"Go ahead, try to mock my sense of fashion!"
As Townsman junkintheyard hinted at in response to a recent piece by E. Pluribus Gergely and RTH Labs on the profound weakness of any man wearing an earring, Jimi Hendrix may have been immune to not only the debillitating effects of the earring but a host of questionable rock fashion choices.
Think about it. Hendrix may be the only rocker to get a pass for wearing a headband. It’s debatable whether fringe was ever cool, but no one calls bullshit on Hendrix for wearing it. You wanna cut up on bare-chested rockers wearing vests? Leave Jimi out of it. The kimono? Kimono Jimi’s house! I have not yet located a photo, but I bet Hendrix in a pancho would settle all debates over the potential coolness of that item of clothing.
Rock dudes bedazzled in jewelry? Jimi made it work. Floppy hats posed no hazards for the man. I bet the inside of that bad boy had been soaked in acid!
A Stars and Stripes jumpsuit for anyone not named Evel? Not even Elvis could pull that one off.
Sure, Jimi was black, but not even black guys are assured of pulling off the dashiki.
In terms of avoiding fashion faux pas Jimi had the good fortune to die young, and to die before the 1970s got underway. Jimi had already eclipsed the new decade’s attempts at achieving a larger-than-life Rock God persona. Similarly, Sly Stone, Miles Davis, and then Funkadelic would spend the decade chasing the man’s Psychedelic Pimp Look. Might he have flirted with asexual space-age glam fashions? Probably, and he probably would have picked up some cool backing singers along the way. Would Jimi have surprised us and opted for the down-to-earth denim ensemble of a singer-songwriter? Would he eventually identify himself with the punks and new wavers who owed something to him? Eventually Jimi would have been confronted with the satin siren call of disco. Although trecherous, somehow I think he would have made it work.
As a Rock Dandy who likely would have stayed that path, Jimi would have strutted a treacherous path as the decade came to a close and led into the 1980s. The long-term prospects of a Rock Dandy are fraught with pitfalls. For instance, black or white there’s only so much that can be done with long hair on a dude before he looks like he should be excitedly checking underneath his seat in the audience for a taping of Oprah. Could Jimi have found a way around Miles’ eventual downfall?
Nowhere to run, baby, nowhere to hide…
Jimi’s eventual downfall, had he lived long enough, would probably have been at the mercy of one of two unfortunate designs: 1) the brightly colored leather jumpsuit with diagonal zipper and padded sleeves topped off by jheri curled hair with a string bandana or 2) this.
Something would’ve tripped him up, sooner or later. Probably sooner; but at any rate, could he have avoided the stylish trenchcoat? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bt2qBm4qS4w Or the bookish acoustician? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kntzQiaFzOQ&feature=related
Hendrix was moving away from rock into more of a jazz and blues direction at the time of his death, plus he was already 27 years old. I think he knew that the day of the psychedelic god was ending. Who knows? He might have aged as Marvin Gaye did in the ’70s – stylish but not overly flamboyant clothes, trimmed hair and beard, a generally tidier but soulful look. There’s also the ever-important question of whether Jimi would have suffered male-pattern baldness.
“Enging”? Why isn’t there an edit feature to prevent embarrassments like this?
The male pattern baldness question is paramount. Does Hendrix lose all his powers if he turns into Maurice White in the late ’70s?
If, however, Jimi’s hairline holds the front, I think he ages into a very respectable Ron Glass look once the grey starts coming in.
I think Jimmy would have been a cool-looking cat in the 70s and 80s — avoiding the smooth jazz scene — and NOT looking like this.
http://lyricsfever.net/images/g/george-benson–img-m5fb6eb50b3ba7a769d80c527a761272c.jpg
Jimi — geez.
Oh my, the longcoat (aka duster) would have been a hazard!
Heavy stuff – the threat of male-pattern baldness Jimi, that is! (I corrected your typo, by the way. I’m glad you care!)
I think if he had lived, Jimi might have gotten around to recording with Miles, which both of them wanted to do. That much Concentration of Cool might have effectively broken the coolness meter for everyone else once and for all. Game over, everybody can wear whatever they want, and it no longer matters. Damn sleeping pills!
To address the larger question, working on the assumption that Jimi keeps his hair and doesn’t go Miles/Maurice White, I think the existence of Prince gives some signposts of how Henrdix might have successfully navigated the ’80s.
Let’s imagine that he makes it through the end of the ’70s by sporting a look gets weirdly close to some of Johnny Rotten’s Sex Pistols outfits. I think he transitions nicely into the coat and cravat look Prince uses on the cover of Controversy. That gets him to at least ’83/’84, and he’s also able to use some of the old Revolutionary War coats from the Experience days around this time.
In 1985, I put Jimi in a white shirt/black vest Han Solo-style combo, which Hendrix contemporary John Fogerty was wearing around that time for Centerfield. (http://www.goldminemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/JohnFogerty-Dietz.jpg) In fact, I think he could make it entirely through the first half of the decade dressing like some combo of Han Solo and Lando Calrissian. Maybe Hendrix even plays Lando.
In 1986, he briefly adopts a more serious look, similar to Zappa on the cover of Jazz From Hell. It’s not a great year for Jimi, because he also has to present A-Ha with one of their eight MTV Video Music Awards.
