YMMV / Jimi Hendrix

• And You Thought It Would Fail: Decca records executive Dick Rowe, who had famously turned down the opportunity to sign The Beatles, also passed on Hendrix in late 1966.
• Awesome Music: His terrifying version of "The Star Spangled Banner" caps both the Woodstock festival and the incredible documentary that recorded the event.
  • His debut album Are You Experienced (along with its follow ups Axis: Bold As Love and Electric Ladyland) is routinely at the top of any Greatest Album lists.
  • To put it into perspective: In 2004, Rolling Stone listed FOUR of the songs on Are You Experienced on their list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. ^note  "The Wind Cries Mary", "Foxey Lady", "Hey Joe", and "Purple Haze". "All Along The Watchtower" is also on the list.
• Broken Base:
  • Which is better, the Jimi Hendrix Experience (with Noel Redding and Mitch Mitchell) or the Band of Gypsies (with Billy Cox and Buddy Miles)? Some fans choose the third option of the Hendrix/Mitchell/Cox trio that played together for a few months in 1970.
  • Noel Redding's two songs, "She's So Fine" on Axis: Bold As Love and "Little Miss Strange" on Electric Ladyland, tend to get a mixed reception from fans. Some find them twee and inconsquential; others think they're strong examples of psychedelic proto-Britpop, and others regard them as good songs in their own right but feel that they don't fit well in the broader context of Jimi's music.
  • Jimi's manager Michael Jeffery is a borderline Hate Sink for many of his fans, but some feel that while he wasn't exactly an ideal manager, the extent of his misdeeds, and his characterization as something of a Corrupt Corporate Executive, has been exaggerated.
  • Buddy Miles' work on the Band of Gypsies album is controversial amongst Hendrix fans (with his habit of singing and vamping incessantly tending to be particularly disliked).
  • The posthumous era in which Alan Douglas had control of the Hendrix catalogue is sometimes seen as an Audience-Alienating Era due to what some perceive as Douglas' over-production of the recordings, and his decision to replace the original covers of some of the albums with photographs of Jimi. The more recent releases, by the Experience Hendrix company, restore the original art and reverse some of Douglas' production choices.
    • On the other hand, Experience Hendrix has also come under fire from fans due to decisions such as their refusal to allow any of Jimi's music on YouTube.
• Common Knowledge: It's a fairly common belief that Noel Redding, who up until that point had only ever played guitar, was hired because Jimi liked his hair. While this was partly true, the main reason that Jimi and Chas Chandler offered Noel the gig was his ability to quickly pick up on chord changes. This wound up coming in handy when, at the end of a recording session, Jimi showed Noel and Mitch a song he'd just written ("The Wind Cries Mary") and the band cut the track in a matter of minutes.
• Contractual Obligation Project: The Band of Gypsies project came about because Jimi needed to record an album to fulfil a contract he'd signed with producer Ed Chalpin before his rise to fame.
• Covered Up:
  • "All Along the Watchtower," even by the original artist, Bob Dylan, who said that it was so perfectly played that Bob Dylan thought it was a Jimi-song, and he even prefers Jimi's version over his own original and plays it like Jimi Hendrix out of respect. Today, it's actually Hendrix' most streamed song on Spotify.
    Bob Dylan: It's not a wonder to me that he did my songs, rather, that he did so few of them, because they were all his.
  • "Hey Joe" was already a standard when Hendrix recorded it, being copyrighted by folk musician Billy Roberts. Other versions by The Leaves, The Byrds and Love preceded Hendrix's.
• Crazy Is Cool: Playing the solo in "Hey Joe" at the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival with his teeth.
• Creator Worship: Regularly tops lists of the greatest guitarists of all time. Regard for him among musicians, not even to mention rock fans, easily approaches godlike levels.
• Epileptic Trees: There are conspiracy theorists out there who belive that Jimi was murdered.
• Ensemble Dark Horse: Mitch Mitchell is well liked among drummers for his Jazz-infused playing style, and his chemistry with Hendrix, which lasted well after the Experience broke up. His drumming on "Manic Depression", "Fire", "Voodoo Chile"^* The jam with Steve Winwood and Jack Casady, not Slight Return., and "Third Stone From the Sun" in particular stand out.
  • In retrospect applies to Hendrix himself, considering that early on in his career he worked as part of Little Richard's band.
• Epic Riff: "Purple Haze", "Fire," "Foxy Lady"... Let's start over. Every song he does has an Epic Riff.
• Fandom Rivalry: With fans of Eric Clapton. Sometimes with fans of The Who as well, due to the Real Life rivalry between the two groups over who would play first at Monterey.
• First Installment Wins: While all three Jimi Hendrix Experience albums are regarded as classics - especially Electric Ladyland - it's Are You Experienced that remains highly ranked by critics and considered a must-have in any collection. It's also Hendrix's best-selling album and contains several classic rock radio staples (including "Purple Haze", which is the first song on the US edition of the album).
