Hendrix Dies at 27: Guitar's Greatest Innovator Lost
Jimi Hendrix died in London on September 18, 1970, 27 years old, from asphyxiation after taking a sleeping pill in a girlfriend's apartment. He'd been awake for three days. He died the same year Janis Joplin and Jim Morrison died, all three at 27, all three of drug-related causes, which created the '27 Club' mythology. He'd been playing guitar for eight years. In those eight years he'd changed what the electric guitar could do, using feedback and distortion and the whammy bar as compositional tools rather than accidents. He learned by listening to records at 78 rpm because that was the speed at which the machine ran. He didn't read music. He recorded 'Purple Haze,' 'All Along the Watchtower,' and 'The Wind Cries Mary' within his first year of fame. He had four more years after that.
September 18, 1970
56 years ago
Key Figures & Places
What Else Happened on September 18
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