Content-ID: <0_6572_823996199@emout04.mail.aol.com.301165>
Content-type: text/plain

Name: Jason Rush
Language: English
Subject: U.S. History
Title: Jimi Hendrix
Grade: 92%
System: High School
Age: 17
Country: U.S.A
Comments: A good report on Jimi Hendrix'x music career

Content-ID: <0_6572_823996199@emout04.mail.aol.com.301166>
Content-type: text/plain;
	name="HENDRIX.TXT"






Jimi 
Hendrix
















Jason Rush
Am. History, Hr. 2
Mr. Marsh
May 23, 1995



Jimi Hendrix


	Jimi Hendrix, the greatest guitarist in rock history, 
revolutionized the sound of rock.  In 1967, the Jimi Hendrix 
Experience rocked the nation with their first album, Are You 
Experienced?.  Hendrix's life was cut short by the tragedy of drugs in 
1970, when he was only twenty seven years old.  In these three years 
the sound of rock changed greatly, and Hendrix’s guitar playing was a 
major influence.
	Jimi was born in Seattle, Washington on November 27, 1942.  
As a young boy, whenever the chance came, Jimi would try to play 
along with his R & B records.  However, music was not his life long 
dream.  At first, the army was.  In the late 1950’s, Hendrix enlisted in 
the 101st Airborne Division.  After sustaining a back injury during a 
jump, he received a medical discharge.  After his army career came to 
an abrupt end, he decided to go into the music field.  By this time he 
had become an accomplished guitarist, and was soon to become 
known as the greatest guitarist ever  (Stambler, pg. 290).
	However, he did not start out at the top.  Jimi started out 
playing as part of the back-up for small time R & B groups.  It did not 
take long before his work was in demand with some of the best 
known artists in the field, such as B.B. King, Ike and Tina Turner, 
Solomon Burke, Jackie Wilson, Littler Richard, Wilson Pickett, and 
King Curtis (Clifford, pg. 181).  Using the name Jimmy James, he 
toured with a bunch of R & B shows, including six months as a 
member of James Brown’s Famous Flames (Stambler, pg. 290).
	At the Cafe Wha! in New York, in 1966, Hendrix decided to 
try singing.  Jimi lucked out when a man by the name of Charles 
“Chas” Chandler from Eric Burdon's Animals heard him at the club 
and thought he was sensational.  When Chas heard him again later 
that year, he talked Jimi into moving to England where he would 
really get the chance to start his career (Stambler, pg. 290).
	Along with Chas, Hendrix auditioned some musicians to 
complete the new Hendrix group.  They choose Mitch Mitchell, a 
fantastic drummer, and Noel Redding, one of England's best guitar 
and bass players (Stambler, pg. 290).
	In 1966, at the Olympia in Paris, the Experience debuted.  One 
year later, the Experience was breaking attendance records right and 
left at European clubs.  When the Monkees toured England in 1967, 
they heard Jimi and liked him.  The Monkees asked Hendrix to join 
them on their tour through the U.S., and Jimi was on his way home 
(Stambler, pg. 290).
	"Jimi's erotic stage actions, suggestive lyrics, and guitar-
smashing antics..." did not go over well with the Monkees' fans or 
many adults.  Being criticized over and over again forced the 
Experience to be dropped from the tour (Stambler, pg. 290).
	This however did not get Hendrix down.  By the end of the 
year, the group was invited to the Monterey Pop Festival.  Jimi won a 
standing ovation for the "...nerve-shattering sounds from the group's 
nine amplifiers and eighteen speakers, topped by Jimi dousing his 
guitar with lighter fluid and burning it..." (Stambler, pg. 291).
	Hendrix became popular overnight, and his shows became 
standing room only.  His stage acts were so wild, Time magazine 
described it as:  "He hopped, twisted and rolled over sideways 
without missing a twang or a moan.  He slung the guitar low over 
swiveling hips, or raised it to pick the strings with his teeth; he thrust 
it between his legs and did a bump and grind, crooning: 'oh, baby, 
come on now, sock it to me.'...For a symbolic finish, he lifted the 
guitar and flung it against the amplifiers."  Time (April 25, 1968).  His 
specialty became the way he used feedback, which up until now was 
an undesired sound.  Using his guitar and the feedback it created, he 
was able to generate sounds which were used to his advantage in 
creating his unique style.  This style is copied today by modern rock 
artists; however, this style is duplicated today with the use of special 
equipment, such as synthesizers. 
	Are You Experienced?, Electric Ladyland, Axis: Bold as Love, 
and Smash Hits were all platinum albums.  For the year of 1968, 
Billboard named him Artist of the Year; and in August he played a 
heart-stopping performance of the Star Spangled Banner at 
Woodstock.  His fame did not last forever though.  In 1969, the 
Experience broke-up.  However, Hendrix claimed it was not forever, 
but was just a chance for the members to develop their musical 
abilities.  Then Jimi's drug addiction became worse.  In Toronto, he 
was arrested for possession of heroin (Stambler, pg. 291). 
	None of this held him back from his music though.  He played 
with other rock artists such as Buddy Miles and Billy Cox, and their 
album, Band of Gypsy's, won a gold record.  In 1969, he was chosen 
as the Artist of the Year by Playboy.  His career seemed limitless, but 
the heroin use caught up with him (Stambler, pg. 291).
	On September 18, 1970, he was found dead in his room from a 
drug overdose.  He was only twenty seven years old.  His music has 
not been forgotten, as it is still popular today.  If his addiction had not 
overcome him, he could still be revolutionizing the style of rock 
today




Bibliography


1.	Stambler, Irwin.  The Encyclopedia of Pop, Rock, and 	
		Soul. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1989.


2.	Clifford, Mike. The Harmony Illustrated Encyclopedia of 
		Rock. New York: Harmony Books, 1988








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