Hendrix - Legacy - Recognition and Awards

Recognition and Awards

Hendrix said of the 1967 Melody Maker Pop Musician of the Year Award he had won: "We were off somewhere on the road, and I was brushing my teeth, thinking about it". "I started to cry because it meant so much, and I ended up washing my face three times to get off this mess of tears and toothpaste." The award was the first of many Hendrix won during his lifetime, but many more were given posthumously. Despite his influence on other major musicians, he did not receive a single Grammy Award in his lifetime—not even a nomination. Posthumously, he and the Jimi Hendrix Experience received a collective total of seven Grammy awards (see table below) including one Hendrix received for Lifetime Achievement.

Rolling Stone ranked his three non-posthumous studio albums, Are You Experienced (1967), Axis: Bold as Love (1967) and Electric Ladyland (1968) among the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. They ranked Hendrix number one on their list of the 100 greatest guitarists of all time, and number six on their list of the 100 greatest artists of all time. Guitar World's readers voted six of Hendrix's solos among the top 100 Greatest Guitar Solos of All Time: "Purple Haze" (70), "The Star-Spangled Banner" (52; live version from Live at Woodstock), "Machine Gun" (32; live version from Band of Gypsys), "Little Wing" (18), "Voodoo Child (Slight Return)" (11) and "All Along the Watchtower" (5). Rolling Stone placed seven of his recordings in their list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time: "Purple Haze" (17), "All Along the Watchtower" (47) "Voodoo Child (Slight Return)" (102), "Foxy Lady" (153), "Hey Joe" (201), "Little Wing" (366), and "The Wind Cries Mary" (379). Additionally, they included three of Hendrix's songs in their list of the 100 Greatest Guitar Songs of All Time: "Purple Haze" (2), "Voodoo Child" (12), and "Machine Gun" (49).

The recipient of several prestigious rock music awards during his lifetime and posthumously, the Jimi Hendrix Experience was inducted into the US Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992, and the UK Music Hall of Fame in 2005. A star for Hendrix on the Hollywood Walk of Fame was dedicated on November 14, 1991, at 6627 Hollywood Boulevard. In 1999, readers of Rolling Stone and Guitar World ranked Hendrix among the most important musicians of the 20th century. In 2005, his debut album, Are You Experienced, was one of 50 recordings added that year to the United States National Recording Registry in the Library of Congress, " be preserved for all time ... part of the nation's audio legacy." The English Heritage blue plaque that identifies his former residence at 23 Brook Street, London, was the first the organization ever granted to a pop star.

It was a direct result of Kathy Etchingham's efforts, Hendrix's former girlfriend who lived with him at the flat. She wrote to English Heritage first in 1992 and her request, along with all those received from other writers, was declined. She persisted and asked others to write. Finally the Committee gave its approval. There "had been talk of carrying it out in purple," Sue Ashworth, one of the plaque makers remembers, but it was eventually done in the traditional blue. "We needed a guitar player to do this," Pete Townshend said, at the plaque's unveiling in September 1997. Noel Redding, and Kathy Etchingham, looked on with several other rock luminaries and hundreds of other people in the street. "And I'm so proud to be able to pull this bit of string . I have to tell you, I am so proud," Townshend added.

Asterisk in the table indicates the award was for the Jimi Hendrix Experience.