Jimi Hendrix died on September 18, 1970 of an overdose on sleeping pills.  He was 27.

The Runaway Hippie

Jimi Hendrix came onto a scene which had never seen the likes of him before. He started out going backup guitar in bands which were not his own, often stealing the spot light and being kicked out of band after band. His aptness to be a star was clear from the beginnings of his career. In his short life, Jimi made a huge impression on the art world. His amazing musicality along with his cool style caused frenzies - he liked to make an impression. Big hair, big hats, bold prints as well as colors and hippie chic accessories are only some elements of his extensive wardrobe.

Stone Free

Stone free is ones of the songs in this album which channels a major theme of the album, and of the era at large. It is about the pressures of mainstream society and avoiding the toll which it can take on someones liberty and individuality. In this song in the opening stanza Jimi exclaims
"Everyday in the week i'm in a different city
If i stay too long people try to pull me down
They talk about me like a dog
Talkin' about the clothes i wear
But they don't realize they're the ones who's square"

In this he immediately draws in an audience of people who have been beat down by the stigmas of society and allows them to feel as if they are not alone. The minority is banned together in this song and with this beginning it allows for them to carry on their own struggles against those who persecute them for their differences. Jimi Hendrix said "All I'm gonna do is just go on and do what I feel." and that he did. He exuded a sense of bravery that manifested in his choosing and not choosing to do something. His songs conveyed his beliefs and this song in particular shows his conviction in those said beliefs.

He "cannot be tied down", and is reaching out to the majority to say that "it's so easy to break". Although he says its easy to break, the song has a sense of continuous movement. He is always moving because the pressures of society are catching up to him. This leads me to believe that he did not have an easy time always staying true to himself but because he knows it is worth it he picks up and moves again. He stays stone free so that he can "ride the breeze" and "stay free". By ride the breeze, he is referring to following his whims, doing what he pleases - whether that entails illegal actions i do not know but whatever it was it was potentially unacceptable in normal society.

Jimi liked to move around. His lifestyle was about innovation, and the style of this song it truly innovative. His raw talent and strong will combined allowed his song to go beyond being societal dissent, it allows him to in a way, rise above society. Being stone free there is nothing holding him down but the ordinary person is weighted to the ground. The freedom to be subject to your own emotions and not a ruling power is the utopia which Hendrix is pointing towards, but there is a sense of not being their yet - even himself - in the song also. The journey does not end when the song does, it begins.

The tone of the song is friendly yet resolute. He refers to the listener as "baby" and speaks in a relaxed way, as well as reaching out to the listener to experience it for them self. He truly believes in his music as a way of portraying his vision. So become stone free, be who you are and follow your own intuition to the ends of the earth. There is no need for him to change for other people and therefore he treats his audience as a whole, no hierarchy and no culprits and idols. He is saying that society has it all wrong and the way to live is in a loving and free atmosphere.

Hendrix, an Inspiration for Personal Creativity

Jimi Hendrix fan and follower, Chloe Arnow, plays an acoustic version of Hendrix's Purple Haze, the first song on the Are You Experienced Album.

She then discusses the reasons why she believes the album was iconic in the sixties and remains today, one of the most important rock albums of all time.

Jimi and his Guitar

Jimi got his first guitar when he was sixteen.  He told his dad about a deal for a secondhand acoustic guitar for five dollars and his dad agreed to buy it from him.  From that day forward, Jimi and the guitar were inseparable entities.  A year later, he bought Jimi an electric guitar.  While Jimi was a lefty, both of these guitars bought by his father were righty guitars.  Jimi therefore learned to play with the neck upside-down.  In the summer of 1961, Hendrix enlisted in the army; however the young man could not stay away from his music and soon formed small bands on the side of his army duties.  One of the men in his small army band, Billy Cox, became Jimi’s bassist in the Gypsies after Noel Redding left The Jimi Hendrix experience.  In 1962, Jimi left the army, realizing that it simply did not mesh with his personality type. 

