Guitar god and hippie icon Jimi Hendrix | All media content | DW | 27.11.2017

We use cookies to improve our service for you. You can find more information in our data protection declaration.

More info OK
  1. Inhalt
  2. Navigation
  3. Weitere Inhalte
  4. Metanavigation
  5. Suche
  6. Choose from 30 Languages

Culture

Guitar god and hippie icon Jimi Hendrix

Some call him the greatest guitarist of all time, but Jimi Hendrix was much more than a rock'n'roll star. He transcended boundaries in just four short years, and influenced generations of guitarists to come.

  • Jimi Hendrix Experience (picture-alliance/United Archives/TopFoto)

    The Jimi Hendrix Experience

    England, 1966: Jimi Hendrix, drummer Mitch Mitchell (left) and bassist Noel Redding as the newly formed The Jimi Hendrix Experience. Their first album was released a year later, and "Are You Experienced" climbed to number two in the UK Charts, just behind the Beatles' – who were Hendrix fans — "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band."

  • Jimi Hendrix on stage 1967 (picture-alliance/AP Photo)

    'Experience' in Monterey

    Off to the US, where Hendrix played alongside The Animals, Janis Joplin, The Who and various other top acts at the Monterey Pop Festival in June 1967 to a crowd of 90,000 — many more than the expected 10,000 festival goers. Hendrix's wild show included smashing and burning a guitar. As the "Los Angeles Times" put it, Jimi left the stage having "graduated from rumor to legend."

  • Jimi Hendrix plays guitar with tongue (picture-alliance/dpa)

    Teeth, lips, tongue

    A guitar was more than just an instrument to Jimi Hendrix – it was also a playground and a sex object. Left-handed, Hendrix had his right-handed guitars restrung with the bass string on top. It changed everything, becoming the basis of his signature sound. Playing with his teeth or tongue was just one of the many ways he expressed his unique style.

  • USA Woodstock 1969 - Jimi Hendrix playing the guitar (picture-alliance/MediaPunch/P. Tarnoff)

    Music history in Woodstock

    August 1969: Jimi Hendrix was the headliner, and scheduled to play the grand finale on Sunday evening at the Woodstock festival. For various reasons, it was Monday morning before he came on stage. Most of the 500,000 visitors had already left. Undeterred, Hendrix played a legendary two hour set — and the most famous solo of his life on "Star Spangled Banner."

  • Jimi Hendrix on stage at a festival in Fehmarn, 1970 (picture-alliance/dpa)

    His last festival

    September 1970: Wet and stormy weather delayed Jimi's performance at the "Love & Peace" festival on the Baltic Sea island of Fehmarn. 25,000 fans were miffed and many booed as he walked on stage a day late. Jimi's response: "Boo, boo....I don't give a fuck if you boo, as long as you boo in key....you mothers." The weather cleared, and Jimi played another epic 90-minute set.

  • Casket and mourners, Jimi Hendrix funeral (picture-alliance/dpa)

    Last curtain call

    Fehmarn was Jimi Hendrix's last big live concert. On September 17, he performed with Eric Burdon & War in a club in London. In his hotel room later that night, he couldn't sleep. He resorted to a fatal mix: a bottle of wine and a lot of sleeping pills. Jimi Hendrix choked on his own vomit and died of asphyxia. He was laid to rest in his home town of Seattle on October 1, 1970.


  • Jimi Hendrix Experience (picture-alliance/United Archives/TopFoto)

    The Jimi Hendrix Experience

    England, 1966: Jimi Hendrix, drummer Mitch Mitchell (left) and bassist Noel Redding as the newly formed The Jimi Hendrix Experience. Their first album was released a year later, and "Are You Experienced" climbed to number two in the UK Charts, just behind the Beatles' – who were Hendrix fans — "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band."

  • Jimi Hendrix on stage 1967 (picture-alliance/AP Photo)

    'Experience' in Monterey

    Off to the US, where Hendrix played alongside The Animals, Janis Joplin, The Who and various other top acts at the Monterey Pop Festival in June 1967 to a crowd of 90,000 — many more than the expected 10,000 festival goers. Hendrix's wild show included smashing and burning a guitar. As the "Los Angeles Times" put it, Jimi left the stage having "graduated from rumor to legend."

  • Jimi Hendrix plays guitar with tongue (picture-alliance/dpa)

    Teeth, lips, tongue

    A guitar was more than just an instrument to Jimi Hendrix – it was also a playground and a sex object. Left-handed, Hendrix had his right-handed guitars restrung with the bass string on top. It changed everything, becoming the basis of his signature sound. Playing with his teeth or tongue was just one of the many ways he expressed his unique style.

  • USA Woodstock 1969 - Jimi Hendrix playing the guitar (picture-alliance/MediaPunch/P. Tarnoff)

    Music history in Woodstock

    August 1969: Jimi Hendrix was the headliner, and scheduled to play the grand finale on Sunday evening at the Woodstock festival. For various reasons, it was Monday morning before he came on stage. Most of the 500,000 visitors had already left. Undeterred, Hendrix played a legendary two hour set — and the most famous solo of his life on "Star Spangled Banner."

  • Jimi Hendrix on stage at a festival in Fehmarn, 1970 (picture-alliance/dpa)

    His last festival

    September 1970: Wet and stormy weather delayed Jimi's performance at the "Love & Peace" festival on the Baltic Sea island of Fehmarn. 25,000 fans were miffed and many booed as he walked on stage a day late. Jimi's response: "Boo, boo....I don't give a fuck if you boo, as long as you boo in key....you mothers." The weather cleared, and Jimi played another epic 90-minute set.

  • Casket and mourners, Jimi Hendrix funeral (picture-alliance/dpa)

    Last curtain call

    Fehmarn was Jimi Hendrix's last big live concert. On September 17, he performed with Eric Burdon & War in a club in London. In his hotel room later that night, he couldn't sleep. He resorted to a fatal mix: a bottle of wine and a lot of sleeping pills. Jimi Hendrix choked on his own vomit and died of asphyxia. He was laid to rest in his home town of Seattle on October 1, 1970.


More in the Media Center

Bob Dylan

Bob Dylan's entire catalog of songs sold to Universal Music 07.12.2020

Woodstock Festival

Woodstock 1969: a shift in pop culture 01.08.2019

Pressebilder Woodstock Diary

Iconic festival: Woodstock in film 12.08.2019

Der kolumbianische Musiker Cesar Lopez hält einen Escopetarra

The Colombian musician turning guns into guitars 15.11.2019

Read also

Jimi Hendrix | US-amerikanischer Musiker

Jimi Hendrix: Still a legend 50 years after his death 17.09.2020

Many fans revere Jimi Hendrix as the best guitarist of all time. With his innovative style and extreme performances, he revolutionized rock music like no other.

Musikerin Joan Baez Konzert Insel Grafenwerth

Joan Baez turns 80: How she made me a political person 08.01.2021

The singer-songwriter, who has just turned 80, is a folk music icon who fought for civil rights and against the Vietnam War. DW's Susanne Spröer recalls how Baez changed her life. 

Sänger Bob Dylan

Universal Music Group buys Bob Dylan's musical back catalog 07.12.2020

One of the most valuable properties in the industry, blockbuster deal brings Bob Dylan's entire 600-plus song catalog to Universal Musical Publishing Group.

Deutschland Saman Haddad Bonn | Portrait

How Saman Haddad became a transcultural ambassador in Germany 26.12.2020

Saman Haddad came to Germany at the age of 13 as the child of Iraqi refugees. Now, he's a well-known cultural figure in Bonn, unafraid to do things his own way.