Jimi Hendrix was a singular force in music. He truly had no parallel. But his genius didn’t spring from thin air. He had inspirations and “favorites” like every other musician. The three bands below all played a role in Hendrix’s musical development. For various reasons, these legendary bands were cited among Hendrix’s favorite bands of all time.
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The Beatles
Who from Hendrix’s generation didn’t love the Beatles? The Fab Four were the shining example of what could be accomplished in music. Though the Beatles only debuted a few years before Hendrix came on the scene, they were already international talents and thus were enviable.
Hendrix remained a Beatles fan throughout his life. He once spoke about their bravery as musicians, comparing them to their less risk-taking counterparts in America.
“Oh, yes, I think it’s good,” Hendrix once said of The Beatles. “They’re one group that you can’t really put down because they’re just too much, and it’s so embarrassing, man, when America is sending over the Monkees – oh, God, that kills me!”
The Bee Gees
The Bee Gees were the opposite of Hendrix in many ways. Their instrumentation was far less edgy than Hendrix’s, and their songs focused heavily on harmonies. Nevertheless, Hendrix was a fan of the vocal group, specifically their album Bee Gees’ 1st.
“We used to listen to that quite a lot,” Hendrix’s former partner, Kathy Etchingham, once said. “Jimi thought their harmonies were really great.”
His love of The Bee Gees highlights the diversity of Hendrix’s listening habits, which in turn helped him craft unique and rich music.
The Band
Hendrix thought his approach to music was well aligned with The Band’s. On top of their connection to one of Hendrix’s heroes, Bob Dylan, The Band represented a group whose genre lines were difficult to define. Hendrix felt a kinship with them, making The Band one of his all-time favorites.
“We want our sound to go into the soul of the audience and see if it can awaken some little thing in their minds… ‘Cause there are so many sleeping people,” Hendrix once said of his similarities with The Band.
“I just hate to be in one corner,” he continued elsewhere. “I hate to be labeled, I just want to be myself.”
(Photo by David Redfern/Redferns)
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