Hendrix didn’t appreciate Zep because he didn’t think they were original enough to warrant the praise they received. Furthermore, Hendrix wasn’t shy about letting people know his opinion. (COS)
In 2006, Vanilla Fudge drummer Carmine Appice remembered discussing Zeppelin with Hendrix and his less than favourable remarks. “Jimi Hendrix personally told me that he didn’t like Zeppelin because they were like excess baggage and that they stole from everybody,” he explained.
“‘You Shook Me’ was on Jeff Beck’s record. ‘Dazed and Confused’ has a bit of Vanilla Fudge on it and it has parts of ‘Beck’s Bolero’ in it. I think I was told by a member of the band that the ‘Good Times Bad Times’ riff came from Tim Bogart’s bass line.”
Appice’s claims are supported by comments made by Hendrix in 1970, when he said: “I don’t think much of Led Zeppelin – I mean, I don’t think much about them.”
Although he conceded, “Jimmy Page is a great guitarist”. The feeling was later replicated by the Led Zeppelin man who once said: “We’ve lost the best guitarist any of us ever had and that was Hendrix.”
Despite him not being a fan of the group, Hendrix was complimentary to them when he saw them in New York, and John Bonham particularly blew him away, according to Robert Plant.
“I remember Hendrix coming up to Bonzo at a club in New York,” the singer recalled. “And in those days everybody used to jam. It was a place called Steve Paul’s Scene. It was Buddy Miles and Hendrix and [Jeff] Beck. There was loads of us. Me, Rod Stewart, people all over the place.”
He continued: “[Hendrix] came up to Bonzo and he said, ‘You know what? You got a foot like a rabbit.’ ‘Cause Bonzo’s bass drum was so [makes sound of tongue rolling]. We used to take the mickey out of people who used double bass drums.”
This incident with Hendrix is a perfect illustration of Bonham’s spectacular talents. You didn’t even have to like Led Zeppelin to understand that he was a one of a kind magician.
While Hendrix could make a convincing case for Led Zeppelin being unoriginal occasionally, that was a tag that couldn’t be hurled towards Bonham, who had ingenuity pouring out of his veins.
The Jimi Hendrix Experience broke up in June 1969 when Redding quit, after which Mitchell continued to play with the singer-guitarist off and on until his death. Hendrix died in September 1970. His father, James Allen “Al” Hendrix, was heir to Jimi’s estate and later formed Experience Hendrix with his daughter, Janie, who has continued to run the company following Al’s death in 2002. Redding died in May 2003, leaving his estate to his partner, Deborah McNaughton, who in turn left it to her sisters after she died. Mitch
Meanwhile Jimi Hendrix’s brother Leon is again facing sanctions for trademark infringement. A court in New York yesterday ruled that he was in contempt for continuing to use the Jimi Hendrix name and brand without permission, despite a previous injunction banning such activity. (Completemusicupdate)
Leon has had various disputes over the years with Experience Hendrix LLC, the company that manages the late musician’s legacy, and which is run by his adopted sister Janie.
The rights to Hendrix’s music, name and likeness are held by two connected companies, Experience Hendrix and Authentic Hendrix, created by the musician’s father Al Hendrix in 1995. Since his death in 2002, the companies have been run by Al’s adopted daughter Janie Jinka.
Most recently there was legal action over Leon’s business partnership with a man called Andrew Pitsicalis, which infringed an assortment of trademarks and copyrights controlled by the Experience Hendrix company. As a result of that litigation, a New York court issued permanent injunctions against both Leon and Pitsicalis banning them from making use of the Jimi Hendrix brand.
But since then Leon and his daughter Tina have sold memorabilia, raised funds and organised events using said brand. Among other things, Leon gave an interview to promote a supposed Jimi Hendrix guitar, sales of which he would personally profit from. Also, Leon and Tina together organised and sponsored a ‘Jimi Hendrix 50th Anniversary Memorial Peace & Love March For Equity’ last September, where they sold promotional items.
These activities all breached the 2019 injunction, the court ruled yesterday. “The defendants have not demonstrated any attempt to comply with the permanent injunction, let alone a diligent one”, judge Paul A Engelmayer concluded. “Further, the breaches here, by nature, were avoidable … Defendants were at liberty to market, by means other than using [Experience Hendrix’s] marks, the goods and services that they sought to promote and sell”.