Jimi continued to play back up guitar for many bands and was on his guitar as often as possible.  Jimi "expanded the range and vocabulary of the electric guitar into areas no musician had ever ventured before to create new sounds through both his technical ability and his creative genius.  When recording his lyric parts in  the studio, Jimi would do so using an acoustic at all times to keep himself focused, grounded and centered.  Therefore, even when listening to only the vocal tracks of the album, one can hear the mesmerizing sound of the Hendrix guitar in the background.   No matter how wild Jimi's life would become, he held one thing steady throughout and that was his guitar.  At a point, Jimi became at one with his instrument and it was as if the music simply poured out of this heart and soul with the help of his five stringed tool.  This was stated by a critic for the British music magazine Melody Maker who said, "he had great stage presence and looked at times as if he was playing with no hands at all".  Jimi Hendrix did not introduce his music saying "I'm Jimi Hendrix and this is music", but rather would say, "I am music".

Recognition of the Album

The Are You Experienced Albums is widely acknowledged as one of the greats of all time.  Here are some of the honors it has received. 

1984: Ranked sixth by Creem magazine in a list of the top ten metal albums of the 60’s.
1994: Ranked most influential guitar album of all time by Guitarist magazine  
1995: Purple Haze was ranked number two by Guitar magazine in a list of heaviest guitar riffs
1999: Included in a list of 100 essential albums of the 20^th Century by Vibe Magazine
2000:  A poll from Guitar World Magazine listed it as the greatest album of the millennium
2001: Named the fifth greatest album of all time by VH1
2003: Ranked Number fifteen on Rollin Stone’s list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time
2003: Named greatest guitar album of all time by Mojo Magazine  

#13-17: Wrapping Up the Album

The last five songs of the Are You Experienced Album have a very different tone than the first 12.  They are mellower, less psychedelic, an easy transition to the ending of one crazy album.  The change begins with 51^st anniversary, as this is the first time that Hendrix even addresses getting old and moving on.  He talks about relishing in his youth and saving every last moment he can where he is not tied to any serious commitments.  The next song, track number fourteen on the album, discusses the ‘highway chile’, the man who has lived through a crazy childhood, who has been hardened and almost exiled from civilization due to his rebellious actions as a youth.  Here Jimi talks about what he possibly sees in his own future, looking beyond the parties, and playing music, ahead to the time where “his old guitar slung across his back, his dusty boots is his Cadillac, Flamin’ hair just a blowin’ in the wind, ain’t seen a bed in so long it’s a sin”.  Hendrix states that while a future society may label this man as a tramp, he can see deeper than that, because he can see what he once was.  He can see that he is a highway child.  This term can be interpreted in two ways.  The first is more literal; a highway child is like a motorcycle dude, a man hardened by years of running with no place to call home.  The term can also be taken to mean a man who took the high road as a child, who sucked all the pleasure he could out of his youth and now lives in his own post-golden age world.   

The next song, Can You See Me, leaves the futuristic tense and goes back to Hendrix not wanting his golden age to end.  He says “Can you see me? Begging you on my knees…Baby please don’t leave”.  This song not only cries to an era begging it to continue, but it also screams to every listener to really pay attention and to hear what Jimi is saying.   As the album comes to a close, this is Jimi’s last beg for all of his fans to listen and try to understand his purpose for the album.  It is a funal reminder to “open up your ears …you better come home like you supposed to do”.

Remember is also a song looking back, reminiscing about the good old days.  An interesting aspect about these good days is that Hendrix characterizes them as a time when the birds used to sing.  This suggests that Hendrix believes that in any good time, music will be playing. 

The last song of the album, Red House, is bluesy, and sad, a very soft smooth song that allows the listener to exit the album and their album experience with a nice easy taste in his or her mouth. 

