It is really strange how a lot of people just don't get Hendrix - even some people who are otherwise capable and credibly good musicians. I can remember listening to Hendrix for the first few times (at 16) after after a diet of Eric Burdon, Stones, Kinks and Beatles - it sounded like a din - at first! Then as the ear and brain tuned in to it I started listening more and more - and then found I could listen to little else.
My cousin, a few years younger laughed at me for being hooked on it - and then at the age of 25 sheepishly admitted that I was right.
No other musician I am aware can achieve that vibe - what seems like an almost perfect translation of brain to instrument (then to ear to pleasure centres of the brain). If you don't get it - you aren't listening right! And it still works for me nearly 40 years later.
“Brits make up half the top 10 in the "100-greatest" list compiled by Total Guitar magazine from thousands of votes by readers and celebrities.
Left-hander Hendrix, who famously played his instrument with his teeth and behind his head, perfected his flamboyant style in the clubs of Greenwich village in New York.”
November 27, 2009
Total Guitar top 20:
1. Jimi Hendrix.
2. Jimmy Page.
3. Eric Clapton.
4. Slash.
5. Brian May.
6. Joe Satriani.
7. Eddie Van Halen.
8. Dave Gilmour.
9. Kirk Hammett (Metallica).
10. Steve Vai.
11. Carlos Santana.
12. James Hetfield (Metallica).
13. Tom Morello (Rage Against The Machine).
14. Kurt Cobain (Nirvana).
15. Mark Knopfler (Dire Straits).
16. Zakk Wylde (Ozzy Osbourne).
17. Gary Moore.
18. Jeff Beck.
19. Stevie Ray Vaughan.
