The tribute that got Jimi Hendrix kicked off the BBC
What do Jimi Hendrix, Lulu, and Cream have to do with each other? The height of 1960s rock and roll, of course, but also a plot to bring down the BBC.
As much as this does admittedly sound like some convoluted conspiracy theory, it was actually a lot more straightforward, and downright belligerent, than you think. After all, this was 1969 – there was a sense shared by everyone of this being the last-chance saloon for a decade that had been so famously blistering in its politics and sound.
Essentially, if you didn’t make your voice heard in that moment, you were forever going to have to hold your peace, and time marched on, and a new era of power took dominance. In addition, without anyone knowing it, these would mark the last few months of Hendrix’s life. There was a quietly foreboding symbolism in how everything he did was go big or go home.
And so, we set the scene for Hendrix’s arrival, along with the rest of the Experience, onto the set of the BBC’s Happening for Lulu show in January 1969, where bands would perform and chat with the Scottish pop singer as the master of ceremonies. Given that it was her show, it doesn’t seem all that unreasonable that Lulu would want part of the action.
But Hendrix’s motto was that all the world was a stage, and this was his band’s moment to shine, and theirs alone. Subsequently, after storming through ‘Voodoo Child’, they were supposed to stand aside to let Lulu join in on the vocals of ‘Hey Joe’. But with the guitar god being his usual unpredictable self, he had other ideas.
Having only just started the song on the plan sheet, Hendrix suddenly stopped it to announce, “We’d like to stop playing this rubbish and dedicate a song to The Cream.” An impromptu rendition of ‘Sunshine of Your Love’ ensued, with Hendrix not only obviously having the intention to disrupt the flow of the show, but also to pay tribute to the recently disbanded supergroup, who were partly responsible for his first big break.
It was a slightly annoying headache of a stunt at best, but the BBC producers clearly viewed the random insertion of ‘Sunshine of Your Love’ into the running order as a world-ending disaster. As such, the performance was quickly brought to an end after the programme was pulled off air, and The Jimi Hendrix Experience were roundly told that they would never appear on the BBC again.
Come to think of it, as much as Hendrix would not ultimately live to see the day himself in the flesh, there was somewhat of an early marking in this act of resistance of what was to arrive later down the line in the ‘70s with punk. That was all rebellion, anti-establishment, and sticking up for your own cause – but wasn’t that what the guitar shredder was doing here, too?
It’s certainly something to think about in terms of considering all the classic eras of rock music and how to link their evolution together. Yet in the moment, Hendrix and his band were proud exiles of the BBC, wearing badges of honour in railing against convention and paying tribute to Cream. Really, the ‘60s had no better send-off.
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