Americans in the 1960s. From the pressure Jimi was facing to make politically charged songs to
[address the new black consciousness and social plight in America like the Civil Rights Movement and
Vietnam War], Jimi released a war protesting song, “Machine Gun.” “Machine Gun” is a type of protest
song because songs like it are also “channels of communication for activists within the [anti-war
movement]” (Goodwin and Jasper 2003:368). Jimi dedicated his song “Machine Gun” to Vietnam soldiers
and African Americans because African Americans were highly drafted for the Vietnam War due to [the
social status of their race, class, and education]. Jimi felt like he could connect with the dedicatees
because he was a paratrooper in the 101st Airborne Division. “Machine Gun” spoke about how the
Vietnam War affected the mind and the body. For example, here is Jimi’s dedication and some lyrics from
“Machine Gun;”
Dedication:
If we can get over this summer, he he he. Right I'd like to dedicate this one to the draggin’ scene that’s
goin’ on. All the soldiers that are fightin’ in Chicago, Milwaukee and New York... Oh yes, and all the
soldiers fightin’ in Vietnam. Like to do a thing called “Machine Gun.”
Lyrics:
Machine Gun, tearing my body all apart. Hey machine gun, tearing my, tearing my body all apart. Evil man
make me kill ya. Evil man make you kill me. Evil man make me kill you, even though we’re families apart.
Well I pick up my axe and fight like a bomber. But your bullets keep cutting me down just the same. I said I
throw down my axe and fight like a bomber now. But your bullets cut me down just the same. The same
way you blow me and my bomber. You’ll follow just the same, just the same. Three times the pain. And
your own self to blame baby. Machine gun. (azlyrics.com - Jimi Hendrix).
With “Machine Gun” and the Band of Gypsys, Jimi had an all black band, was trying to play music for
black people, and even had a funky, [earthier] black sound. One would have expected Jimi to feel happy
for now having his music branch out to African Americans, but instead the opposite happened. Black radio
stations still had a hard time programming Jimi’s music with other black artists like Aretha Franklin.
Even though Jimi was playing a soulful inspired funky rock, it was not soul music. One reason why
Jimi Hendrix’s music is disputed as being a true Rhythm and Blues contributor according to Brian Ward is
due to the “process of musical categorization and canonization, which seeks to impose order, hierarchy,
and coherence on musical forms” (Ward 1998:245). Furthermore the main reason why Jimi Hendrix’s
music was not a hit in the Rhythm and Blues music genera is because of Jimi’s move to England with
Chas Chandler which lead to “contact with white progressive rock musicians which opened up to him a
whole new range of sonic possibilities not Jimi’s conspicuous failure to establish a mass black audience
for his music” (Ward 1998:245). Other critics of Jimi Hendrix like Nelson George and Rickey Vincent see
Jimi’s move to England and his musical influence of Bob Dylan to be a “process of interracial synthesis
and accretion [that] is viewed principally in terms of contamination, dilution or even denial of a black
identity” (Ward 1998:245).
Jimi Hendrix did contribute to Rhythm and Blues music through his performances with legendary
black R&B bands like the Isley Brothers and Little Richard. However Jimi’s contribution to R&B is
overlooked by many of Jimi’s critics according to Brian Ward because those critics “have largely
surrendered [Jimi] to the not-so-tender mercies of rock critics, who have routinely undervalued his
umbilical ties to various black musical traditions while bestowing upon him the dubious honor of inventing
hard rock and heavy metal” (Ward 1998:244-245).
So when Jimi Hendrix tried to develop a larger black fan base through his group the Band of Gypsys,
Jimi’s plan of integration, or attempt to take his music in a new direction backfired because he was trying
to adopt an audience that was programmed not to listen to him. And in turn, his new direction in his
musical career disconnected him away from his white fan base that supported him in his
progressive/psychedelic/expermentational days. According to Brian Ward, one reason why the Band of
Gypsys did not fare as well as The Jimi Hendrix Experience did was because when Jimi recruited black
drummer Buddy Miles and bassist Billy Cox to serve at the core of his Band of Gypsys, this combination
did produce breathtaking musical highs (“Machine Gun,” “Angel,” and “Who Knows,” for example), but the
musical results were decidedly uneven. This was a phase of restlessness but none-too-certain
experimentation in which some of his extended solos lacked the focus, inner logic, and essential lyricism
which marked his best playing, even when shrouded in yawls of feedback and distortion...[Furthermore]
the fact that few of these meanderings were released in his lifetime reflected, at least in part, Hendrix’s
own dissatisfaction with the results (Ward 1998:248).
In fact even Jimi's management was concerned about Jimi's all black band because it was easier to
market The Jimi Hendrix Experience with Jimi and his two English band members versus Jimi playing
rock 'n roll with two African American men.
Blue text comes from (http://jimi-hendrix.com/biography.html)
Green text comes from Shalondra Brown's, From Black To White, Crossing Over in Music