• Funny Moments: As noted elsewhere, "Purple Haze" contains a lyric that became a famous Memetic Mutation as people misheard it to say "'Scuse me while I kiss this guy." Apparently this kicked in almost immediately as Hendrix was not only aware of it, but there are numerous funny recordings of him doing the song and singing that version of the lyric! (This is actually one of a very few examples where the subject of a musical mondegreen not only acknowledged it but embraced it.)
• Germans Love David Hasselhoff:
  • Jimi toiled away for years in the United States, gigging constantly with little in the way of recognition to show for it. When Chas Chandler brought him to the United Kingdom, he virtually exploded out of the gate, almost immediately receiving recognition from famous musical peers such as Eric Clapton and Jeff Beck, with commercial success following soon afterward. Given that Jimi was paired with Mitch and Noel, two born-and-bred Englishmen, some fans even feel that the Experience is more of a British band than it is an American one. When he finally managed to get a US tour (with two Brits as his backing band), it was as an opening act for The Monkees, whose fans didn't care for his style (no surprises there) and booed him offstage on at least one occasion.
  • He had a lot of popularity in France—and even today, a lot of Hendrix fan sites are run by French people. In his autobiography, Noel Redding stated the Experience enjoyed playing the Paris Olympia, as they felt that French audiences really understood them. In fact, Jimi's first concerts with the Experience were part of a brief French tour supporting Johnny Hallyday in fall 1966.
• Harsher in Hindsight:
  • On Band of Gypsys, recorded on December 31, 1969, Hendrix wishes the audience a happy New Year and snarks "Let's see if we can make it to the next one" and does an exaggerated chuckle. Unfortunately, he didn't.
  • The last verse of "Voodoo Child (Slight Return)", the last song on his last studio album, ends with:
    If I don't meet you no more in this world
    I'll meet you in the next one, and don't be late
    Don't be late!
  • "The Ballad of Jimi" — a notorious song from 1965 in which Hendrix mourned himself for his death in five years. It went from weird to totally creepy when the prediction came true.
• Ho Yay: "Kiss this guy", anybody?
• Nightmare Fuel: "Hey Joe".
• Once Original, Now Common: A lot of factors conspire for Hendrix's achievement and contemporary impact to be consistently underrated, but Hendrix's effect on the musicians of his time and place cannot be over-emphasised. He raised the bar for everyone, but his innovations have been so widely imitated and absorbed into the rock mainstream that they've become cliches in their own right, through no fault of his own.
• Posthumous Popularity Potential: After his death in 1970, Jimi's reputation changed from being a popular guitarist to one of the great legends of Rock.
• Signature Song: of music released during his lifetime...
  • Are You Experienced: "Foxy Lady", "Purple Haze", "Manic Depression", or "Hey Joe"
  • Axis: Bold As Love: "Little Wing", "If 6 Was 9", or "Bold as Love"
  • Electric Ladyland: "Crosstown Traffic", "Gypsy Eyes", "Rainy Day, Dream Away", "All Along the Watchtower", or "Voodoo Child (Slight Return)"
  • Band of Gypsys: "Who Knows?" or "Machine Gun"
  • Singles: "Stone Free", "Burning of the Midnight Lamp", or "Stepping Stone"
    • Overall: "Watchtower" takes first, with runner-ups being "Purple Haze", "Foxy Lady", "Hey Joe" and "Voodoo Child".
• Sophomore Slump: Axis: Bold As Love is less well-regarded than Hendrix's debut.
• Tear Jerker: "Castles Made of Sand", "Little Wing", "Angel".
  • One from Eric Clapton, Jimi's Friendly Rival. Clapton stumbled on a left-handed Strat in a music store, and even though he knew Hendrix was wary of left-handed Strats (feeling the right-handed model was essential to his tone), Clapton still bought it planning to give it to Jimi as a gift. He just missed the opportunity though at a party they were both at, but thought "Eh, I'll give it to him later." A few days later, Jimi was found dead. According to Clapton, he still has the left-handed guitar to this day.
  • On the note of Clapton, the Derek and the Dominos cover of "Little Wing", recorded while he was alive as just a cover version but becoming by default a tribute to him, since he died before it was released.
  • "The Story Of Life", the last poem/lyrics Jimi ever wrote. Eric Burdon thought it was a suicide note, and tragically, that's never been fully ruled out.
  • No matter what you think was behind his death, it’s kind of bleak to think the (retroactive) greatest guitarist to ever live could be taken out like...that. And, by all accounts, he was just getting started.
• Vindicated by History: It took a while for him to be recognized as the most innovative guitarist in rock history, but it happened eventually, although some people are still unwilling to admit it.

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