Elijah Blumov

Annotated Bibliography: Jimi Hendrix

 

James Marshall Hendrix, better known as Jimi Hendrix, could easily be argued to be the most influential musical figure of the late 20th century, if not of its entirety. As a guitar player, he was innovative beyond the scope of any predecessors or peers, and with a manic emphasis on high gain, volume, feedback, and distortion effects, transformed the landscape of electrical music, carving out a new, post-British Invasion epoch of modern musical expression. Bringing new life to both new and old traditions, Hendrix engulfed, revolutionized, and anticipated a dizzying breadth of genres, becoming an instrumental and critical influence on Blues, Psychedelia, Hard Rock, Progressive Rock, Funk, Avant Garde, Pop, and Heavy Metal. At the peak of his powers, Hendrix was an American and global phenomenon, and, during the latter half of his career, the highest paid musician in the world.

Furthermore, Hendrix  embodied and transmuted the zeitgeist of the Vietnam War era perhaps better than any other musician of his time,  most famously exemplified during his headlining performance at Woodstock, where his controversial rendition of the Star Spangled Banner, which for many conjured images of a troubled, war-torn America (or, alternatively, the sheer glory of the American heritage), became lauded as a pivotal moment in musical and political history, the New York Post even going so far to say that it was the “single greatest moment of the sixties”. Tragically, after producing only three albums, Hendrix died at the tender age of 27 after overdosing on barbiturates. Such an early death however, served to function as a form of martyrdom in the eyes of the American public, and his iconic status was sealed, facilitating his ascension to become forever exalted alongside Elvis Presley as the American patron saint of Rock ‘n Roll.