When things get too heavy, just call me helium.

February 5, 2014 9:42 AM

[SLYT] PBS Digital Studios has fancied up Jimi Hendrix's final interview with some whimsical animation.
posted by wabbittwax (6 comments total)

For such a short interview, this is very insightful, it really puts into context how quick it was for him to go from R&B/Rock journeyman to Superstar. It was only 3 or 4 years (max) and here he looks back on his earlier self with his flashy clothes and pyrotechnics with a little bit of regret (or at least self-awareness).

Yet he hasn't lost his sense of humor, I love how he equates the close-mindedness of the "straights" with the "hippies", reminds me a bit of Frank Zappa.

I'm not sure how far away from his death this interview was, but the "lightness" that is evident here just makes me sad. He was in the middle of scaling back his public image and doubling down on the focus on music, this was making it rough for him from a professional, personal and financial perspective, but if he could get through it, he probably would have been very productive.

But he didn't get through it, he ran out of luck or made some bad decisions, whatever you want to call it, and we lost some great music forever.
posted by jeremias at 12:44 PM on February 5, 2014

The interview was recorded on September 11th 1970. Hendrix died a week later.
posted by wabbittwax at 1:50 PM on February 5, 2014

Great clip. Everyone says he was a kind guy, and he sounds like it.

It would be better if certain things made more sense though.

It's weird.
posted by petebest at 4:51 PM on February 5, 2014

The Hendrix interview is awesome, and not to distract from it, but there are about 25 more of these animations. I've watched the Beastie Boys and David Foster Wallace so far and I'll probably be watching them all night...
posted by mmoncur at 9:19 PM on February 5, 2014

Thanks for posting this, wabbittwax.
posted by homunculus at 10:48 PM on February 6, 2014

When Jayne Mansfield met Jimi Hendrix
posted by homunculus at 11:57 AM on February 19, 2014