Irish Examiner View: Octogenarians all along the watchtower

If Jimi Hendrix had lived, he would be celebrating his 80th birthday

Rock guitar virtuoso Jimi Hendrix (1942-1970) caught mid guitar-break during his performance at the Isle of Wight Festival, August 1970. Picture: Evening Standard/Getty

It will be a sobering thought for many that, if Jimi Hendrix had lived instead of dying in a flat in London’s Notting Hill, he would be celebrating his 80th birthday on Saturday, perhaps planning a concert with other grizzled old-timers such as Mick Jagger (79), Keith Richards (78), Paul McCartney (also 80), Elton John (a mere stripling at 75), and Bob Dylan, the oldest of them all at 81.

Hendrix was one of the greatest, representing the bridge between the love and peace (and drugs) of the Swinging Sixties through the Vietnam era into the disillusion of the '70s. His totemic rendition of ‘The Star Spangled Banner’ at Woodstock remains as resonant within a divided US now as was did then.

Clonakilty link

Hendrix never performed in Ireland, although there is a strong link with Clonakilty, where former bass player Noel Redding lived after quitting the Hendrix power trio, The Experience. Redding held a Friday night residency at his local pub, De Barra’s, for two decades.

To mark today’s anniversary, the Seattle-born guitarist’s sister Janie confirmed that unreleased music is in the pipeline and will follow a recently released live Experience album recorded at the Los Angeles Forum in 1969.

Given the value now attributed to back catalogues, it is unsurprising that there are copyright challenges from other group members but, for today, we might remember the man famous for playing his guitar with his teeth, for setting fire to his Fender Stratocaster on stage, but still being able to coax a devastatingly memorable riff from it, and for providing music that defined what became known as the Summer of Love.