True - no one in the US, that is... Jimi had already exploded on the UK music scene before he returned to US soil... and actually more interesting that... there was a battle backstage as to who would end the the MPF... Jimi supposedly lost out to The Who (one reference I saw claimed it was decided by a coin toss, altho I can't verify that).

From Wikipedia:

The festival may have become legendary because of the first major American appearances by Jimi Hendrix (who was booked on the insistence of board member Paul McCartney) and the Who. Jimi Hendrix huddled backstage before the Monterey Pop Festival with Pete Townshend, Janis Joplin, and Brian Jones. When Townshend insisted that Hendrix headline over the Who that day, Hendrix said, "I'm going to have to pull out all the stops." Hendrix then blazed through a 45-minute set capped by setting his guitar afire, then smashing it and throwing the remnants into a delirious crowd who were watching Hendrix's first-ever American show.

 

Yeah I have the Monterey show on my computer. You can download it from a number of sources.

I think the reason Jimi Hendrix is "Jimi Hendrix" was not because he was the best guitar player or the most talented. I think those awards go to Page and Vaughan. But what Hendrix was able to do was have no separation at all between himself and the guitar. I mean any video you see of him playing, you can see that. It's amazing and I've never seen it with any other player. I think that's what sets him apart.

 

ever heard the theory that eric clapton and paul macartney killed jimi

 

lol I've heard that. Definitely not true. I've heard the same thing with Vaughan, with also Clapton lol.

 

You make a great point on Jimi and "no seperation between himself and the guitar"... so true.

Jimi perhaps most creative? Hard to debate "best" as it is all quite subjective... Big fans of them all. Its is amazing how much of Vaughan's style references Jimi's playing. Stevie definitly made it his own, but the roots/inspiration of his playing are w/o question.

I think for me, Jimi's music was an awakening... and it lead me to many other great musicians, but my journey all started w/ him.

As an aside, let's not forget Robert Johnson...

 

Well yeah Robert Johnson, to some extent, invented 12 bar blues. I mean he's the Godfather of all haha. Have you heard the story where he made a faustian pact and the Devil gave him blues music? And that's why so many blues musicians (himself and Jimi included) died at 27 or around that age. Haha obviously a crazy story, but still pretty cool to read.

But yeah you're right, "best" is subjective. He was extremely creative though for sure. I mean he sold IMO "artsy" music to the mainstream. And it had been a long time since anyone had done that. People like The Who were still making music that appealed to a lot of people. I mean I love The Who, don't get me wrong, but they weren't as experimental as Jimi. But Jimi was able to take his experimental stuff and sell it like it was a Beatles album which IMO, was just brilliant.

 

jimi is BETTER than everyone else b/c he influenced everyone else


same goes for kurt cobain.. as a songwriter he was amazing, as a guitar player he was very sloppy, but he changed the way people approached song writing... he crossed genres and even hip hop artists loved nirvana

 

lol MTK, you're the man dude. But if you put Kurt Cobain in the same thread as Jimi, Page or Vaughan lol, something's wrong.

 

Although I agree, Kurt Cobain was never in the same league as Jimi, he did something very similar that Jimi did...he was able to go against the grain of contemporary music and be successful in doing so.

 

what they both did was alter perception, and if you can't see that they shared this in common then you need to expand your mind, think outside the box.

the only music i like is the kind w/ integrity .. you can feel the honesty.
both Jimi and kurt made honest music.