Jimi Hendrix’s music has found timeless purchase not just as transcendent music, but transcendent protest music. To wit: his searing rendition of the national anthem at Woodstock, not to mention the epochal mindblower “Purple Haze.” For The American Scholar, James McManus deconstructs both tunes, as well as the circumstances that made Hendrix such a singular genius. While there’s no peg to speak of, it’s still perfect timing. After all, lately things don’t seem the same.
We’ve all heard plenty of renditions of “The Star-Spangled Banner”—by marching bands, pianists, string quartets, altos and tenors and baritones, perhaps the odd basso profundo. We’ve watched Whitney Houston lip-syncing it at Tampa Stadium as flags waved and fighters screamed overhead. We’ve seen tenor Jim Cornelison of the Lyric Opera of Chicago rousing veterans and other Blackhawks fans night after night at the United Center, and a blue-haired Jack White playing just the melody on his vintage Kay Archtop acoustic (the “Seven Nation Army” guitar, speaking of ubiquitous licks) at Comerica Park on Opening Day. We’ve booed Roseanne Barr’s off-key screeching at Jack Murphy Stadium and howled at Maya Rudolph’s mordant rendition on SNL. Linda Ronstadt sang it prettily enough at Chavez Ravine before Game 3 of the ’77 World Series. Wynton Marsalis went a little flat in the Superdome, Mariah Carey forgot the words but still ripped sweetly through four or five octaves in the Madhouse on Madison, Marvin Gaye epically toned it up in The Forum … but nothing remotely like Hendrix at Woodstock.
More picks about rock music
The Portal Opens
“People who love Phish do so with a quasi-religious devotion. People who dislike Phish do so with an equal fervor.”
How Kid Rock Went From America’s Favorite Hard-Partying Rock Star to a MAGA Mouthpiece
“The man born Bob Ritchie calls Trump his ’bestie’ and spouts right-wing talking points. Many close to him wonder what the hell happened.”
The Dave Matthews Guide to Living and Dying
“Now 56, Matthews has been singing about mortality for a long time, and he’s confronting its specter in new and surprising ways.”
Inside Superiority Burger
“How did chef and former punk drummer Brooks Headley turn his all-vegetarian vision for a rock and roll diner into the season’s hottest new restaurant?”
All You Touch and All You See: “Dark Side of the Moon” at 50
“A half-century ago, Pink Floyd unleashed a classic that still lingers on the Billboard charts and in college dorms to this day. But what’s the legacy of the blockbuster album?”
It’s the Coolest Rock Show in Ann Arbor. And Almost Everyone There Is Over 65.
“At the “Geezer Happy Hour,” the ‘silver tsunami’ has been dancing for decades.”
