You can have Skynyrd. I'll take Hendrix over Skynyrd any day.
Posted on 07/30/2005 9:37:15 AM PDT by Rodney King
Jimi Hendrix pretended to be gay so he would be discharged from the army, according to claims in a biography that has used his military medical records.
The rock legend said he left the 101st Airborne Division aged 19 in 1962 after being injured on a parachute jump.
But Room Full of Mirrors by Charles R Cross says army records show he was discharged for "homosexual tendencies".
Mr Cross says Hendrix had a legendary appetite for women - he even had an affair with actress Brigitte Bardot.
But he had told a base psychiatrist at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, he had fallen in love with a fellow soldier, the book claims.
Mr Cross says the star enlisted in the US army to avoid being sent to jail after being arrested in stolen cars in his home town of Seattle.
He did not leave because of objections to the US role in Vietnam, but simply because he wanted to play music, according to the biography.
Hendrix avoided being sent to Vietnam and concentrated on music, becoming one of rock's most revered guitarists.
He became a star in 1966 with psychedelic rock hits such as Hey Joe and Purple Haze, and a legendary live performance.
Room Full of Mirrors is being published to mark the 35th anniversary of his death from a sleeping pill overdose in London in 1970.
You can have Skynyrd. I'll take Hendrix over Skynyrd any day.
Thanks for killing my sort-of-humorous comment.
I believe they're touring again.
Purple haze all in my brain
Lately things just don't seem the same
Actin' funny, but I don't know why
'Scuse me while I kiss this guy
So people who supported the Vietnam War had homosexual tendencies?
Sorry, I don't see the humor in that.
Same thing with the great genius of geniuses Charlie Parker. People didn't find it endearing -- they just wanted a chance to hear him play. If he was too out of it to perform, that was a disappointment. But for the audience it wasn't about the heroin. It was about the music.
Ooh-bop-shebam, baby!
Who cares!
No, Hendrix supported the troops in Vietnam because of his allegedly gay tendencies. Forget it.
i take led zeppelin over all of them
Yeah...but never really the same after Ronnie Van Zant died. Sort of like the Allman Brothers touring after Duane Allman died.
"Kiss the sky"... you're bad. LOL
I'm 100% in agreement with your musical taste on that one.
Hendrix - eww *shudder* *spew*
Real men don't say "eew."
seriously though, his mastery as a guitar player was really impressive, not so much from his precision with the guitar, rather from his creative use of it.
the sad part is that he died from exhaustion rather than because of drugs, worked to death by unscrupulous agents that scheduled event after event after event without giving hendrix a chance to rest -- and in the process kept most of the money so hendrix died penniless. like him or not, hendrix was clearly a musical genius regardless of his character flaws. besides, he was AIRBORNE.
_----------------------------------------
In 1962?
Trust me, for those who wanted to emulate him, it was definitely about the heroin. He was a walking advertisement for the stuff. Others, no doubt, just wanted to hear him play.
I hear the same excuses for people who go to Jane Fonda movies, and back when she pretended she kept her low weight by exercising instead of through her eating disorders, I heard them when people bought her exercise tapes.
Agreed- I went to a Hendrix concert when I was 18- he was absolutely phenomenal. All he showed was brilliance- no one helped him on or off stage- it was an unforgettable concert.
My $10 was well spent.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.