While his career only spanned eight years, few can claim to have such an impact on a genre as Jimi Hendrix. In his time, the famed guitarist put out three studio and three live albums, as well as two compilation albums. Easily, his most prominent works were at the front of the Jimi Hendrix Experience. All three of their studio albums became best-sellers, with Are You Experienced reaching fifth in the US and second in the UK and Axis: Bold as Love reaching third in the US and fifth in the UK. Both were released in 1967.
The following year, Hendrix reached the top of his home charts. On October 16, 1968, Electric Ladyland was released in the US and climbed all the way to the top of the US charts. It would prove to be the last studio album of the Jimi Hendrix Experience, with his final released works prior to his death on September 18, 1970, being the live albums Band of Gypsys and Woodstock: Music from the Original Soundtrack and More. It remains remarkable that such a relatively small body of work released over just a few years remains so impactful to this day.
While it didn’t create the legendary guitar riffs the artist became known for in Purple Haze, Electric Ladyland is the home of All Along the Watchtower, Crosstown Traffic, and Voodoo Child (Slight Return). The album continues to reverberate 56 years since its release, as does the appeal of the grand musician himself.
The album that took Hendrix to number one
There is a case to be made for Are You Experienced being The Jimi Hendrix Experience’s most successful album, given that it was a five-times multi-platinum album under RIAA sales. But it didn’t reach the top spot in the US. In fact, it climbed higher in the UK, finishing second. Electric Ladyland is seen as the major breakthrough that finally took the otherworldly guitarist to his deserved place at the top of the hyper-competitive US music charts. It went two-time multi-platinum, but strangely only made it to sixth in the UK.
At the time of its release, critics were mixed, with many reportedly not really knowing how to grade the multi-faceted album. Decades later, Electric Ladyland has only become more revered. All Along the Watchtower – a cover of a Bob Dylan song, is likely its most endearing single, but throughout the whole album, Hendrix’s pursuit of perfection certainly bleeds through the speakers. It’s said that this perfectionism – as well as the party-like atmosphere Hendrix allowed in the studio – caused producer Chas Chandler to sever ties.
Now hailed as one of the greatest rock and psychedelic rock albums of all time, it was very much deserving of the 50th-anniversary box set treatment received in 2018. In 2028, it seems inevitable that another collectors’ edition of Electric Ladyland will be released to tap into the eternal demand for Hendrix’s music – especially as vinyl sales continue to grow. He was certainly an icon in his day, even with his time in the limelight being brief. But even today, his compiled works have continued to hold Hendrix in very high esteem with modern music aficionados.
Lots of Hendrix decades on
Jimi Hendrix is one of the most recognizable figures in music, from his image and style to so many of his tracks. So, it’s only natural that his presence extends beyond his tunes. Jimi: All is by My Side marks the most recent attempt to cash in on Hendrix’s story on the big screen, but the 2014 flick starring André Benjamin (co-lead of Outkast) and Hayley Atwell was a complete flop at the box office and couldn’t include any of the songs the musician wrote.
Given the incredible success that music biopics like Elvis, Bohemian Rhapsody, and Bob Marley: One Love have experienced since then, Hendrix seems destined for a new movie soon. He’s certainly living it up in other entertainment mediums. On the best online slots site in the UK, the Jimi Hendrix game stands supreme, offering a playlist of his greatest hits as well as a distinctly 60s pastel-colored theme. The stylistic features also fit the tribute game very well.
Of course, Hendrix’s continued presence in pop culture is predominantly through his music, a lot of which has been released posthumously to some incredible sales figures. In the 90s, EW reported that millions of his albums were sold worldwide each year. From 1971 to 2018, 13 Hendrix albums were released via Track, Reprise, Polydor, MCA, and Sony. In October this year, fans get treated to the Electric Lady Studios: A Jimi Hendrix Vision album, which includes 38 previously unreleased tracks.
The legacy of Jimi Hendrix endures, and on October 16, we’ll mark the 56th anniversary of the Jimi Hendrix Experience’s chart-topping, final studio album.
