You mention Hendrix. A couple of years ago I was considering buying some reissue of his (out of dozens that have been greedily produced) and went to Amazon to read the reviews. I was surprised how many younger listeners dissed him, and dissed him intelligently, using solid, well spoken comparisons with guitarists of presumably their own generation, some of whom I went and checked out later only to nod in agreement. In the end, I never bought that reissue. So I’m no longer sure about Hendrix. I am sure however about Bill Frisell, if we’re talking about guitar players.
I do want to note something else. Rock musicians led me to their sources. a fool mentioned the little known Link Wray (whom I saw perform once). Pete Townsend was inspired by Link, and not by the pop mainstream of his youth. If the Beatles and the Rolling Stones listened to the mainstream of the late 1950s (after Buddy Holly’s, Eddie Cochran’s deaths, Jerry Lee’s and Chuck Berry’s legal troubles with nymphets, and Little Richard’s decision that the money was in religion), they’d be playing “Roses are Red” and “This Time” (Vinton, Shondell respectively - decide yourself which group would cover which singer), and there wouldn’t have been a Pete Townsend.
So what, you say? So, dig beyond what’s out there served to us on silver dishes by the recording industry and their pals in the robot drone operated radio stations. You can bet that your favorite musicians are not listening to each other, if they want their art to progress. A few years ago Van Morrison, an obscure artist of his own, whose first two Warner Bros. LPs now considered classics sold nothing at the time when Led Zep was selling millions, recorded a duet album with Linda Gail Lewis. Who? The sister of Jerry Lee, who recorded with her brother a classic duet album in the mid-60s, that inspired Morrison when he was with Them. Last year (2013 is now ‘last year’, dude!) Billie Joe Armstrong and Nora Jones, mainstream artists, recorded an album covering in its entirety the most obscure album by the Everly Brothers from the late 1950s. (I recommend both albums!) Why didn’t they record a cover album of some contemporary artist that their modern listeners favor? Cover Whitney, Radiohead? Stupid question, isn’t it. Billie Joe spoke of how he found the EB LP in the used vinyl section of Rasputin Records in Berkeley, took it home, listened to it and couldn’t get it out of his head for months. Why aren’t we listening to the best stuff out there, however obscure. Why don’t we seek it out. If Brian Jones could have ‘discovered’ Jimmie Reed, when the radio was playing Helen Shapiro, so could we (if we had been there at the time.)
Eilen Jewell (who plays with a fantastic rockabilly guitarist Jerry Miller - not the Moby Grape guy!) keeps posting on Facebook links to great obscure recordings. Another artist, Jesse Bellamy of Jesse & Noah (Bellamy Brothers next generation), the lead singer below, does the same, and has turned me on to some great music made before he was born (as I have turned him on - we’re ‘friends’.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4uOT2ajBEWE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0lONTZBjF0
Like I say, I’m not a Jimmi fan, but there was never a better ‘feel player’. He was if anything extremely sloppy from a technical standpoint and could not hold a candle to someone like Steve Vai or Eric Johnson who are so clinically precise it’s almost inhuman.
But that technical precision is why Vai, who is my favorite guitarist hands down because of it, will never replace JH in the pantheon. Because that sloppy playing as some would call it, was filled with feel, groove, heart, soul, call it whatever. No one had it like he had it.
Personally, I go more for the technical stuff just because it’s more my thing. But JH music was alive because of his looseness. Not that the Vais’ of the world have no feel because they do. It’s just that if feel is a finite resource, Jimmi got 90% of the universal supply and the rest had to divide up the other 10.
And most people are drawn more to feel players than pure shredders. Sure JH could fly across a fretboard. But the way he played resonated with a lot of people, pro and fan. And moreso than anyone I could think of, even if I’m not one of the guys that worships at his altar as a player.
I’ve played since the 80s just for fun and like every other guy out there I ‘felt’ that I had to study Hendrix. Unlike most it was for about 5 min. because it just aint in me.But it did in fact reach into the VanHalens and a trainlength of other guitarists, pro and hobbyist on an educational level.
As to the subject of bands not listening to each other, I don’t understand how you can think that at all. Every guitarist mag, interview and album liner notes namechecks their influences. Hell their have always been dedicated articles and columns, entire special issue magazines dedicated to exactly that.
Just from my own perspective/Hendrix, as I said, I’m more a Vai guy and his playing was more of what I looked to. But I immeadiately think of Hendrix when I’m trying to write/play something with feel. Not copy what he did or play what he did since I can’t anyway. But it has informed my direction and approach. Even with my electronic/synth stuff. And I am willing to bet the vast majority of guys who ever picked up the instrument would say the same.
Sonic Youth used to listen to Lee Hazelwood's solo albums while on tour and a pre-Cramps Lux & Ivy went backstage at an Alice Cooper show once to gab with him about the latest Stooges record and maybe T. Rex. Alice said that he didn't listen to that kind of music, I think he said he preferred to listen to classical music when he wasn't performing.
And everyone in the English art-music scene of the early 1960s (including Ringo Starr) was listening to the Lightnin' Hopkins records they could manage to get their hands on.
I will say that the Beatles and the Beach Boys were engaging in a somewhat friendly rivalry (Paul McCartney even visited Brian while he was working on SMiLE). The Rolling Stones visited the Beatles while recording Sgt. Pepper's.
But none of those bands albums were intended to be sound-alikes or knockoffs of each other's sound.