’87 Jimi works the hat back into his wardrobe. During many nights of the Joshua Tree Tour, Bono will pause to say “D’ysee that hat Edge has on there? He got that hat from our friend, Jimi. Maybe you’ve heard of ‘im? Jimi Hendrix? Business friend of ours.” This endears him to no one, but does no harm to Jimi’s reputation.
Finally, in ’88 and ’89, he’s in the Wilburys, which means the hat stays (since Petty was wearing one around this time), and he adds an extra-long sports coat like Harrison and Lynne wore. In any case, he is, by default, the best-dressed Wilbury.
Mod, I AM impressed with your knowledge of fashion terms.
There was also talk in 1970 that Hendrix might team up with the newly-created Emerson, Lake, and Palmer (ELP) to form HELP. Greg Lake once said in an interview that there were a couple discussions with Hendrix about the idea, but Hendrix died before anything was set.
George Benson is the anti-Hendrix. Benson is technically very good, but he looks and plays like he’s never broken a sweat in his life. Distortion and feedback just aren’t in his musical vocabulary.
I’m still waiting for Benson’s white son to come through Philly.
This may not be the right thing to say, but THANK GOD! That would have been worse than seeing him in Eddie Murphy’s red leather jumpsuit.
It might have been a disaster, but it would have been an interesting one to see. Keith Emerson doesn’t seem like the type who would tolerate competition on stage and I don’t see Hendrix quietly accepting a supporting role.
Jimi setting a keytar on fire…that would be cool
aloha
LD
Had Hendrix lived he most probably would have gone the Chuck Berry route. Both have a double LP’s worth of truly great stuff. With Berry, that would be a nice little stack of 7 inch Chess singles. With Hendrix, that would be all of “Are You Experienced”, and bits and pices of “Axis Bold as Love” and “Electric Ladyland”. And most importantly, both ditched Godlike rhythm sections (with Chuck that would be the Chess studio band with Willie Dixon and Johnnie Johnson) with pick-up like bands because they got sick and tired of input that desperately needed to be heard.
I know it sounds far fetched, but that’s what I see -Hendrix showing up late at the Chestnut Cabaret, asking for the money up front, and not caring one whit that his unrehearsed back up band is something as mediocre as Philly Gumbo.
E. Pluribus
That’s some nightmare vision you present, but I do agree that Hendrix made a bad mistake by dropping the Experience. Any Hendrix documentary gets pretty depressing as soon as Buddy Miles and the other guy, Cox(?), show up.
I’d like to think that following his likely road to nowhere with Miles (I think Miles would have had too much of his own personality to actually collaborate with Hendrix beside letting him do the cool stuff John McLaughlin got to do on Jack Johnson) that Jimi would have found his way back to the UK, where David Bowie would have produced a razor-thin hit album. I don’t think Jimi would have made it to Berlin for the rehab trip with David and Iggy. Eventually, after burning through another tasty English rhythm section, he’d be slogging away in a “super group” with Steve Jones, Paul Cook, and Phil Lynott. Then, after burning out once and for all, Bill Laswell and Ginger Baker would reel him into one of their hip world music projects, bringing him to the attention of Paul Reubens, who would cast him in Pee Wee’s Playhouse.
Really? Not ELPH?
I figure one of his scarves gets blown into his face and he walks in front of London bus because he didn’t look in the right direction and can’t see because his vision is obscured. This happens a few weeks after his actual death date. Nothing changes, except “Crosstown Traffic” is re-released immediately after his death and fails to chart. Reprise is widely reviled and remembered for “Worst Cash-In Ever”
I see a 1985 Jackson’s Victory look with the red leather jackets / pants combo and some serious jerri-curl (sp?). In fact he would have done the solo on Beat It instead of Eddie Van Halen, causing Eddie to dedicate himself to keeping David Lee Roth in the band for a 1985 record and tour. Strangely, that year it would be Hendrix that met Sammy Hagar at the Ferrari dealership and the two of them would have created their own supergroup with members of Journey (with Randy Jackson of American Idol on bass) displaying all of the worst of 1985-86 fashion (bandannas, leather suits, big hair, pointy guitars, keytars) and going on to be the biggest American band of all time.
Terrifying – and believable!
or maybe just joined HSAS as HASSH (H2,S2 + A?)
All right… I’m gonna kick Dylan where I think he deserves to be kicked…
Let’s be honest: His voice has gone to crap. And so have his lyric-writing skills.
Is there really ANYTHING on his “comeback” set of records – beginning with “Time Out Of Mind” – that measures up to his prime mid-60’s era?
No, there is not. Name one exception. You can’t.
Granted, his 90’s output was by far an improvement over his 80’s ready-for-MTV crap. But, really, what wouldn’t be?
He was a pretty killer live act in the 90’s, though – I’ll grant him that. Unfortunately, by 1999 or so, he was once again convinced of his own genius, and was content with singing the same three-note melody, regardless of what song he was singing. And all he did on his records was cop lyrics from one of the Harry Smith anthologies.
It’s fine if you can’t write like you once did – it’s quite another thing to be openly lazy about it…