Jimi Hendrix, guitarist, vocalist, songwriter, November 27, 1942

Although his mainstream career spanned only four years, Jimi Hendrix is still regarded as probably the greatest — and definitely one of the most influential — electric guitarists in the history of popular music. His life has been documented in films including Jimi Hendrix the documentary, Jimi: All Is By My Side, starring Andre3000 of Outkast, and Hendrix starring Wood Harris. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame describes him as “arguably the greatest instrumentalist in the history of rock music.”

Hendrix regarded music as a religion and called his own music “electric church.” At the famous Woodstock Festival in August 1969, he delivered an electrifying sermon, as truly only he could, by transforming the national anthem with his Stratocaster and forever changing the way it could be played.

By the end of the legendary three-day festival, there were only about 30,000 or 40,000 people still left on the muddy fields at Bethel, N.Y.,–down from over half a million at its peak–when Hendrix and his band took the stage early Monday morning. They played some well-known songs, including “Foxy Lady,” “Red House” and “Voodoo Child” before tearing into a freestyle jam. At the end of the musical improvisation, Hendrix launched into his mind-blowing version of “The Star-Spangled Banner.”

This personal expression on the part of Hendrix was gutsy, considering that at that time any unconventional version of the national anthem would likely ruffle the feathers of many Americans. With a bombardment of heavy amp feedback and scintillating licks, his sonic-assault take on the anthem mimicked bombs dropping, screaming warplanes and other sounds of the battlefield.

As the country was mired in the Vietnam War at the time, some thought Hendrix’s radical reinterpretation was disrespectful. Some believed it was his way of showing his disgust with the ongoing war and the country. Some thought it was just brilliant. Any way you look at it, it caught everyone by surprise and has left an indelible impression. It is immortalized in the film of the Woodstock Festival and on its soundtrack.

Afterward as a guest on Dick Cavett’s television show, Hendrix told Cavett: “All I did was play it. I’m an American, so I played it.” Perhaps anticipating the angry letters his viewers would send to the show, Cavett explained to the audience that Hendrix was a former paratrooper in the Army, and then told the rocker that any unorthodox version of the anthem would guarantee a percentage of hate mail.

Hendrix disagreed. “I don’t think it was unorthodox,” he said. “I thought it was beautiful.”

Portions of this article originally appeared in The Weekly Challenger article https://theweeklychallenger.com/african-american-moments-in-rock-and-roll-history/