From the Eyes of a Hippie

Ex-Hippie Leornard Cavise discusses the importance of music in during the hippie movement:

"Before going to demonstrations, we used to fire up some loud rock and roll to get ourselves pumped up for the demonstration and the confrontation with the cops.  Jimi Hendrix was not political.  He was a lover.  The album Are You Experienced was truly ground-breaking for a lot of reaons: it was a challenge to be as alive as possible, but this energy and excitement was achieved through  Jimi's incredible guitar lead. He was always stoned and that had an effect on us as well.  He could do thinkgs like light his guitar on fire while still playing it.  He pushed the boundaries and everybody loved that about him.

Cavise is now a professor at DuPaul University in Chicago.

Iconic Performance: 1967 Monterey Pop Festival

This was the defining point of Jimi's debut performance in the United States.  Jimi takes his guitar and burns it later saying, "It was like a sacrifice.  You sacrifice the things you love.  I love my guitar.  I'd just finished painting it that day and was really into it."
He and the band were already a hit sensation in the U.K. but at this point were only a small buzz in America.  The performance was so big that it set the stage for the release of the Are You Experienced Album in the U.S.

Are You Experienced in the Library of Congress

Each year, the Library of Congress picks 50 audio recordings to be preserved in the National Recording Registry.  These audio recordings are   are culturally, historically, or aesthetically important, and/or inform or reflect life in the United States.  In 2005, Are You Experienced was chosen to be preserved.  Examples of other audio pieces that have been preserved are F.D.R.’s fireside chats radio broadcasting, Kate Smith’s God Bless America, Frank Sinatra’s Songs For Young Lovers,  and The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.  NPR did a short program on this selection.  The link can be found below:

http://www.npr.org/v2/?i=6491823&m=6507843&t=audio

In the NPR clip, there is a story about a young fifth grade girl who when asked why she like the album Are You Experienced, she replied, “it makes me want to go into my room and paint and write things”.  This shows why the album is so iconic and is still listened to today.  It is not just dancing music, it is not trendy music.  The music is an entire experience which brings out the creativity in a person.  It makes them not only think, but also makes them feel and desire to feel more.  It makes a person dig deep into their own artistic and creative abilities and wish to exploit them. 

Generations

The song 51^st anniversary can be seen as a song directly addressing the generation gap between the hippies and their parents.  The song first discusses the happiness of the older generation with their marriages, their lifelong commitments saying “fifty years they been married and they can’t wait for their fifty first to roll around”.  This static ideology is at first ironic sounding as for much of the album, Jimi talks about going through life day by day, with no commitments, stone free, constantly changing depending on his personality of the day.  In the middle of the song however, Jimi changes his entire perspective talking about the down sides of marriage, about the adulterous lovers and makes it seem as if the responsibilities of children are overwhelming.  Hendrix discusses this aspect of marriage however when talking about the newer marriages, the marriages between lovers of his generation.  Therefore, The Jimi Hendrix experience suggests that while marriage and lifelong commitments worked wonderfully for their parents and the older generation, they are impossible to put up with for the younger generation, a group of youth that is free and without a chain.  At the end Hendrix says “I and ready, Let me live”.  This takes his point to the extreme suggesting that marriage marks the end of living, and therefore, that the older generation, while they seem to be happy, it not really living at all.           

The Ups and Downs of the Experience - The Bipolar Nature of the Album

The Are You Experienced album is all about extremity, exaggerating on every aspect to ensure that the listener understands the point that is trying to be made.  Listening to the album takes you on a journey through the soaring highs and the bleak lows of the album, seemingly with no middle ground in between.  It is a non-stop rollercoaster that does not slow down until the very end. 

This suggestion of life in the extreme is first seen in Purple Haze as Jimi Hendrix sings “am I happy or in misery?”  It seems as if Hendrix feels so much but has a difficult time analyzing and understanding his feelings.  This can be seen in the song Love or Confusion where the lyrics state “my heart burns with feeling, but my mind, it’s cold and reeling”.  This adds to understanding the purpose of the album: to experience.  When experiencing, it does not matter that you do not understand your emotions.  All that matters is that you go into the experience and obtain the burst of feeling you get from it.

