Jimi Hendrix

Jimi Hendrix arrived in London in 1966 as an unknown sideman and within months had established himself as the most revolutionary electric guitarist in history. His manipulation of feedback, distortion, and the wah-wah pedal — combined with an ambidextrous technique on a right-handed Stratocaster played upside-down — created sounds that no one had heard before. Are You Experienced, Axis: Bold as Love, and Electric Ladyland expanded the electric guitar's vocabulary beyond recognition, incorporating studio techniques that were as innovative as his playing. His performance of 'The Star-Spangled Banner' at Woodstock, wringing Vietnam-era chaos from controlled feedback, remains rock's most powerful political statement. Hendrix was equally accomplished as a songwriter, with compositions like 'Little Wing' and 'The Wind Cries Mary' showing a lyrical sensitivity that balanced his pyrotechnic abilities. His death in 1970 at age twenty-seven cut short a career of barely four years that nonetheless permanently altered the instrument's possibilities.