Good thing Jimi Hendrix didn't depend on singles for a career. He came from Seattle but made his name in England. Jimi was re-introduced to America at the Monterey Pop Festival, where he lit his guitar on fire for a finale. His first 45, "Hey Joe," did nothing in the US, but was a Top 10 in the UK. This didn't crack the Top 50 in the States but made the British Top 5. Albums, however - that's where Hendrix became a guitar god. The intro to "Purple Haze" may have the most discordant opening notes ever, and yet it worked. Video is the Jimi Hendrix Experience live at a London club. Not a lot of guitar effects but you get the idea he made it look so damn easy.
4 comments:
For some reason, when I first heard PURPLE HAZE I thought it was a love song, just with strange inexplicable lyrics ("...some are happy---and in misery ...". Uhhhh---I think that might be "am I happy, or in misery?")
"Whatever it is, that girl put a spell on me" I figured to be about being smitten with infatuation.
It was 1967, I just turned 13, and had not the slightest knowledge of "drug addiction". Society was still pretty normal at the time. Things didn't start getting "weird" until at least a few years later.
I can understand a lot of AM Top 40 stations shying away from this record in 1967. Hendrix was a little too out there for that format, but perfect for album rock radio.
Actually the AM top-40 stations DID play this song quite a bit in October 1967.
it's probably the record buyers themselves (the 45-RPM buyers) who "weren't used to" the radical difference in style. That's why it didn't quite "make the grade" on the national chart (although it did seem to have top-40 status on a few local/regional charts).
The "college crowd" and high-school seniors, on the other hand (more into psychedelic and album purchasing), were already practically idolizing the guy.
AM top-40 radio stations and their programmers were more into record sales than the actual content of the recordings themselves.
They paid attention to the "numbers" on the charts more so than anything.
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