Why Jeff Beck thought Jimi Hendrix death was a “hoax”
Lists of top guitarists of all time will often rattle off the big names in rock music, usual suspects including Jimi Hendrix, Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton and Jimmy Page. Without intent to take anything away from these extraordinarily gifted musicians, the “guitar hero” label is often thrown disproportionately in favour of guitarists who rose to worldwide fame in pop music of the late 20th century.
That said, broadly speaking, the unsung talents of session guitarists and nameless jazz virtuosos lacked the elements of creative perception and showmanship crucial to recognition. Guitarists like Jeff Beck and Jimi Hendrix are revered at the top of their game because they surfed on a popular wave just before it broke. They helped take electric blues innovation to its pinnacle just before we were distracted by glam and punk rock.
Many of these electric guitar heroes of the late 1960s became well acquainted with the London rock scene and fuelled progression through friendly rivalry and inspiration. “When I saw Jimi, we knew he was going to be trouble,” Beck recalled in a 2021 interview with Louder Sound. “And by ‘we’, I mean me and Eric [Clapton] because Jimmy [Page] wasn’t in the frame at that point.”
“I saw him at one of his earliest performances in Britain, and it was quite devastating,” he continued, humbly revealing his envy. “He did all the dirty tricks – setting fire to his guitar, doing swoops up and down his neck, all the great showmanship to put the final nail in our coffin. I had the same temperament as Hendrix in terms of ‘I’ll kill you’, but he did in such a good package with beautiful songs.”
“I don’t want to say that I knew him well, I don’t think anybody did, but there was a period in London when I went to visit him quite a few times,” Beck added later. “He invited me down to Olympic studios, and I gave him a bottleneck. That’s what he plays on Axis: Bold As Love. We hooked up in New York and played at Steve Paul’s club, The Scene.”
In October 2022, just three months before his death, Beck joined his A-list friend Johnny Depp on SiriusXM to discuss their recent musical collaboration. During the conversation, Depp discussed Beck’s lesser-known influence on Hendrix. “It’s nice to remind these people, ‘Hey… Jimi Hendrix wouldn’t have played the same way if it hadn’t been for that guy,’” Depp said, pointing to Beck. “I mean, that’s a really strange concept to put into your head.”
In the song ‘In From the Storm’, a track that appeared on The Cry of Love, Hendrix lifted the catchy riff from The Jeff Beck Group’s 1969 song ‘Rice Pudding’. After Depp mentioned Hendrix, the SiriusXM host reminded listeners of the late guitarist’s touching tribute to Beck in his posthumous solo album. “He did,” Beck affirmed, remembering the tribute. “That is… That’s… I mean, I can die happy when I know that he played that,” he added, putting his hand over his heart to show respect from one virtuoso to another.
Later in Beck’s 2021 conversation with Louder Sound, he recalled the moment he was informed of Hendrix’s death. Not long before, Beck’s girlfriend had dumped him leaving him in a depressive state. His first knowledge of the tragedy was a call asking him for a reaction to the news, but he couldn’t quite accept this second hit of bad news.
“Reporters got the number of my flat the day he died,” Beck revealed. “I was suicidal at the time because my girlfriend had dumped me. And to have to deal with a call saying, ‘Jimi Hendrix is dead. How do you feel about that?’ At first, I thought it was a bloody hoax, but as the day wore on, I realised it was tragically true.”
Listen to Jeff Beck’s ‘Rice Pudding’ and Jimi Hendrix’s ‘In From the Storm’ below.
