The Voodo Chile lives on

James Marshall Hendrix, better known as Jimi, died on this day in 1970. That was 37 years ago. Thirty-seven years is a long time, yet one could argue that his music, as well as the music of his 1960s peers, is sill listened to and regarded by many as the music of rocks greatest years. Part of that is certainly because of nostalgia. The baby boomers age like everyone else, whether they care to admit it, and as they near their retirement years they probably look back whistfully at a time when the world was rapidly, sometimes violently, changing. The boomers reflect upon whatever part they played in that change, large or small, and realize they may have made a difference in the world.

But another reason love for the music of that era remains strong is because it was like nothing ever heard before. The Beatles, the Rolling Stones, the Who, American soul from Motown and Stax, supergroups like Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, all changed the very notion of what music could be. While the music may live on partly because of a need for people to listen to what they loved when they were young and seemingly carefree, and partly because it was the soundtrack to world-wide upheaval, the music of that era is beloved still mostly because a lot of it was just pretty darn good.

As for Jimi Hendrix, he was a guitar virtuoso with a style really unlike anyone else at the time, or even now really. An inspiration to many, including Robin Trower and Stevie Ray Vaughan, he is someone who is even now paid homage to by other great guitarists like Buddy Guy and Eric Clapton. Hendrix was truly an original. And he was indeed a voodoo chile, voodoo chile...