Last blog, I talked about Brian Jones, a founding member of the Rolling Stones who is also a member of the infamous 27 Club. In case you missed that blog, the 27 club is the name given to several blues and rock stars who never made it past the age of 27. Many of those in the 27 Club, such as in the case of guitar god Jimi Hendrix, succumbed due to drug use.
Jimi Hendrix has been dead for almost 40 years, yet there is hardly a young boy with rock-n-roll dreams that doesn’t pick up a guitar and learn some Hendrix song. Jimi’s career only spanned from four brief years, but Rolling Stone magazine still named him the #1 Greatest Guitarist of All Time in 2003.
After playing with various acts around New York City, Hendrix made it big in 1966 when he formed his band, The Jimi Hendrix Experience in London. Keith Richard’s girlfriend met Hendrix at the Cheetah Club. She also introduced him to Chas Chandler, bassist for the Animals who was looking for someone to manage. It was Chandler who got Hendrix a gig opening for Cream, which featured another great guitarist, Eric Clapton. The Jimi Hendrix Experience released their first album, Are You Experienced to rave reviews. It featured the classic singles “Hey Joe/Stone Free,” “Fire,” “Purple Haze,” “The Wind Cries Mary,” and “Foxy Lady.”
Next, Hendrix played the Monterey International Pop Festival in 1967, which would forever link him visually to pop culture. When most rock fans even hear the words “Monterey Pop,” they immediately picture Hendrix kneeling before his burning guitar. However, the good times were over for the Jimi Hendrix Experience, as the band broke up in 1969 after releasing three albums.
Hendrix also headlined another small pop festival in the late 60s that you might have heard of – Woodstock. But, he was often condemned for his version of the National Anthem, a performance in which he used his guitar to simulate war sounds such as bombs and guns.
Great as he was, Jimi had a drug problem. He liked hallucinogenic drugs, particularly LSD, but he was also a fan of speed, sleeping pills, and marijuana. In the morning of September 18, 1970, Jimi was found dead in a London flat. Reports were that he had been drinking and taking Vesperax, a sleeping pill, and simply asphyxiated on his own vomit. With just a little over two months to go before his 28th birthday, Jimi Hendrix was dead. Not a very pretty way for a rock legend to go, huh?
Two down in the 27 Club, but still more to go. Next up, another legend from the 60s, The Doors’ Jim Morrison.