I don’t see why the mural should come down, it makes perfect sense - two angry dope smoking black guys.
Hendrix wasn’t “angry”.
He was fairly apolitical and served in the Army’s 101st Airborne Division.
Hippie conservative?
To understand the politics of Jimi Hendrix, one must understand the zeitgeist of his time. Free love, drugs, anti-war, communes, the civil rights movement, Vietnam, Nixon’s lies, and a Mary Poppins carpet bag of other paradigm-changing things were going on. Strangely, though, Jimi often said things that were counter to the ideals of the 60s counterculture.
It is widely accepted that he was a drug-using womanizer, so he lived his life based on those ideas, but he said things like:
Forget about the mass love scene. That’s not where it is. It’s not building understanding. And I wish I could say this so strongly that they’d sit up in their chairs.4
He considered abortion a “problem,” assuming a de facto pro-life stance, saying:
I have a song on abortion and a song on Vietnam and a song on just about any problem…4
And though he was a figure in the black community, he didn’t necessarily identify with his minority status, saying:
Music is stronger than politics. I feel sorry for the minorities, but I don’t feel a part of one. And I think the answer lies in music.4
It might be natural to identify Hendrix with hippies, and then stretch to today’s liberals. But he might have been a bit conservative in today’s political climate.
Hendrix really thought music was the answer to anything and everything from religion to politics to race relations. A bit naive, perhaps, but it’s the honest opinion of a brilliant man who never even made it to 30 years old.
I think it insults Jimi’s memory.
Jimi was angry? Don’t think so. Any comparison between Hendrix and Obama is very unfair to Jimi. He served in the military, loved America, hated race baiters, and actually created something new and valuable.
I don’t think Hendrix was angry.
I do think this demeans him, and if I were administering his estate for the heirs, I would want it taken down.
“I don’t see why the mural should come down, it makes perfect sense - two angry dope smoking black guys.”
Someone found out that Jimi’s rhythm section was white.