43 years ago today. RIP Jimi Hendrix. (Damn, I feel old today!)

[11 Bravo]

[Le Taz Hot]

1. Shit.

He was the first. Move over on that "feeling old" bench.

[11 Bravo]

5. I was in the A Shau Valley and heard it over AFVN. (I can't remember the DJ, but ...

I know it wasn't Cronauer, he had been gone for years by then.)

[11 Bravo]

7. I was 19, and to be honest, while I was bummed out, my main concern was making it to 20.

[Laughing Mirror]

9. For me the emotion was surprise

I was in my room listening to the radio when I heard the news. I was almost 17. I had seen Hendrix with Buddy Miles in Baltimore only a few weeks or so before and he and the band were in tip-top form. Hendrix knew how to work a huge crowd, particularly a massive civics center enveloped in a cloud of marijuana smoke, among other kinds of smoke. Unimaginable today.

I had seen Hendricks twice before that time, and whoever the band he was playing with you could count on him to put on a great show. I knew he used a lot of drugs, most of them did, but Hendrix always seemed to be in control.

So when they made the announcement on the radio it was quite a surprise. And then sad. He was in a class by himself. There would be no more of his beautiful music. There would be no other like him. There couldn't be.

[Laughing Mirror]

11. He was already a legend before his death

Not only for his artistry, but just for who he was and everything he represented to so many people. It would have been difficult to find anybody who liked music who didn't like Jimi Hendrix.

He may not have had a string of Top 40 hits, I don't know, but all his albums were hits, I am sure.

And his performances were sell outs. At least the ones I was at.

[Aristus]

13. I agree. Hendrix's AATWT has got to be some kind of high-water mark for rock music.

Few other things even come close.

And while rap and hip-hop have produced some fine artists, I often wonder how many talented black musicians there are out there who could transform rock the way Hendrix and Prince have done. I like a little diversity with my rock and roll.

Welcome to DU.

[1-Old-Man]

3. I was in Pleiku when we got the news, Janis too.

[KT2000]

4. we may be old but

weren't we lucky to have the music we had then?
Hendrix took us to new places!

[Initech]

17. Hell yeah! Music had balls back in the 60's and 70's.

The Who, the Doors, Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, the Grateful Dead, Pink Floyd, Frank Zappa, the Eagles, CCR, Black Sabbath (both Ozzy and Dio), the Rolling Stones, the Beatles... this is music that people will still be listening to decades, if not centuries from now.

I'm 33 and I'm heavily embarassed by a lot of the music from my generation. Do you think 100 years from now people will still be listening to Linkin Park, or POD, or Staind, or Creed, Nickelback, Justin Beiber, Taylor Swift, Kanye West, Will.I.Am... hell no! As late, great Bill Hicks called them "demons set loose on the earth to lower the standards".

[Initech]

8. I stand up next to a mountain / I chop it down with the edge of my hand!

[nolabear]

14. That guitar is enshrined here in Seattle at EMP.

Experience Music Project. It's a wonderful place, and the best Jimi collection and exhibit anywhere. I haven't looked but I expect they have a good website.

[kpete]

16. 11 Bravo

my first date with Mr. Pete
1970 Honolulu, Jimmy Hendrix
He played the Star Spangled Banner
and ELECTRIFIED us!!!

amazing memory and great start to a 43 year old romance

peace,
kp