Of course not understanding your emotions can be a very confusing thing to live with, and can be frustrating at times.  Jimi expresses this frustration in manic depression,  a bipolar disorder where one experiences intense spurts of emotion, of both extreme highs and scary lows.  This bipolar nature is seen throughout the album as often the songs alternate where a happy and dreamy song is juxtaposed with a  frustrating and chaotic one.  The fourth song on the album, Love or Confusion is very tense and chaotic, while the next song, May This Be Love, is peaceful, relaxing, and an emotional high.  The listener is brought right back down however as the next song is I Don’t Live Today, a fast paced and altogether confusing song.  The song then changes, again abruptly changing tone, as the next song is The Wind Cries Mary, the most conventional sounding love song on the album.  It is beautiful and fast, nothing like the next song, Fire. 

Purple Haze Throughout the Decades

Purple Haze, the first song on the Are You Experienced Album, is one of Jimi's most iconic and remembered songs.  These are a few clips of the covers of the songs.  They show its versatility and its appeal to a diverse group of people with various musical interests and taste.  Purple Haze is truly a classic. 

In 1989, this heavy metal cover was played by Ozzy Osbourne and Zakk Wylde. 

This cover of Purple Haze was made at the turn of the century by the Vitamin String Quartet.  This version is without drums but still has the consistent beat that is so prominent in the song.  It is an energetic, yet beautiful version. 

This 2010 cover of Hendrix's song captures the trendy electronic sound of this decade.  It is done by Benny Benassi, a Grammy award winning DJ



There are many more covers of this song that can be found.  When Purple Haze is searched on youtube, over 6,000 versions come up.  Here is one that is played with a seven string acoustic guitar.  In your free time, search Purple Haze.  See what cover you like the best!

Journeying Through the Guitar Solos

Jimi’s first solo can be heard in the middle of Purple Haze.  This first solo eases us into Jimi’s guitar skills as it is impressive, but not extremely crazy.  Jimi’s next solo in Manic Depression on the other hand is overwhelming.  This song is all about the frustration built from bipolar feelings, the soaring highs and the desolate lows.  The solo goes along with the feeling of two personalities as in the beginning it sounds like there are two guitars playing it, one that is clean and crisp, and one that is angry and fuzzy.  The tension builds in the beginning as Jimi climbs up a scale slowly.  It then explodes with a fast and furious sound that is non-stop.  The solo then goes back to a slow part.  There is never a medium.  The solo in Hey Joe also goes with the tone of the song as it is very bluesy and syncopated just as the rest of the song is. 

The entire song changes pace during the solo of Love or Confusion.  The rhythm speeds up and the chaotic nature of the music interlude takes the listener through the cold and reeling mind of the artists.  While the lead guitar draws the attention during the interlude (perhaps because of the sheer magnitude of the volume), the backup guitar (also recorded by Hendrix), drums and bass have large parts as well.  All play a steady rhythm but together create a chaotic tone about the music.  The backup guitar does so by mixing with the lead guitar, making the listener unable to focus on any one part.  The bass plays with a consistent rhythm but plucks at different notes each time making the listener unable to decide which note will come next.   For the drum part, only specific drums are played, making the sound the instrument makes very consistent, but the actual beat is constantly changing.  Altogether, the music both very appealing to listen to, but can also be unbearably confusing. 

In I Don’t Live Today, Jimi talks about being unable to live happily.  The lyrics are depressing and bleak, and seem hopeless.  The doomed situation goes deeper down as Jimi plays the wah-wah pedal into a desperate solo.  The solo is frenzied and crazy as if it is a final attempt to live.  The song closes with Jimi asking to get experienced, to leave the darkness for a new life tomorrow. 

Jimi’s versatility on the guitar is shown in his solo in the wind cries Mary, where he forgets his crazy rocker feedback sound for a more clean and crisp Santana-like sound.  It is a beautiful touch to a beautiful song. 

The fact that the solos are very methodical and go along with the tone and purpose of the song shows how much the musical aspect of the songs meant to Jimi.  As crazy and chaotic as the solos sound, they were very carefully planned out by Jimi prior to recording.  This was necessary as complete segments of the songs were dedicated to musical interludes. 

