Jimi Hendrix: The guitarist so mystical Pete Townshend called him “bigger than LSD”
The 1960s was a revolutionary time for virtually all walks of art and culture. If you were being a little reductive, you could trace these revolutionary tendencies down to the advent of two things: guitars and drugs. Of course, both of these things had been readily available prior to the rise of the hippie generation, but it was not until the 1960s that some entrepreneuring rock and rollers decided to combine these two influences. The wrestling carnage changed musical history forever and gave rise to a new generation of gifted musicians like Pete Townshend.
As the primary songwriter for The Who, Townshend became a prevailing voice of Britain’s angry post-war generation during the 1960s. During the early years of the group, as disciples of the modernist subculture, the group’s sound was largely influenced by amphetamines, which goes some way to explaining the fast, loud and raucous playing style of the group. As the decade progressed, however, a new drug entered the market which changed everything: LSD.
Acid opened artists and songwriters up to an entirely new world of creative expression, so it should come as no surprise that virtually every decent rock outfit during the late 1960s was mainlining LSD on a daily basis. Everybody from the adolescent misfits of Jefferson Airplane to the fresh-faced pop stars of The Beatles had their own flirts with LSD, and, by and large, the results were pretty commendable. The Who were, by no means, an exception to this growing trend and although their music was rarely as spaced out as Revolver or Surrealistic Pillow, even Townshend could not deny the all-encompassing influence of acid.
The impact of LSD on music and culture has never really gone away, but if there was one musician who dwarfed the influence of mind-altering substances, it was Jimi Hendrix. As Townshend has attested to, Hendrix completely altered the lineage of rock history; nobody had played like that before, and despite many pretenders to the throne, nobody has done so since. Any discussion surrounding the greatest guitarists of all time is not complete without the mention of Hendrix, and quite rightly, too.
Most people experience the guitarist by listening to his many albums and live recordings, but, according to Townshend, you cannot fully appreciate the guitarist unless you see him live. Writing in Rolling Stone back in 2010, The Who guitarist shared, “I feel sad for people who have to judge Jimi Hendrix on the basis of recordings and film alone; because in the flesh he was so extraordinary”.
Expanding upon the unique quality of Hendrix’s performance, Townshend said, “He had a kind of alchemist’s ability; when he was on the stage, he changed. He physically changed. He became incredibly graceful and beautiful. It wasn’t just people taking LSD, though that was going on, there’s no question. But he had a power that almost sobered you up if you were on an acid trip,” before adding the final endorsement: “He was bigger than LSD”.
That final snippet is particularly noteworthy, given the rise in psychedelia that Hendrix caused through his own songwriting and musical performances. LSD might have been an incredibly influential drug on the rock scene of the 1960s, but the influence of Jimi Hendrix remains utterly undeniable even today, over five decades after his untimely death.
