Midnight Lightning: Jimi Hendrix and the Black Experience [Hardcover]

Greg Tate (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1, 2003

Jimi Hendrix's social meaning, his sexual mystery, and his scientific explorations in the field of sound are here addressed from a black perspective. This unique introduction to a man who, despite his popular appeal, has never made it into the pantheon of 20th-century black icons, incorporates extensive interviews with black Americans who shed light on Hendrix's complicated racial relationships. Midnight Lightning explores how Hendrix exploded the complacently segregated world to emerge as an icon for white boys, why his songs were not heard on black radio, and why black people once viewed him as a hippie Uncle Tom. Also explored are his connection to the Black Power movement, how he electrified soul music and made the electric guitar supplant the human voice, how he revolutionized the use of technology in popular music, and how black his music really was. His sex appeal-especially for black women-is discussed, as are how he redefined rock fashion, why nobody was really mad at him for sleeping with white women (at the same time as Sammy Davis, Jr. was being harassed and threatened for kissing a white woman onstage), and how he was marketed as a white performer. Explained are the ways in which Hendrix subverted and destabilized black masculine stereotypes, changing the way black music and black identity are perceived.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Village Voice staffer Tate says this is a "book bent on making philosophical judgment calls regarding [rock guitarist Jimi Hendrix's] race, his romance, his tools"; a book "obsessed about the Blackness of Hendrix." So Tate and his informants munch on the "social meaning," "sexual mystery," and "scientific inquiries of Jimi Hendrix" to produce a "Jimi Hendrix Primer for Blackfolk." Whitefolk needn't feel left out, though, for Hendrix's adoration by whites is at the center of much of the discussion. Tate's own spiel runs out in 70-odd pages, after which he yields to various "witnesses" offering their insights and memories. Record producer Craig Street demonstrates forthrightness by remarking of Hendrix-influenced Led Zeppelin, "none of them are particularly strong on their own, but here are four guys who . . . form something powerful": straight talk, indeed, to Jimmy Page's and John Bonham's head-banging devotees. Though a little slapdash in places, this is thinking persons' rock criticism, commendably committed to understanding Hendrix's ongoing hold on his audience, and it should enliven any collection. Mike Tribby
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review

"A remarkably astute examination of Hendrix’s protean talents . . . Tate writes with an engaging, highly stylized voice." -- Wilson Quarterly

"A testament to how much the enigmatic guitarist still affects American culture." -- N’Music

"Like no biography that has come before." -- Relix

"Must read for any hardcore Hendrix fan, classic rock enthusiast or budding music listener." -- Black Beat

"One of the most original and linguistically inventive cultural observers in print . . . marvelously head-whirling phraseology." -- St. Petersburg Times

"Recommended for all libraries." -- Library Journal

"[Tate’s] dead-on logic is intriguing and revealing." -- Black Issues Book Review

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 157 pages
• Publisher: Lawrence Hill Books; 1 edition (July 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1556524692
• ISBN-13: 978-1556524691
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 6.4 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #473,977 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars This one deserves NO stars, July 8, 2003

By 

David Pearcy (Tennessee United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Midnight Lightning: Jimi Hendrix and the Black Experience (Hardcover)

Jimi Hendrix rarely if ever appears in any Black History books. If he IS mentioned, it is a few fleeting lines (usually
misinformation) and then passed over. I had hopes that this book
might take a few steps in the direction of changing all of that.
Unfortunately... it did not. In fact, I don't know WHAT this
book was about. It blathers on and on and offers nothing that even the casual Hendrix fan doesn't know.
Overly wordy in it's descriptions (if you read David Henderson's book, "Voodoo Child of the Aquarian Age" you will know what I mean), it was very difficult to read. The various
narratives by Black musicians, friends and so forth offer little.
I don't know what the author's intent was, but if this book was supposed to be a Hendrix primer for Black folks (as
advertised) it fails miserably. The last two chapters, Appendix
A, in which the author (in his words) tries to write some lines
in an imagined Hendrix penned novel, and Appendix B, an astrologer interprets what the stars say about Jimi Hendrix,
made me angry. SUCH CRAP (and a waste of paper....a tree had to DIE for this?) I have read all of the Hendrix books over the years and this one sits at the BOTTOM of the heap, right next to the drivel written by Curtis Knight in his Jimi bio years ago.
It seems that the book that will give Jimi Hendrix his
rightful place in Black History has yet to be written.

9 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Interesting premise but ultimately fails, September 4, 2003

By 

eclectictastes "eclectictastes" (Columbus, OH USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Midnight Lightning: Jimi Hendrix and the Black Experience (Hardcover)

The chronicling of Jimi Hendrix's life and career has often been told from White writers who have failed to consider how his experiences on the chitlin circuit and in Harlem helped shape his style. Hendrix worked on the circuit for years but this period is often given short shift aside from swipes at Jimi's R&B colleagues for their apparent failure to appreciate his talent.

So I was hoping that Greg Tate's work would provide that perspective. Unfortunately, Tate's book reads like a hap hazard stream of consciousness with psuedo intellectual pretensions. I wasn't looking for a straight biography but I hoped that the author would present a clearer look of Hendrix's somewhat complex relationship with Black America during his lifetime and after death. He only touches briefly on how Black audiences seem to have a greater appreciation for Jimi's Band of Gypsies period than do White fans and writers. Why did Hendrix feel the need to hook up with Billy Cox and Buddy Miles? Why did he return to Harlem and re-establish contact with old friends? Was he trying to change his musical direction? The book doesn't go into these questions deeply enough.

3 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars ~ "Those poor trees" ~, September 18, 2003

By 

Gayle Hansen "mikola18" (Seattle, WA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Midnight Lightning: Jimi Hendrix and the Black Experience (Hardcover)

That a few trees had to give their very all for this is a crying shame.

If the "Hendrix Family" are looking to sue someone, this "author" should be prime fodder for those lawyers to help buy their children braces.

A shame against the Hendrix name.