Even when he is not playing an “official” guitar solo during a time designated to showcase the guitar, Jimi’s guitar can be heard playing riffs throughout the whole song.   

 

Cover Art

Fuzz, feedback, and distortion resonated with feeling of controlled chaos in the early 1960's.  The Jimi Hendrix Experience's first album debut exemplified sound that brough color and shapes into the imagination due to the sound as well as the creatively coordinated lyrics.  The art which went along with the music of the album conveys clearly the ideas presented.

The original album cover was produced by Bruce Fleming in Europe and it aired in Britain release May 12th, 1967.  Later, Barclay Records in France produced the more famous cover with swirling colors and psychedelic shapes showing a photo of the band performing on a French show.  The bright yellow cover that was created under track records for the United States had lage purple letters where the the colors are distorted just as the music.  The band looks cooler than ever in the center of the album cover, as they exude a sense of energy through their clothing and demeanor.  While Jimi Hendrix is the starring figure head of the album, the cover shows that the band is a unified front that together as one created sounds that changed the world.

The feeling of the cover is one of ease as well as excitement.  The shapes are trippy.  The letters are spaced and shaped to allow the onlooker to begin the experience which the album truly is.  It is the first impression of the music that the consumer has and it does a good job of conveying the wild and colorful beauty of the music.  The album cover is one of the most memorable ones of the era as it exemplifies the drug culture which existed and shocked the population (often in a positive way).  Everybody has to listen to the album that conveys a unique vibrancy. 

The UK Album cover


The US album cover.  As time passed, the Jimi Hendrix Experience took a turn for the psychedelic.  This can be seen in their change in album art in just a few short months. 

Are You Experienced? Analysis of the Song that Took the Title

Many Listeners immediately associate the song Are You Experienced with drug usage, believing that when Jimi asks “are you experienced” he means, have you ever done drugs; while drugs may sometimes be an ingredient in the experiences Jimi claims to have had, there is so much more to the song than this one aspect.  In the second verse, the claims that experiences are very personal and involve going against the grain to follow what makes you happy.  Jimi sings “but who in your little world are you trying to prove that you’re made out of gold and, eh, can’t be sold”.  This suggests that having experiences does not mean you have convinced yourself and society that you are living life.  Experiences do not include what is considered enjoyable by those around you and they are not about outside influences creating a false sense of enjoyment.  True experiences are about following your desires to rise to your full potential and create an individual that you love, an individual that is completely at peace with their role in the world.   This relates to Ken Kesey’s desires to take the acid movement beyond the drugs.  The drugs were too mainstream, becoming too much of a group project.  Kesey wanted to use drugs to take each individual person to a higher form of themselves and this is what Jimi calls for in his song.  The last line of the song says the experience is “not necessarily stoned, but beautiful” suggesting the final result of the experience is a person that has accomplished Kesey’s purpose of moving beyond the drugs to something higher.  The song is almost a dare and taunt to listeners to provoke them to find their experiences.   

This song takes the name of the album because it sums up what the project means as a whole.  It reminds listeners that in his album, Jimi takes us through his own life, relationships and ups and downs, taking us through his experiences.  It reminds listeners to forget that the album is a top forty record.  It reminds them that they should not listen to it because it will make them cool in the eyes of their friends, that it will “allow them to prove they are made out of gold”, but to listen to it for the experience and to become one with the music that Hendrix creates. 

The Mind Behind the Music - Manager Chas Chandler

Chas Chandler was the producer of the Jimi Hendrix Experience.  Although he and Jimi were said to have been polar opposites, they fit together perfectly, like yin and yang. 

Chandler began his musical career as a bassist.  He is most well known for his work as bassist of The Animals.  The animals broke up in 1966 however so Chandler was left to look for a job.  Chas first heard Jimi playing at a small bar in New York City (before Jimi became famous).  It was said that Chandler heard Hendrix playing a short riff from the song purple haze backstage and there and then took him in under is management.  Shortly afterward, Chandler convinced Jimi to relocate to London, where the guitarist would meet up with his two other band members, Mitchell and Redding. 

