Jimi Hendrix

MuseWiki, wiki for the band Muse

A journalist once called Matthew Bellamy "Mini Hendrix".

He used to smash his guitar at the end of the gig like Jimi Hendrix, but it was more a way to evacuate the frustrations when the concert was not as good as they hoped. Bellamy like Hendrix, is always trying to find new sonorities with his guitars.

Howard would like to have a drink with Jimi Hendrix - "He was just such a cool guy; the way he played, how he seemed to be in his personal life or whenever he was being interviewed, he just seemed like a really cool cat".

Jimi Hendrix was an innovator; many believe him to be the most innovative force behind the guitar. He makes his home in the number one spot in practically every "top 100 guitarist" polls. Hendrix was an "alchemist" (As Pete Townsend once said), mixing Feedback, Distortion, Loud Noise (Much like Bellamy) and the Blues, sending the electric guitar on its head and out to venus. His harsh appearance and blistering guitar work on stage often over shadowed his shy and timid personality, and beautiful song writing skills. He is widely hailed by music fans and critics alike, Hendrix is arguably the greatest and most influential electric guitarist in music history. Practically creating the genre of heavy metal, and expanding the blues, his influence even reached into jazz and many hip hop artists, including Chuck D of Public Enemy, Ice-T (who covered Hey Joe), El-P and Wyclef Jean.

He was a longtime science fiction fan, often singing about going into space, or space itself (Like Matt). "Purple Haze" was reportedly inspired by a short story by science fiction writer Philip Jose Farmer; Hendrix's explanation of the song said much about his overall lyrical approach. "It's about going through this land," he said, "'cause that's what I like to do, write a lot of mythical scenes, like the history of the wars on Neptune. Like how they got the Greek gods and all that mythology--well you can have your own mythology scene, or write fiction, complete fiction." Several of Hendrix's better known songs--such as "Third Stone From The Sun," "Up From The Skies," "And The Gods Made Love," and "1983...(A Merman I Should Turn To Be)"--fit that pattern precisely.

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