About music in the 1960’s

In general there were four main pockets of early 60's pop: the East Coast DooWop and girl groups, The R&B and Soul, Surf music and Motown.

 

Then in 1964 came the British invasion. The British invasion was that the British bands became much more popular then the American ones. The official beginning was when the Beatles were on the Ed Sullivan show. The British Invasion killed almost all of the American Bands, except for a few, and almost all American bands dressed and talked like the British.

 

Picture of The Beatles

 

In 1965 came the folk rock, it was a mixture of lyrics like Bob Dylan’s and the Beatles sound.

 

By late 1966 came acid rock. It was three factors that collided to make a complete revolution in rock. The first was the trend towards rising musical and lyrical sophistication. The second was the beginning of loud, distorted, experimental guitar playing in 1965-66. And the third was the growing access to marijuana and LSD.

 

In late 1966 - early 1967 came The Summer of Love. The hippies were gathering, and with them, local bands were quickly making a unique sound, based on extended improvisation and provoking drug-laden lyrics.

 

In 1967-1968 the music became divided into many genres. The most important were prog-rock, which was inspired by the British blues boom and British folk-rock movements; heavy metal, which was a similar shameless rip-off of Jimi Hendrix; and the pop-rock/arena-rock, bands like the Rolling Stones.

The Rolling Stones

 

And the end of the 1960’s, in 1969, came soft rock and country-rock.

 

 

Jimi Hendrix

Jimi Hendrix created an amazing collection of songs in his career. His music was influenced by blues, ballads, rock, R&B and jazz. It’s a collection of styles that makes Jimi Hendrix one of the most popular persons in the history of rock music.

 

Jimi Hendrix was born November 27, 1942 in Seattle. His birth name was Johnny Allen Hendrix, his dad changed it later to James, but he was called Jimmy. His parents divorced in the early fifties. Jimmy moved in with his father after the divorce.

 

Jimmy was very interested in music and drew inspiration from every major artist at that time, like B.B King, Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, Buddy Holly, and Robert Johnson. When he was eleven his dad bought him a cheap acoustic guitar, and shortly after that Jimmy joined his first band, The Velvetones. After he had been with them in three months he decided to quit to pursue his own interests. The summer after that did Jimmy’s father buy him his first electrical guitar. It was a Supro Ozark 1560S. It was that guitar Jimmy used when he joined a band called The Rocking Kings.

 

In May 1961he joined the army, and in November 1962 he became a paratrooper. While Jimmy was in the army he formed a band called The King Casuals with bassist Billy Cox. After 25 successful parachuting jumps, the 26. was unsuccessful and he got discharged.

 

After the army Jimmy started working as a session guitarist under the name Jimmy James and he worked with many known artists like Ike and Tina Turner, Sam Cooke, the Isley Brothers, and Little Richard. After Jimmy had worked with Little Richard he started his own band, Jimmy James and the Blue Flames, where he played lead guitar.

 

Jimmy James and the Blue Flames

 

In 1965 and the beginning of 1966 Jimmy and the Blue Flames played in smaller venues throughout Greenwich Village, but one day when they played in Café Wha, the former bassist in the Animals, Chas Chandler, saw them and he got so impressed that he returned in September 1966 to get Jimmy to sign an agreement that would have him move to London and start a band there.

 

When they arrived in London September 24 1966 they decided to change Jimmy’s name to Jimi, because Chandler thought it would be easier to remember. Chandler became Jimi’s manager, and they decided that the band was going to consist of Jimi as Vocals and lead guitar, Noel Redding as bassist and Mitch Mitchell on drums. The band’s name was The Jimi Hendrix Experience.

 

The Jimi Hendrix Experience

 

Their first single, Hey Joe, was on the UK charts for ten weeks and their firs album Are You Experienced has remained one of the most popular rock albums of all time.

 

Jimi Hendrix had overwhelming success in Britain, but even bigger in America and The Jimi Hendrix Experience became one of most popular touring acts in the world.

 

After Are You Experienced came Axis: Bold as Love.

In America Jimi Hendrix built his own recording studio, Electric Lady Studios in New York City, and there The Jimi Hendrix experience gave out their most demanding musical release, a two LP collection, called Electric Ladyland. The touring took its toll and in 1969 the band split.

 

Jimi Hendrix played in Woodstock August 1969 with Gypsy Sun & Rainbows consisting of Mitch Mitchell, Billy Cox, Juma Sultan, and Jerry Velez.

 

Jimi at Woodstock

 

In 1969 Jimi started a new band featuring him on guitar, bassist Billy Cox and drummer Buddy Miles. They called themselves the Band of Gypsys.

 

As 1970 progressed, Jimi brought back drummer Mitch Mitchell to the band and together with Billy Cox on bass, this new trio once again formed The Jimi Hendrix Experience.

 

Jimi Hendrix died 17 September 1970. When he went to bed that night he had taken to many sleeping pills, so he had thrown up in his sleep. That’s the way one of the world’s greatest guitar players died, being strangled by his own puke while he slept.