In 1966 Jimi Hendrix wrote the words to his all-time classic Purple Haze!
The Jimi Hendrix Experience's first single, was "Hey Joe", but the song was not a Hendrix song, as it was written by Billy Roberts and recorded by several groups before Jimi.
"That record isn't us. The next one's gonna be different. We're working on an LP which will mainly be our stuff." Hendrix commented.
The group had already recorded demos of "Foxy Lady", and "Red House", but in the middle of December, producer Chas Chandler heard Hendrix flirting with the riff.
"I heard him playing it at the flat and was knocked out. I told him to keep working on that, saying, 'That's the next single!" Chandler said.
Jimi would write the rest of "Purple Haze" in his dressing room at a London club, before a gig.
"With 'Purple Haze', Hendrix and I were striving for a sound and just kept going back in [to the studio], two hours at a time, trying to achieve it. It wasn't like we were there for days on end. We recorded it, and then Hendrix and I would be sitting at home saying, 'Let's try that.' Then we would go in for an hour or two. That's how it was in those days. However long it took to record one specific idea, that's how long we would book. We kept going in and out." Chandler explained.
"Purple Haze" was the opening track on "Are You Experienced" in 1967, and is one of Hendrix's best-known songs. It was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame and is ranked by Rolling Stone at number 17 on its “The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time ” list.