Chandler kept the group on task but not so much so that he stunted their creativity.  One reason why the group was so sucesssful was that their producer found the perfect balance between work, and play in order to allow the members to take their innovation to new levels, but not so much so that it hindered the timeliness of production.  The Jimi Hendrix Experience created songs in one day when producing their first album.  Money was short, and the more time in the studio, the more money was charged to the band.  Chandler made sure that songs were prepared the night before so that the band could get in and out of the studio as quickly as possible.  The song The Wind Cries Mary was written after work one night and its recording was finished by the next afternoon.  In addition, Jimi liked to play songs that were relevent in his life ona  particular day.  He would write a song, and record it the same day, writing a new song for recording the next day. 

After Jimi’s death, Chandler went on to manage and produce other rock bands, such as the English band, Slade.  In 1977, Chandler briefly played the base again for the Animas short reunion.  He died in 1996 of a brain aneurysm. 

In The Studio With Olympic Records

Music engineer Eddie Kramer discusses what it was like to work in the studio with Jimi and provides insights as to how the incredible sounds on the Are You Experieced album were produced.

History of Hey Joe



The first time the song Hey Joe was recorded was not as the third song on the Are You Experienced Album.  In fact, this song was a very popular rock song to record and cover during the 1960’s.  The song discusses a man who has shot his girl and is running away from his old life to Mexico.  While some claim the song is a traditional folk song sung long before the sixties, it was officially copyrighted in 1962 by Billy Roberts.  The song was first largely recorded in 1965 by the Leaves and later recorded by many other bands before Hendrix recorded it for his 1967 album.  The Leaves’ version is very different from Hendrix’s however as it is upbeat, and has a more frantic and frenzied tone to it.  The lead singer often screams the lyrics making it seem as if ‘Joe’ must run immediately or else he will be caught.  The Leave’s version is a very conventional rock song.



Hendrix took the song and slowed it way down.  It has a bluesy feel and sound sad as if Jimi pities Joe’s position.  A choir-like sound is heard in the background of the song singing soft oohs-and ahhs, harmonizing throughout the song.  The intensity of the song escalates midway through leading up to Hendrix’s solo when Mitchell plays a sort of drum roll on the snare and Hendrix screams “I shot her!”   This suggests a lack of remorse from the Joe character who got caught up in his emotions and acted based on how he felt, disregarding the law.  This happened very often in the sixties as many people came out of the state of complacency and went against the rules to follow their desires.  We saw this in the Electric Kool Aid Acid tests where Ken Kesey broke the law and like Joe, fled to Mexico. 

The Jimi Hendrix Experience made Hey Joe famous as theirs was the only version that made the top forty charts. 

Keeping The Beat with Mitch Mitchell



Mitch Mitchell, born John Ronald Mitchell, was born in 1947.  Before focusing on his music, Mitchell acted, starring in the BBC television series Jennings as a child.  Mitchell soon quit his acting career to center his vocation on music.  He was part of many bands before joining the Jimi Hendrix experience (in 1966) including Frankie Reid and the Casuals, The Pretty Things, Johnny Harris and the Shades, The Pretty Things, The Riot Squad, Georgie Fame and the Bleu Flames, and even played in concert for The Who while they were looking for a replacement drummer.  The day after Mitchell was fired from Georgie Fame and the Blue Flame in 1965, Chas Chandler, Hendrix’s manager, called him to audition for the new band “The Jimi Hendrix Experience”.   Mitchell was selected to join the band, an action that defined most of his carreer.

Mitchell was much more than just a beat-keeper for Hendrix.  He was very influential during the creative songwriting process before the recordings.  In fact, at times, Hendrix and Mitchell would record songs without bassist Noel Redding.  Mitchell was a talented musician and had his own style, and would not be tamed (he was supposedly fired from the band The Tornados because he refused to tone down his improvisation while playing).  Mitchell was one of the first drummers to play in the style known now as fusion drumming, which incorporates a more jazzy feel and allows the drummer to be more free with his or her playing.  This can especially be heard on the song Third Stone From the Sun, where Mitchell incorporates bursts of riffs into his ever changing drum beat. 

