(Credits: Far Out / Wikimedia)
Sat 6 December 2025 21:30, UK
They say we should live life to the fullest and exist with no regrets so that we can eventually die with the peace of mind that we did everything the best we could. But what about if you’re Jimi Hendrix and that very hectic, high-octane life is the exact thing causing the regrets?
Obviously, Hendrix’s case is extraordinary. It’s not only that axe-wielding genius lived a life that most could only dream of, booming to notoriety, captivating Woodstock, and creating a name for himself that will live on forever. But also, it’s that part of the reason why his name lives on so loudly is because he died so tragically young.
There is no denying Hendrix’s incredible talent. But, he did what the reckless dream of doing, which is living fast and dying young, burning out rather than fading away.
Hendrix didn’t get the chance to get kind of crap. Suddenly passing at the peak of his career, right when he was really only just proving his power, it means that his discography is golden. It still glimmers with promise that will now never fade. It’s trapped in amber, immortalised in that state of glowing potential and excitement, always kept fresh thanks to his eternal youth and the intrigue people had in him then, and still have in him now, as he didn’t get to live long enough to let people grow tired.
Realistically, had Hendrix survived into his old age, things might have changed. Or, at least, we probably would have been looking at a trajectory much like every other 1960s icon. He would have kept rising, and he likely would have changed the course of music history with some more mind-melting music that pushed all guitar players to be better. But as the years went on, we would have witnessed a tricky 1980s phase, an awkward ‘90s era, and then the often questionable attempts many ‘60s stars have delivered as they’d tried to cling onto youthful fame into the 2000s, ‘10s and ‘20s.
Jimi Hendrix, photographed in 1967. (Credits: Far Out / Marjut Valakivi / Public Domain)
We’ll never know the answers to the many ‘what-ifs’ that surround Hendrix; however, one thing is for certain. Had Hendrix lived longer, he likely would have gone back to fix one regret that probably still haunts him wherever his soul resides.
As Hendrix was attempting to navigate the intensity of his new fame, it meant that life basically got away from him. Forced to juggle many things at once, he said, “It’s very hard to concentrate on both,” talking to Hullabaloo magazine at the time about the experience of trying to tour and make an album.
In his eyes, the album suffered because of it. While making Electric Ladyland, Hendrix was on the road, meaning that he couldn’t go all in and give the record his undivided attention. He likely would have wanted to hide away in his studio and focus fully, but his own beast of a career he built meant that couldn’t happen. The result was his biggest career regret, and one he never had the time to fix.
“So some of the mix came out muddy – not exactly muddy but with too much bass,” he said, reflecting on his issues with the album. “We mixed it and produced it and all that mess, but when it came time for them to press it, quite naturally they screwed it up, because they didn’t know what we wanted.”
He pushed some responsibility onto others, blaming the final mastering team for ruining it when he was called away again. “There’s 3D sound being used on there that you can’t even appreciate because they didn’t know how to cut it properly. They thought it was out of phase,” he said.
Niggling issue that annoyed him for the rest of his days, Hendrix likely would have spent time fixing it, or even redoing the record down the line. But after it was released in October 1968, the two years the artist had left got away from him, never giving him a chance.
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