Why was Jimi Hendrix such a big phenomenon?

Question

Why was Jimi Hendrix such a big phenomenon?

Answer 1

1

Answer 2

I'd say what made Hendrix so different, was his unique playing and performance style; also his timely lyrics and songs. He changed music because of his great influence on blues-rock, jazz and r&b artists from the mid 60's on. He was a noted figure of the late 60's 'counter-culture' movement; and civil rights, or 'black power' movements. Jimi pioneered innovations with live and studio effects. As a reference, you could also check out 'West Coast Seattle Boy' DVD/Anthology. This gives some of the most compelling descriptions of his influence, and info. about his younger -pre '61- life. Similarly, the 'Remastered Jimi Hendrix Experience- BBC Sessions' liner notes are especially informative. This recording definitely demonstrates Jimi's phonomenol-ness. (note that Hendrix opened a few dates for the Monkees '67 US summer tour/ also Little Richard claims Jimi got the headband idea from him..)

Answer 3

I am not a fan of hendrix. but this is what I can tell you. I am a musician.guitar player for thirty years.I play several of Jimi,s songs.foxy,purple haze. hey joe.and little wing, My Bass player is a fan had know chose but to learn these .At a time when music was changing Jimi came out with a sound that blew people away. I have read several interviews from Jeff Beck, Clapton.When hendrix was playing in London.They couldn,t believe what they were hearing. he was loud,and doing things with the guitar know one else, had thought of.When he finally came to the states. again people were wowed by his playing.He influenced a few players from that era.Robin Trower is one.He adopted his style and made it his own.A real mark on music.Not so much.Through out the years I am a seventies baby. never heard anyone pick up his style and run with it.Everyone copied it.But never took it to the next level.Now I am talking about main stream music.I have heard a couple of guys over the years that were in small bands who had takin hendrix to the heart.and made his style there own. But they were never able to make it big.

Answer 4

No one has had more of an influence on guitar players than Hendrix. He took the blues and rearranged it by the particles and atoms and made it his own. Nobody at that time was playing rhythm guitar like him. His chord/melody style is just amazing. He was influenced by many R&B guitarist especially Curtis Mayfield. He was really great at taking other peoples songs and making it his own. He was so good at this that the song he covered was always thought to be written by him. From "Hey Joe," to "All along the watchtower." Though he did covers he wrote many originals that have been covered by many: "Red House," "Voodo chile," and "Little Wing."

Answer 5

Like Norm's revelation, here. Also being aware of Link Wray's innovations preceding Hendrix. There are the things that he processed from others but most amazingly he processed 6x9 envelope wide open, and beyond. I remember hearing Electric Ladyland when it came out, and was left in a bewildered state of thought; "NATURALLY"!



Not crazy about the earlier statement about the other music of the time being "all crap".

Cream

Kinks

Pink Floyd

Grateful Dead

Buffalo Springfield

many more

and a bunch of Kraut Rock

Answer 6

he was such a phenomenon because he was an innovative guitarist and musician. he pioneered many of the common guitar styles of playing we hear today! while most musicians at the time were writing music to sell it, he made music that came from his soul. or it could have been a side effect of ecstasy.

Answer 7

listen to the other garbage from that era, then listen to hendrix.



essentially during that era, musical instruments were kind of an after thought in music, with the focus on singing.



then hendrix came and rocked the heck out on the guitar.



to see what i mean, listen to the monkees song "Im a believer" then listen to hendrix's voodoo child. they didnt come out the same year, but pretty close. like 1 year apart.

Answer 8

He was a great guitar player. He wrote a few good songs and died.





He didn't change the face of music as I can tell. Certainly Not blues. But I am not "schooled" in that area of music.

Answer 9

Hello there,



I think I can give you a much different perspective than the other answers. I was alive and listening to rock back then and even before Jimi (yep, I am that old). I started playing guitar in 1957, so I probably listened to music differently than most others at the time. They listened to see if they liked the music in general. I studied how the guitar player played and what he did. And I have the pleasure of watching Jimi play. He was amazing.



No, music was not all vocals back then. Heck, Dick Dale and Link Wray paved the way for a driving guitar sound. Link Wray was the great grandfather of distortion. Dick Dale was the King of Loud. And in response to those who think the instrument was not important, I guess they have never heard Nokie Edwards, Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page, or John Mayall.



Jimi was a hard working, gigging musician. He honed his craft working the Chitlin circuit. Nothing really like that these days, but that was a hard road. There were idiosyncrasies to Jimi's playing style and set up. Those were not accidental. He was fully aware of the tonal differences in what he was doing.



There were many good guitarists in the 50s and early to mid 60s. For ever one of those I named, I could have named 5 others. But Jimi was truly unique. He did things with a guitar I never dreamed of. Just watching him always blew my mind. Sure I am a nobody guitarist, but Jimi's fans were not all no-names. Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison and Eric Clapton were all big fans of Jimi long before he became the famous guitar icon. Two of those fans, Paul McCartney and George Harrison, had a major hand in Jimi's break through here in the US. They were organizers of the Monterrey Pop Festival (even though the Beatles could not play due to contract problems) and they arranged for Jimi to be included on the program. The rest is history.Jimi's historic performance at Monterrey was the spring board to his fame in the US.



Yes he was different from other guitarists. That is why so many guitarists of that period (and budding guitarists like Joe Satriani) were such big fans.



How did he change the face of music? He did, but it is hard to put into words. Friends used to think I was weird for listening to some left handed guy play blues on a right handed electric guitar turned upside down with strange distortion that ended up sounding like something from an acid trip (the term acid rock was not yet used, nor was psychedelic). Then after the movie about Woodstock came out in the theaters in 1970, I had all those folks coming to me saying I needed to check out this great new guitarist they had discovered. Yep, that same left handed blues guitarist, Jimi Hendrix. What was the difference? About 4 years. In that span of time, youth culture had fully embraced the hippie movement, acid rock was now a term, psychedelic this and that was all the vogue. And not that culture had a poster boy. A face for all to identify with. But that was all fluff. If there had been no real substance to Jimi's playing, he would be as well remembered by today's youth as Link Wray. Most artists are sponges. They (we) absorb all sorts of influences from life and interpret those and incorporate those influences into their art. Sure, Jimi did that, just like anyone else. But there was something new and something different about how Jimi presented that. That made what he did stick with other guitarists. He became the influence on their work and was incorporated into their art. Every time I overdrive my amp to get that sweet harmonic feedback, every thing I play an inverted chord, or do a wild slide, I am in my own way paying tribute to one of the finest and most unique guitarists every. But then I saw him play and he blew my mind.



And even with all the progress in playing styles and how the boundaries have been pushed ever so much father than 1969, when I hear certain techniques I remember Jimi did that. It still blows my mind.



Later,



Hello again,



Jimi did get a lot of guidance and tips from other blues and R&B players along the way. Curtis Mayfield and Steve Cropper were two. But his big influence was Little Richard. When Jimi was playing guitar in Little Richard's back up band, he decided he wanted to make his guitar do what Little Richard did with his voice.