The artist who had all the characteristics of a rockstar, according to Patti Smith

Many criteria can be considered to define what a rockstar is. From talent to charisma, ambition and creative elements… there are several elements. It would be almost impossible to find someone with so many attributes, but patti smith believes that a figure from the history of the genre brought it all together: Jimi Hendrix.

The singer has always been a self-confessed fan of the guitarist chosen by Rolling Stone USA the greatest of all time. In a 2020 interview with Forbes in 2020, she talked about the experience of being with the late Jimi in person:

When I was a girl, I met him in person once. I had seen him a few times at places I was having dinner or something, but I managed to talk to him once about 50 years ago. And for a young girl, he was everything you could want in your rockstar. He was beautiful, intelligent, hungry… just looking at him was an experience.”

Smith also took the opportunity to praise the work of Hendrix as a lyricist. When did you record the covers album? Twelve (2007), the artist made a point of including “Are You Experienced?”the title track of the album that marked the guitarist’s debut.

Patti talked about the songwriting side of Jimioften remembered most for his revolutionary guitar talent:

Jimi Hendrix loved poetry. He often criticized his own lyrics. He didn’t think he was a great writer. He greatly admired Bob Dylanbut he was a wonderful poet in his own right. He had this sense, like the Michael Stipe (vocalist of REM), to reflect its time.”

The loss of Jimi Hendrix

Unfortunately, Jimi Hendrix died in September 1970. patti smith commented on the loss and the paths he could follow:

He was a huge loss because he was only 27 years old. He was going to evolve in a magnificent way. He had an ambition to create a new language through music and work with artists around the world developing a language of peace, as he called it.”

The singer, finally, pointed out the difference between her appreciation for Hendrix while I was young and now. She said:

When I was young I just loved him, loved his songs. I daydreamed about him. But at this point in my life, as an artist, my appreciation of him is even deeper. I never get tired of it, I never got over it. There are songs I loved when I was young that I listen to now for nostalgia’s sake. But with him there is no nostalgia. I am still captivated by his work.”

Patti Smith’s first single

The version of “Are You Experienced?” It wasn’t the first time that patti smith re-recorded Jimi Hendrix. In 1974, the singer chose a cover of “Hey Joe” as its first official single. The track was recorded with his classic backing band — Lenny Kaye (guitar), Richard Sohl (piano), Ivan Kral (guitar and bass) and Jay Dee Dugherty (battery).

Smith interpolated a poem about Patty Hearst in the middle of the music. Kidnapped by far-left militants in 1974, the heiress of the publishing group went on to commit bank robbery crimes together with members of the group Symbionese Liberation Armybefore being arrested in 1976.

The prosecution argued, in its trial, that Hearst had joined the group on his own. In turn, she claimed to have been raped and forced to accompany the militants in these crimes, under threat of death.

Hearst She was eventually sentenced to 35 years in prison, later reduced to seven. His sentence was commuted by the then President of the United States, Jimmy Carter.

Collaborated: Pedro Hollanda.