The only facet that let Jimi Hendrix down, according to Stephen Stills
When Jimi Hendrix burst onto the scene, music was caught unaware. After being plucked from the New York club circuit by former Animals member Chas Chandler, who was now hoping to make it in talent management, he was taken to London, and a group was formed that could facilitate his rare talent: The Jimi Hendrix Experience.
His fusion of hard rock and blues was unlike anything anyone had ever heard. The tender, melodic moments were of an intergalactic essence that appealed to those losing themselves in the excitement and narcotic use of the counterculture, and his furious, heavy moments were so assertive that it made the ears ring and people wonder just how this strange left-handed player could forge such a sound.
Not only was Hendrix’s remarkable playing ability so exciting and refreshing to hear, but it was also significant in that it made the already-established rock acts of the era sit up and pay attention. A ballsy player, on June 4th, 1967, he opened his storied show at the Saville Theatre, London, with a rip-roaring cover of The Beatles’ ‘Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band’. Not only had he covered a new song by the world’s biggest band that had only been out for a week, but he did it in front of Paul McCartney, who was blown away by it and the rest of the show.
It wasn’t just McCartney who was astounded; the likes of Pete Townshend, Brian Jones, and other members of world-famous and pioneering rock bands were in attendance. While The Beatles member was nothing but overjoyed that Hendrix had confirmed himself as a big fan of his group by playing the Sgt. Pepper’s opener so brilliantly, and quickly after the album arrived, but his contemporaries had the dawning realisation that they had to up their game, or they’d be left behind.
This is something that The Who guitarist and creative director Pete Townshend has spoken about on numerous occasions. He espouses a sense of jealousy about his American counterpart’s talent and rues the fact that he was the one who suggested he should use the Sound City and Marshall amp combo to take his incendiary sound up a notch.
Although Hendrix undoubtedly changed guitar playing, it’s interesting that many other fellow six-string heroes have expressed misgivings about his work. Even the late Eddie Van Halen, whose explosive style was given a formative context by the ‘Purple Haze’ star, with him also informing his way of holding the pick, thought he was a “sloppy” player. Van Halen also noted that Hendrix’s guitar would often be out of tune and distanced his approach from his own, saying that he always believed the guitar couldn’t keep up with his vision, which is quite laughable. Hendrix inspired everyone, including Ritchie Blackmore, one of Van Halen’s biggest heroes, whose heavy use of string-tapping and divebombs he pilfered.
It’s not just Hendrix’s playing that people have taken issue with. Countercultural rock innovator Stephen Stills, one of his day’s most accomplished players and songwriters—evidenced by his work in two of the era’s defining groups, Buffalo Springfield and CSNY—thought Hendrix could have been a much better songwriter.
Although Stills knew that Hendrix was the “hottest” guitarist of his era, for him, he would have been even more profound if he had written better songs. “If Hendrix had written better songs,” Stills told the NME in 1973, “He would have been so hot because, without a doubt, he was the hottest guitar player around. Oh, was he hot!”
It seems remarkable that Stills would make such a pernickety complaint about the man who wrote classics such as ‘Purple Haze’, ‘Little Wing’, and ‘Spanish Castle Magic’, particularly only three short years after his death. However, Stills, during this period, was battling heavy alcohol and cocaine abuse. I wonder if he still thinks that of Hendrix today. Time has made his efforts even more astounding.
