Hey everyone... Sorry if I'm posting this in the wrong place, but does anyone know exactly why Jimi Hendrix Set his guitar on fire (sacrificed it) at the Monterey Pop Festival 1967? I thought it was cool looking but was there any paticular reason or did he just do it? Thanks for the feedback =]
I've heard that his manager Chas Chandler came up with the ideal just before the show. I'm assuming it was for PR reasons, but I'm obviously not 100% sure. Don't really think there was any "deeper" meaning to it other than that....
I just found out that he took a ton of LSD before the concert too. So that might be it. But that sounds believeable as well. Thanks man
Its not like anyone had even HEARD of Jimi at that point, at least in the states. There had already been HUGE acts onstage, including Janis Joplin, Jefferson Airplane, Grateful Dead, Ravi Shankar and Otis Redding. Jimi had to do something big, or risk not getting noticed for anything but his guitar playing. There were lots of great guitar players there, so jimi went out with a boa and played Killin Floor so fast it was obvious he was nervous. As I understand it, it kinda went from there. As Jimi is destroying the guitar and stage gear, the sound crew is freaking because of the expensive recording mics onstage. They try to run out and stop Hendrix, but Chas Chandler grabbed them and told them to "shut the hell up - cant you see history is happening?"
Haha. That sounds like it was fun. I wish I was born in the 40's so i'd be round 20 when this happened =\
first off, check out my sig. him and Pete Townsend flipped a coin backstage to see who would go on first. Pete won, and Jimi stood on a chair and said that if he's gonna follow the Who, he'd pull all the stops. atleast thats how I know. but Monterey wasn't even the first time he lit his guitar on fire.
I went on google to check it, and I got a minor part of it wrong. basically, Hendrix and Pete Townsend argued for about who would go on first. why they argued was cause neither had made it in the US, only UK. they were both going to destroy equipment, and each wanted their band to be the first to do so. to settle it, John Phillips (Mama's and Papa's) flipped a coin, and Jimi lost, so he had to follow the Who. then, without a word, he walked to the chair, stood on it, and demonstrated vicious fretwork, leaving everyone's mouths open. after that, he walked up to Pete and told him "If we're gonna follow you, I'm going to pull out all of the stops." rest is history
umm.. i dont know for sure but i read he lit his guitar on fire as a sacrifice to the 'guitar gods' for giving him super amazing guitar playing techniques and abilities.. u can read about it online, think its on wikipedia or something
yea he said something about you have to sacrifice the things you love, and i loved my guitar something along those lines
