Jimi Hendrix
Year: 1970; Age: 27
iconz
Between the spring 1967
release of Hendrix’s bombastic
first studio LP, Are You
Experienced?, and his death
three short years later, he
became the guitar god to
which all other guitar gods
would be measured. Most
impressive, though, was how
his talent seemed to just pour
right out of him. “His playing
was effortless,” Rage Against
the Machine’s Tom Morello
once said. “There’s not one
minute of his recorded career
that feels like he’s working
hard at it – it feels like it’s
all flowing through him.” He
was capable of hard-rocking
pyrotechnic displays – both
musically and literally, such as
when he set his guitar on fire
at Monterey – and he could
also play the most touching
meditations like “Castles Made
of Sand.” His final album, Band
of Gypsys, even found him
exploring funk. A year after he
played a searing, psychedelic
rendition of “The Star-Spangled
Banner” at Woodstock, he
was found dead. The artist,
who was known for his drug
use, had ostensibly choked
on his own vomit after
taking barbiturates; officials
deemed it accidental but
did not rule out suicide as
a possibility. He’s since
remained an inspiration to
several generations of six-
string players, thanks to a
steady stream of posthumous
releases, documentaries
and films about him. “I think
the reason musicians love
Hendrix’s playing so much is
that the language of it was so
native to his head and heart,”
John Mayer once said.
“He had a secret relationship
with playing the guitar, and
though it was incredibly
technical and based in theory,
it was his theory. All you heard
was the color. The math is
what’s been applied ever
since.” KG
“There’s no
t one minut
e of
his recorde
d career th
at
feels like he
’s working h
ard
at it – it fee
ls like it’s a
ll
flowing thr
ough him.”
iconz magazine