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Mick Jagger’s opinion on Jimi Hendrix
One of the greatest frontmen of all time, the Rolling Stones singer and songwriter Mick Jagger helped to form the band back in London, England back in 1962. In the following years they already became one of the most successful and influential bands in the world, so he had the chance to not only be part of the evolution of Rock and Roll music, but also to see up-close that development over the decades, since the band is still active after more than 60 years on the road.
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When the incredible American guitarist and singer Jimi Hendrix achieved success with his own band The Jimi Hendrix Experience, Jagger had the chance to meet him and see him playing live a few times. The Stones vocalist talked about Hendrix during his career and gave his opinion on him a few times.
What Mick Jagger’s opinion on Jimi Hendrix
Jagger was only one year younger than Hendrix, so when the American musician tragically passed away in 1970 at the age of 27, he was still 26. He had the chance to see Hendrix playing live and hang out with him. As the Stones frontman recalled in an interview with Rolling Stone in 1995, he was instantly “converted” when he saw Jimi playing. Although he also noted that he didn’t believe the American artist had a good voice.
“I loved Jimi Hendrix from the beginning. The moment I saw him, I thought he was fantastic. I was an instant convert. Mr. Jimi Hendrix is the best thing I’ve ever seen. It was exciting, sexy, interesting. He didn’t have a very good voice but made up for it with his guitar. I first saw him at the Revolution Club, in London. I was one of six people in the club, and Jimi was playing, I couldn’t believe it. It was insane – so good and the whole idea of this kind of English band behind him, this bizarre mixture between a blues performer and a rock player with an English touch.”
“I was quite friendly with him. He was a really sweet guy. A bit confused. It’s the same old story: Jimi Hendrix played all over the place with all these bands. He’d been a background guitar player for donkey years. And suddenly he gets what he wants, then has to play ‘Purple Haze’ every night. He goes, ‘Uh, I don’t want to play ‘Purple Haze’ every night. I don’t want to burn the guitar.’ And then when everyone went off the deep end, he had to go off the deep end. He became a heroin addict,” Mick Jagger said.
Mick Jagger believed Hendrix was “the best of the most original”
Although Hendrix’s career as a frontman was short, it was enough for him to become someone who simply changed the course of not only guitar playing but music. He showed there an incredible amount of new things that could be done with the guitar in Rock music.
In an interview with Classic Rock in 2022, Jagger said that Hendrix was the best of the most original. His career with The Jimi Hendrix Experience and Band of Gypsys lasted only three years, from 1967 until 1970 when he tragically died at the age of 27. Curiously, the former Rolling Stones guitarist Brian Jones died one year before Hendrix, at the same age.
“So he came to England and he had his first record in England and he was ours, you know. The opening night was at some terrible discotheque, you know. There were a few people, I went down with Marion and he was just amazing. I mean, he was just amazing, completely.”
“You can say a million things, I just thought that Jimi was a great guitar player. I thought he was the best of the most original and had a really original act. That’s all, man, I don’t know nothing about his business, whether it was a casualty. I wish he was still here,” Mick Jagger said.
Jagger used to perform Hendrix’s “Foxy Lady” in the 80s when he toured as a solo act.
