Jimi Hendrix Experience Essay, Research Paper

The Jimi Hendrix Experience released its first album in early 1967. Popular music had been leaning

towards psychedelics for a couple years already and Are You Experienced? came out at about the

same time as the Beatles’ Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. Are You Experienced? far

exceeded the Beatles’ triumph in complexity, capturing the essence of the late 1960’s culture.

Naturally the newer band did not share the immediate success of the Beatles. But its staying power

has been testified to by several generations.

The British version of Are You Experienced? contained a few subtle differences. Most prominent

were the absence of “Purple Haze” and the addition of Hendrix standard “Red House”. “Purple

Haze” caught fire in America after the Monterey Pop Festival and became Jimi’s signature song.

Although it was said to have endless verses, Jimi generally sang only the shortened version from the

album (with a few ad lib changes). The single was sent to radio stations with a note: “This song was

intentionally distorted. Do not adjust.” Are You Experienced?, as with most of the Experience’s

music, sounds heavy no matter how many times you listen to it. In actuality, the stony “Purple

Haze” is about as close as they ever come to hard rock. The next song, “Manic Depression” comes

in strong with the opening chords and then reveals Mitch Mitchell’s trademark rolling drums. It also

contains another of Jimi’s solos worth listening to by any new or Experienced fan.

Chas Chandler chose the quietest song on the album to give the world its first taste of The Jimi

Hendrix Experience. Its first single was “Hey Joe”, a song written by turn-of-the-century bluesman

Billy Roberts. The first bars of “Hey Joe” leave no doubt that it is being handled by a master. It

quickly climbed the British pop charts, topping out at number 2 (behind “Lucy in the Sky with

Diamonds”). No other song written or performed by Jimi Hendrix had as much success as this one.

When there are other people around, it makes you feel alive. But when you sit alone and listen to

the music, every chord catches in your throat. “Love or Confusion” has happened upon me more

than once when I was suddenly realizing the dispair of yet another relationship. If the answer to his

question is not obvious during the song itself, Jimi answers it for you with his very last whisper.

“Love or Confusion” is a wicked twister of emotion. It shakes you up and when you lose your

sense of direction, it drops out from under you, leaving you to fall mercilessly to the depths of

reality. That’s when “May This Be Love” enters to let you down easily. Mitch turns on the soft roll.

Jimi sings sweetly about his waterfall. The pace picks up, getting hectic for a moment when Jimi

recalls the other people in this world, with their plans. But they can do whatever it is that they do.

Jimi doesn’t care, and neither do I, as long as I have my waterfall.

“I Don’t Live Today” goes through a couple of lead-in verses, but it wastes little time getting to one

of the most psychedelic minutes in rock. At the apex, Jimi cries, “Ah, There ain’t no life nowhere!”

When you hear it the statement is oddly comforting. The song leads out with Jimi pleading

repeatedly to you: “Get Experienced.”