Mitchell briefly stopped working with Jimi when The Experience disbanded in 1969, but collaborated with him again in 1970 to create a new band with bassist Billy Cox (original bassist Noel Redding did not rejoin).  When Hendrix died in 1970, Mitchell continued to work on his albums, helping to edit the many recordings that Jimi had created before his death.  Two posthumous albums were released with Mitchell’s help, “The Cry of Love” and “Rainbow Bridge”.  Mitchell did not record any new music at this time. 

In 2008, Mitchell died at age 61 while on tour celebrating the legacy of Jimi Hendrix.  He was the last living member of the original Jimi Hendrix Experience. 

Interesting Fact: Mitchell was chosen as drummer for the Jimi Hendrix Experience by luck; he was selected using a coin flip.

Here is a clip where Mitchells musical talent and innovative abilities can clearly be seen. 

About The Album

Are You Experienced was the debut album for the Jimi Hendrix experience, a new British band consisting of lead guitar and vocals by Jimi Hendrix (an unknown at the time), bass by Noel Redding, and drums by Mitch Mitchell .  Before the album was released as a whole, three double-sided singles (Hey Joe and Stone Free on the first in 1966, Purple Haze and 51^st Anniversary in March of 1967, and The Wind Cries Mary and Highway Chile in May of 1967).   The Album was then released in May of 1967 in the UK and reached number two (it was unable to surpass The Beatle’s Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Clun Band) remaining in this spot for eight straight months.  The three singles were not included on the album.

While The Hendrix Experience was immediately a huge hit in the UK, it was not largely popular in the United states until late June of 1968 when Hendrix preformed at the Monterey Pop Festival in California.  This performance was iconic because Hendrix burned his guitar, an action that was caught on tape and wildly broadcasted.  The success of the performance prepared Hendrix for his U.S. album release.  Because the United States had not yet heard the six hits released as singles in the UK, these were added to the American version of the album.  In order to make room for these, Red House, Can You See Me, and Remember were removed.   In addition, the album cover art was changed.

In 1987, as part of their 20th anniversary, Rolling Stone magazine ranked it #5 on "The 100 Best Albums of the Last Twenty Years."  In 1997, Al Hendrix, Jimi’s father won the rights to the Are You Experienced Album.  Because of this, the album was rereleased including all of the songs from both the UK and US versions.   

The Musicality of The Experience

While Jimi Hendrix’s lyrics are rich and full of meaning, an equally, if not more important aspect of his songs is the music played behind the singing (especially the legendary Hendrix guitar) as there is much symbolism in the instrumental parts of the song.  Even before Purple Haze, the first song on the album, begins, there is a sort of musical count off.  This is traditionally done by the drummer (clicking his sticks while saying “one, two, one two three four”), but in Purple Haze, it is done by Jimi’s psychedelic guitar; it tells the listener that this is the instrument that will lead the album, keeping it steady, while also taking it far beyond the traditional rock album.  The set up of the songs on the Are You Experienced Album are not necessarily unconventional.  Many are in four four time, have steady beat, and have verses a chorus and a bridge; however Hendrix, along with his talented band members (Noel Redding on the bass and Mitch Mitchell on the drums), uses his brilliant artistic creativity to weave musical twists and effects into his songs that are unheard of with any other band of the time.  

Jimi’s album did what a lot of the concept albums of the time could not.  He combined the brainpower, symbolism, and purpose with the grit and hard core rock experience that he loved so much.  The album is focused on getting the experience and going through the whole think with a fearless and chaotic guitar playing leader.   When asked about his emotions while playing, Jimi said “Everybody should have a room where they can release so my room was the stage”.

Get Experienced

"Oh, but are you experienced?  Have you ever been experienced?  Well, I have" -Jimi Hendrix