelic )Hazel's "Maggot Brain".
@JAMES SORENSEN The "Axis - Bold as Love" album is, arguably, Hendrix's most creative. The arranging and recording techniques were brilliant. Also, Mitch Mitchell's drumming.......brushwork on "Up From the Skies" and fills at the end of "If 6 were 9"........showed sophistication way beyond what rock fans were accustomed to.
Has Lewis' "respect for doing what feels right" yet been informed and perfected by respect for what isright?
I was a freshman (from a small town in Michigan) at Capital in Bexley OH in 1967, which was a North High Street bus ride away from Ohio State. I too was not experienced, but had a more worldly roommate who introduced me to Cream, JHE, John Mayall, etc.
I'm curious whether Richard Lewis saw Jimi that year in Columbus -- I did, along with Cream a few weeks earlier. No experience like that before or since.
@Shawn MONAGHAN Saw Hendrix in Columbus, March '68 at Vets Memorial Hall (also Cream, Joplin, Doors and many others). About 30 miles south of Ohio Wesleyan University. Of course, had already heard Are You Experienced?, but, was that just recording studio trickery? No, Jimi was playing it live and quite intentionally. Astounding.
Have read and heard variations on Clapton's reaction the first time he heard Hendrix play live. Essentially he turned to Pete Townshend (or some one) and said; "Is he really that good or does he just know the one song?"
Richard,
I agree with you...there is something in the sounds of those days that in a flash transports the listener back in time; yes, time travel is possible! The texture of the Hendrix Days doesn't exist anymore. I remember a great part of the thrill of a new album was the wonderfully artistic (a forgotten medium unto itself) jacket-cover and the gentle speed of 33 rpm life.
Your essay reminded me also of the phrase "you had to be there." I am so glad that I was!
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