“It was unprecedented in rock history”: The Jimi Hendrix song that Vernon Reid still thinks “doesn’t get nearly enough respect”
Vernon Reid, guitarist and founding member of Living Colour, believes there’s one Jimi Hendrix song that doesn’t get enough respect.
When thinking of Hendrix’s catalogue, many minds immediately go to the ever-popular Purple Haze or Voodoo Child, but Reid feels Manic Depression from Hendrix and The Experience band’s 1967 album Are You Experienced is an underrated treasure.
READ MORE: Living Colour guitarist Vernon Reid says Nuno Bettencourt’s playing is “so much deeper now”: “He came in as a kind of fireball early on”
In a collection of posts on social media site X – where Reid often discusses his musical opinions and interacts with fans – he replied to a post regarding Hendrix’s mental health.
“Manic Depression doesn’t get nearly enough respect for what a groundbreaking song it STILL is,” he writes. “It describes struggles with mental illness directly, not via metaphor. It was unprecedented in rock history. It laid a roadmap for Pink Floyd’s Dark Side Of The Moon to expand upon.”
Manic Depression doesn’t get nearly enough respect for what a groundbreaking song it STILL is. It describes struggles with Mental Illness directly, not via metaphor. It was unprecedented in Rock History. It laid a roadmap for Pink Floyd’s Dark Side Of The Moon to expand upon. https://t.co/44sIanz2rv
— Vernon Reid (@vurnt22) November 27, 2024
In a second post, Reid also dived into the craft of The Wind Cries Mary, also released that same year: “The Wind Cries Mary is one of the greatest meditations on the nature of grief and loss ever written. The way it spares no one. ‘Somewhere, a Queen is weeping. Somewhere, a King has no, Wife’. The tiny pause between ‘no’ and ‘wife’? That’s where his Mom goes.”
The Wind Cries Mary is one of the greatest meditations on the nature of grief & loss ever written. The way it spares No One. “Somewhere, a Queen is weeping. Somewhere, a King has no, Wife”. The tiny pause between “no” & “wife”? That’s where his Mom goes. https://t.co/un1GIpiusU
— Vernon Reid (@vurnt22) November 28, 2024
Earlier this year, vocalist and guitarist Terry Reid reflected on his friendship with Hendrix, and shared how he was surrounded by “freeloaders” and often sought quiet time. “We’d hang out together, play guitar – he could play anything, without looking at his hands,” he said in an interview with The Guardian.
“Jimi was just the gentlest guy but he was surrounded by freeloaders so he’d come over to my apartment in Haverstock Hill to get some peace and quiet. I’d say ‘kick them out’ but he felt he couldn’t.”
A documentary on Jimi Hendrix’s Electric Lady Studios is out now. You can buy it digitally now.
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