Throwback Thursday: Jimi Hendrix Experience

For this week’s Throwback Thursday we’re playing a set from The Jimi Hendrix Experience, which was founded 46 years ago tomorrow.

Few bands have been as influential as The Jimi Hendrix Experience.  Formed in London (officially on October 12, 1966), bassist Noel Redding and drummer Mitch Mitchell were originally conceived as Hendrix’s backing band.  The Experience quickly became a lot more than that.  The three albums they released in 1967 and 1969 - Are You Experienced, Axis: Bold As Love, and Electric Ladyland - comprise arguably the most important two year output of rock history.  Stripped down to the bare essentials of the genre (guitar, bass, and drums), The Experience had room to flex their musical prowess onstage.  Redding and Mitchell laid the groundwork for the most transcendent guitar player of his, or likely any, time.  Hendrix expanding what was possible with a guitar with his use of pedals and effects.  He pushed the equipment further than anyone ever had before.  He was also just one of the best players to ever pick up a guitar, effects or not.

Although The Jimi Hendrix Experience could be considered the birth of an icon, it also must be considered an icon itself.  The sound they developed and boundaries they pushed in music and style left an indelible mark on rock, psychadelia, and countless other types of music.  Tune in at 5pm today to hear a set from this legendary band!

By Bentley J. Holt

If you liked this, check out:
Throwback Thursday: Janis Joplin
This Week in Music History