Did Jimi Hendrix ever have a number one single?
Jimi Hendrix wasn’t just a purveyor of electrifying performances; he held his instrument like it was a force of lightning, using his quest to shatter the mundanity of the music industry by exploding the very meaning of excitement into tiny pieces. Rising to fame as the counterculture movement began to disperse, Hendrix was, in other words, a much-needed wake-up call.
Most of these figures remember the exact moment they first crossed paths with such an unrelenting feeling of excitement. One was Pamela Des Barres, who was still bone-deep in the peaceful prance of counterculture when she opened the door to something that would forever redefine what she thought was musical energy. In her words: “Thundering from a shimmering guitar held by a vividly decked out gentleman with hair that stood out all over his head like electricity”.
Others were far more threatened, like Jeff Beck, who admitted he found his work “devastating” at first, feeling as though the presence of someone like Hendrix meant that his career was over. Beneath the fear, however, Beck enjoyed the power of such instantaneous excitement, admiring how Hendrix utilised all of the “dirty tricks” others were too afraid to do or far less equipped to pull off. As he put it: “[It was] all the great showmanship to put the final nail in our coffin.”
However, despite his immense talent and reputation, Hendrix is also a masterclass in commercial humility, proving that a lack of number ones or high charting positions doesn’t always equate to cultural impact or financial success. After all, throughout his entire career, he only ever achieved the coveted top spot once in the UK with his extraordinary track ‘Voodoo Chile’. While it didn’t achieve such a feat anywhere else, it perfectly showcased Hendrix’s signature improvisational style and ability to blend emotionality with raw technical proficiency.
So, what was Jimi Hendrix’s best-selling song?
While much of Hendrix’s work is credited with revolutionising many facets of rock and blues, his bend-selling song ever is one that was originally written by someone else. Released in 1968, ‘All Along The Watchtower’ far exceeded the success of his popular hit ‘Purple Haze’ a year earlier, establishing him as a master player in musical intensity, even when the source of energy wasn’t initially his, to begin with.
Completely turning the tide on what Bob Dylan described as “a small song of mine that nobody paid any attention to,” Hendrix immediately endeared himself to the song as though he had written it himself. As a result, he proved the one thing many admired about him: his ability to showcase the guitar as a fundamental storytelling component beyond its usual capabilities.
This transformed Dylan’s original’s impending doom, post-apocalyptic edge into something fully-fledged, leaving little room to misinterpret its intended message. With roaring guitar solos creating an expressive and unmistakable atmosphere of existential struggle, Hendrix proved that his technical mastery went further than mere proficiency, showing that he could use such sounds to reflect broader notes of chaos and uncertainty.
