#70 "Fire" by Jimi Hendrix

Back when I used to work at Herndon High School, me and two of my co-workers used to argue about who made the greatest contribution to hard rock: Hendrix, Sabbath, or Zeppelin? We all had our own opinions and were somewhat validated when VH1 did a countdown of the greatest metal artists and 1, 2, and 3 were the very three we constantly fought over. I think Black Sabbath actually got the #1 nod, but that was alright. I knew that Zeppelin was the greatest. My other buddy was certain Hendrix was the man. A lot of people would agree with him.

I'm not the biggest Jimi Hendrix fan. Oh sure... there's no question that he's one of the greatest, and certainly most innovative, guitar players that every lived. I'd also have to give him credit for writing one of the coolest lines in rock history when, in "Purple Haze," he belts out "Excuse me... while I kiss the sky!" That's just awesome. He has tons of great songs and I like lots of them, but something about me and Jimi just doesn't always gibe. You can't always explain why you like or dislike certain things.

"Fire" is one of my favorite Hendrix tunes. In a much earlier post I wrote about how I liked songs where the music started and stopped in the middle of the track. It shows the great timing and playmanship of the band and for some reason just really hits me. "Fire" does this numerous times. It's also got the great line "Move over Rover and let Jimi take over!" Basically, "Fire" is just a great song, hence its inclusion on The 300.

On a related note, The Red Hot Chili Peppers, who are HUGE Hendrix fans, did a phenomenal cover of this song on their 1988 release "The Abbey Road EP."

"Fire" is from the album "Are You Experienced?" To hear the song, click on the icon in the widget jukebox along the side of the blog.