The Most Famous Image in Rock ‘N’ Roll History

[Alan Grayson]

Last edited Tue May 27, 2014, 11:43 AM - Edit history (1)

[p]Thanks to Howie Klein of Blue America PAC, our contributors through today and tomorrow have a chance [strong]to win a Jimi Hendrix Platinum Album Award [/strong], for the album [em]“Are You Experienced?”[/em]

[p]I guess that we could have told you, “You’ve heard the name Jimi Hendrix, right?   Well, ‘nuff said.”
[p]Or we could have told you, “It’s a platinum album, and platinum is a
precious metal.  It’s shiny, and it’s pretty.  And also round.  ‘Nuff
said.”
[p]But I wanted everyone to understand what a truly awesome opportunity this
is.  So I explained a couple of days ago that this is the RIAA-certified
platinum album award for the album that [em]Rolling Stone[/em] called the 15^th greatest album in history – by[strong] [/strong][strongthe performer whom [em]Rolling Stone[/em] called the greatest guitarist in history[/strong]. ]
[p]Now I want to tell you about the intimate ties that this album has to what probably is the single most famous image in history – a still photo of [strong]Jimi Hendrix burning his guitar at the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967, and summoning those flames to rise and rise [/strong].
[p]If Woodstock was the Jupiter of all rock music festivals, then the
Monterey Pop Festival was the Saturn of all rock music festivals.  There
were 20 hours of music, over three days.  Here is a partial list of
performers:

• Simon and Garfunkel


• Lou Rawls


• Country Joe and the Fish


• Canned Heat


• The Steve Miller Band


• Jefferson Airplane


• Laura Nyro


• Otis Redding


• Ravi Shankar


• Buffalo Springfield


• The Grateful Dead


• The Who


• The Mamas and the Papas, and . . .

[p]The Jimi Hendrix Experience.
[p]The Monterey Pop Festival established California as the center of the ‘60s counterculture, and it was the inspiration for Woodstock, two years later.
[p]The Beatles were supposed to perform at the Monterey Pop Festival, but Beatles music by this point had evolved to include orchestras and all sorts of musical special effects, so they were reluctant to perform live.  Instead, Paul McCartney enlisted two groups for the Festival: 
The Who, and . . .
[p]The Jimi Hendrix Experience.
[p](Rumors of a Beatles performance were so pervasive that a member of the band [em]The Monkees[/em] walked onstage in the middle of the [em]Grateful Dead’s[/em] set to inform the audience that the Beatles were not attending the festival in disguise.)
[p]Jimi Hendrix performed toward the end of the last day of the festival.  Hendrix began his set with a few songs written by others, but then he played his favorite songs from the album [em]Are You Experienced?[/em]:

• “Hey, Joe”


• “Can You See Me?”


• “The Wind Cries ‘Mary,’” and


• “Purple Haze”

[p]He finished with “Wild Thing,” by The Troggs, and then he got down to work – [strong][link:https://secure.actblue.com/contribute/page/jimi?refcode=DU&amount=20&recurring=48|dousing
his electric guitar with lighter fluid, setting it on fire, smashing it to pieces, and then tossing the pieces into the frenzied audience ][/strong].  This is how [em]Rolling Stone[/em] described it:
[p][em]"When Jimi Hendrix set his guitar on fire at the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival, he created one of rock's most perfect moments.  Standing in the front row of that concert was a 17-year-old boy named Ed Caraeff.  Caraeff had never seen Hendrix before nor heard his music, but he had a camera with him and there was one shot left in his roll of film.  As Hendrix lit
his guitar, Caraeff took a final photo.  It would become one of the most famous images in rock and roll."[/em]
[p][em]Rolling Stone[/em] colorized the image, and placed it on its cover.[span style="text-decoration: underline;| [/span]
[p]Here is what others have said about that moment:
[p]Author John McDermott: "Hendrix left the Monterey audience stunned and in disbelief at what they'd just heard and seen."
[p]Author Gail Buckland:  "Hendrix kneeling in front of his burning guitar, hands raised, is one of the most famous images in rock."
[p]Author and historian Matthew C. Whitaker: "Hendrix's burning of his guitar became an iconic image in rock history and brought him national attention."
[p]The [em]Los Angeles Times: [/em]with this action, Hendrix "graduated from rumor to legend."
[p]And here is how Hendrix himself explained it: "[strong]I decided to destroy my guitar at the end of a song as a sacrifice. You sacrifice things you love. I love my guitar [/strong].”
[p]So one of our supporters will be fortunate enough not only to have the platinum album award for the 15^th greatest album in history, but an award that embodies and memorializes what may very well be [strong]the single most famous image of the single most famous moment in rock ‘n’ roll history [/strong].
[p]Would you like to be that fortunate supporter of our campaign?  [strong]Then click here[/strong].
[p]Today and tomorrow.  That’s it.
[p]. . . And thank you for your support.
[p]Courage,
[p]Rep. Alan Grayson[br /][br /][br /]

[Sunlei]

1. ok I donated! the platinum album is mine!!

[johnp3907]

2. "Yes I know I missed a verse. Don't worry."

The Monterey version of Like A Rolling Stone is amazing!

[argyl]

3. Janis was also there with Big Brother and the Holding Company