Had Hendrix lived to become an even bigger star than he was. Would blacks have become more involved in rock than they have?
Or would he still have just been a flash in the pan?
Hard to say if more blacks would have gotten into rock, though they’re were a few black rock bands since Hendrix such as Living Colour. In the late 70’s there was a black band called Mother’s Finest. They opened for many bands and on many occasions blew them away. They’re still around and haven’t lost their touch.
Hendrix a flash in the pan? No way.
I think if he had lived longer, it would have tainted his legacy.
I realize that have been several black rock bands and more with a black front man or black members.
But no one since Hendrix has had a real impact on the rock world. I was wondering if Hendrix might have been a role model had he survived.
Had he lived and continued experimenting with different styles, he would have been savaged by critics for straying from the style that made him famous. Look what happened to Clapton in the 70’s. If an album didn’t have a cut with a blistering solo, it was considered crap.
I think Hendrix would have gone a similar route. Every new album, though not commercially sucessful, would have cemented his legacy.
What? Nobody ever heard of Prince?
Peace,
mangeorge.
He could have hooked up with Richie Havens, and turn already great songs into Bach-level masterworks (now Hendrix and Havens would be some duet!)
With my screen name, I’ve got to respond to this!
At his death (Sep 18, 1970) he was scheduled to go into the studio with a Jazz great, (Miles Davis? I don’t think that’s right, but it may be…) I can’t remember exactly who. It could have signaled an exciting new direction in his career. Or it could have been a big flop (I think not! 
)
Nonetheless, as Clapton perservered (thru drug-addiction, dead child, etc.) and still became LEGEND, I think Jimi would have continued on to great success and legend. His talent was seminal, and he would have used it (somehow) to do really stellar work!
I would venture to say Papa John Creach had a bigger impact on mainstream rock than Prince did.
He did introduce the violin to rock music.
Yeah, that violin really did catch on…
I’m of the belief it opened the door to instruments other than guitar, drums and keyboards.
Hendrix wasn’t a flash in the pan while he was still living.
IMHO, yes, he’d have continued to be an influence on guitar players. Had he survived, IMHO, all he could have done was get even better.
The older players influence <i>and are influenced by</i> the younger players. Hendrix, I believe, would have done the same. He’d have just kept on playing, but I think his style might have changed a bit with the times. I personally think he’d still be tearing it up in live shows like he did at Woodstock, and we’d probably also have seen duets like Hendrix with Clapton, B.B. King, Santana, and Havens (I’m totally with capacitor on that–a Havens/Hendrix duet would be like…Deity’s Own Guitar Duo). Lots and lots of others, too, no doubt (Duane Allman, Dicky Betts, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Jonny Lang, Buddy Guy, Bonnie Raitt…the list of folks Hendrix would probably have worked with is endless).
No, I’m not a musician. But my husband is, and Hendrix is, if not his biggest influence, in the top four (the others being Django Reinhardt, Roy Buchanan, & Rory Gallagher). And now my husband is using those players (and their influences) to influence our children. And there’s no way on this earth I’m going to get in the way of that. 
Hendrix was a clear and obvious influence on Stevie Ray Vaughn, Robin Trower and a couple of others I can’t recall right now. I think he influenced quite a few others in more subtle ways, showing how simple rock and blues riffs could be transformed by playing the amplifier as well as the guitar.
Yes it was Miles Davis he was going to work with. Apparently Miles was blown away when he heard one of Jimi’s songs “Machine Gun”.
When a star with great talent dies young, it’s only natural to wonder what he might yet have achieved. But frankly… I think Jimi Hendrix was well past his commercial peak at the time that he died. That’s not to say he wouldn’t have made more great music, simply that the white rock audience had already started to tire of him, and HE had started to tire of rock.
He had started dabbling in jazz… and the results were less than impressive. Given time, he might have done some very interesting work, but even if he had, it was NOT music that would have sold all that well.
So, in my opinion, if Hendrix had lived, he’d have abandoned rock almost completely, and adopted a much more eclectic, esoteric sound that would have attracted only a small, passionate cult audience. and IF I’m right (we’ll never know, obviously), he wouldn’t have attracted any new black musicians to rock (it’s not clear that he EVER attracted more than a few black fans).
Hendrix was stalled a bit when he died. It had been a while since his last album, but the next album (First Rays of the New Rising Sun) was mostly completed and shows - to me, anyway - that he was continuing to grow as an artist and expanding his vision. Much of what would have been on that album has been released since.
There’s evidence (the Miles Davis thing being one) that he was interested in exploring more of a jazz direction. The title track of one of the bajillions of compilations released since his death - South Saturn Delta - might be an example, a short but cool one. Jazz musicians really respected Jimi, I think.
On the downside - while I think his legacy would have grown and been strengthened - by the time he died, he was also damn near deaf, which makes me wonder how much more was ahead of him. However, he was Jimi Hendrix, so who knows, perhaps he’d have gotten through that, too.
As for the race thing - nearly impossible to say. Hendrix actually took a lot of crap early in his career for playing with a band of white musicians, but I don’t think he was interested in being PC. On the other hand, it’s interesting to note that (with Buddy Miles) he actually played on one of the very first rap records. It’s called Doriella Du Fontaine, and the rapping in question was done by Lightnin’ Rod.
I think Hendrix would still be playing and probably back to his original blues roots. He’d be up there with Muddy, the Hook, BB and a host of others that still just had a ball playing music in their 60’s and 70’s.
Oh man! That Band of Gypsies “Machine Gun” is my absolute favorite jam! I must have listened to that 1000 times, literally.
lol, my ex-wife hated “that noise.”
Or Lenny Kravitz? (But he’s half).
? Half what?