Left to right: Noel Redding, Jimi Hendrix, Mitch Mitchell
May 12, 1967: The Jimi Hendrix Experience release their debut album, Are You Experienced. It is one of the albums that launched psychedelic rock.
James Marshall Hendrix had to leave his native America and go to Britain to get noticed for the guitar genius that he was. There, in October 1966, through Chas Chandler, the bass guitarist for The Animals, who was moving into music management, he met bass guitarist Noel Redding and drummer Mitch Mitchell.
Their performances -- well, mostly Jimi's -- became legend. He would play his guitar behind his back, which had been done by rhythm & blues guitarists before. But he also played with his teeth. And he put the guitar between his legs, making it a phallic symbol. Eric Clapton, then with the band Cream but already being called "God" by British rock fans, came to the realization that Hendrix was better than he was.
Because Chandler wanted Hendrix to establish himself as such a great live performer, it took between October 23, 1966 and April 4, 1967 to fully record Are You Experienced, all in London. The album's title does not have a question mark on the end, but its title track does.
But that's the song that ends the album, both the British version and the American one. The one that opens the British version is "Foxy Lady," and it established this wild-haired, wild-dressing, artistic black man as rock and roll's ultimate sex symbol, in a way that Elvis Presley, Mick Jagger, Jim Morrison, and even James Brown, who called himself "The Sex Machine," had never done.
There is a song titled "Fire," but it's not the song that would later be a big hit for the British band "The Crazy World of Arthur Brown." It's better. There's also "3rd Stone from the Sun," which would inspire the title of a much later American TV comedy, 3rd Rock from the Sun.
The American version of the album opens with with "Purple Haze," which was taken to be about mind-altering drugs, and is not on the British version. It also inspired collections of misheard lyrics: People heard Jimi sing, "'Scuse me while I kiss the sky" as "'Scuse me while I kiss this guy."
The U.S. version, unlike the British version, also includes Jimi's take on the murder ballad "Hey Joe." "Foxey Lady," spelled that way, precedes "Are You Experienced?" as the end of the U.S. version of the album.
To promote the album, Jimi played the Monterey Pop Festival, closing the show on June 18, 1967 but dropping to his knees and setting fire to his guitar. It was an oddly aggressive action to begin "The Summer of Love," but then, lots of figures associated with the peace-and-love 1960s -- including Hendrix, Morrison, Dr. Timothy Leary and Che Guevara -- weren't worthy of the label.
Later in 1967, the Experience released Axis: Bold as Love. In 1968, they released Electric Ladyland. Hendrix then broke the group up, and, in 1969, formed Band of Gypsys, releasing an album of the same title, and taking them with him to Woodstock. In 1970, due to a mix of pills and booze, Hendrix died, only 27 years old.
The Jimi Hendrix Experience, as a whole, were elected to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992, their 1st year of eligibility. Noel Redding lived until 2003, Mitch Mitchell until 2008.
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May 12, 1967 was a Friday. Football was out of season. The NHL season had ended 10 days earlier, when the Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Montreal Canadiens for the Stanley Cup. The NBA season had ended 9 days before that, when the Philadelphia 76ers beat the San Francisco Warriors for the Championship. These baseball games were played that day:
* The New York Yankees lost to the Baltimore Orioles, 14-0 at Yankee Stadium. Yes, that's a baseball game, not a football game. The Yankees had gotten old and hurt, and the Orioles were the defending World Champions.
Jim Palmer allowed just 1 hit, a single by Horace Clarke to lead off the 7th inning. Whitey Ford pitched only 3 innings. The O's didn't hit any home runs, but Paul Blair went 4-for-6 with 4 RBIs, Andy Etchebarren went 4-for-4 with a walk and 2 RBIs, Frank Robinson went 3-for-4 with a walk and 4 RBIs, and Brooks Robinson went 1-for-5 with a walk and 2 RBIs.
Two days later, off the Orioles' Stu Miller, Mickey Mantle hit his 500th career home run.
* The New York Mets lost to the St. Louis Cardinals, 7-5 at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis. The Mets led 5-2 before the Cardinals scored 5 runs in the bottom of the 8th inning. Roger Maris went 3-for-4 with a walk for the Cards. So did Lou Brock, who also added an RBI.
* The Detroit Tigers beat the Boston Red Sox, 5-4 at Fenway Park in Boston. Earl Wilson was the winning pitcher, against his former team. Al Kaline and Carl Yastrzemski each went 1-for-3 with a walk, and Kaline also had an RBI.
* The Cleveland Indians beat the Washington Senators, 12-5 at District of Columbia Stadium in Washington. (It was renamed Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium in 1969.)
* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Atlanta Braves, 5-2 at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh. Roberto Clemente went 2-for-4 with a solo home run. Willie Stargell went 0-for-1 with 2 walks. Hank Aaron went 1-for-4 with an RBI.
* The Cincinnati Reds beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 4-2 at Crosley Field in Cincinnati. Pete Rose went 1-for-4.
* The Chicago White Sox beat the California Angels, 1-0 at Comiskey Park in Chicago. Joe Horlen was 2 outs from pitching a 4-hit shutout, but gave up a double and a walk, and Bob Locker was brought in to preserve the win.
* The Kansas City Athletics beat the Minnesota Twins, 2-1 at Metropolitan Stadium in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota. Harmon Killebrew went 0-for-3. Rookie Rod Carew went 1-for-3 with a walk. The only Twins run came in the 6th inning, on a home run by Dave Boswell, who was pitching in relief of Jim Kaat.
* The Chicago Cubs beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, 2-1 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. Ernie Banks hit a home run.
* And the San Francisco Giants beat the Houston Astros, 6-1 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. Willie Mays went 2-for-5 with a home run and 3 RBIs.
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