Wild Thing: The Short, Spellbinding Life of Jimi Hendrix

This was a great presentation of Jimi's life. The good and the bad. His troubled family life, his love of guitar and music and his insatiable appetite for women and mind altering substances. Worts and all, this is a great read of the greatest guitarist to ever live.

I give this book five stars because it expands, clarifies, and organizes lots of information that is lacking or splattered across numerous Hendrix biographies. And of course being a recent release as I write it is the most up-to-date of them all. Very oddly for a Philip Norman book, it has a number of typos. It feels as if the next-to-last draft was accidentally printed. My rating overlooks its lacking 'style' in support of its substance. I must strongly recommend Norman's John Lennon bio and especially his 'McCartney' - my favorite book about any musician.

Very informative tale of Hendricks wild life. Details of his music genius mixed with questionable life styles that u!timately lead to his early demise. Could have used less description and focus on his promiscuous connections with women (we get the point...he would "bed" any women in close proximity) Part of the life story but no need to mention virtually every tryst.

If you are a Hendrix fan you will enjoy this well written overview of his life.

For the uninformed, like me, the name Jimi Hendrix conjures up little remembered rock music history, most notably Woodstock 1969. But, delving into the life stories of many notable rock musicians, notably Brian May and Freddie Mercury of Queen, you quickly learn that Jimi Hendrix was a tremendous influence and inspiration to many who would go on to equal his reputation as a rock icon. This biography, by an author who was personally involved in rock history, serves as a valuable introduction to this music genius and his sad, too short life. Highly recommended.

This was a great book.

I bought this for my husband who is a huge Hendrix fan. He loves the book. It contains information he didn't know and he finds it a very enjoyable read.

Haven’t more than flipped through the pages, but bring a big Philip Norman fan, I am excited to jump into this Christmas gift as this cold winter continues in New England.

Really good book overall, no waffle or conspiracy theories just a focus on the music, the people involved and the facts as we know them. The final year of Jimi's life to me seems incredibly sad. What he needed was some kind of strong personality getting rid of all the hangers-on/bad influences, derailing an almost total dependency on lsd/weed and most importantly implementing a complete 6 month rest from touring would have probably spared his premature end (his 'live' performances in 70 were extremely varied in quality with a good few cancellations). Such a waste and a tale oft repeated in the 60s/70s pantheon of rock.

O livro não fala só dos fatos biográficos mais conhecidos do guitarrista de Seattle, mas também descreve o ambiente à sua volta, isto é, groupies, empresários, músicos, artistas e bandas contemporâneas; em suma, toda a cena (contra)cultural dos anos 1960, especialmente em Londres e Nova York. Mas a descrição não para por aí, pois Norman também nos apresenta toda a efervescência da época no que diz respeito aos temas sociais e políticos mais candentes, tais como a luta pelos Direitos Civis, a Contracultura, o racismo etc., os quais impactaram a trajetória de Hendrix. A despeito de algumas poucas digressões, a narrativa é clara e objetiva, dando ao leitor exatamente o que ele procura: acompanhar os passos de Jimi na criação da sua obra, principalmente, nos seus anos finais (1966-1970). Ademais, "Wild Thing" busca oferecer um mergulho na vida íntima e na mentalidade de Jimi, de tal maneira que saímos da leitura conhecendo um pouco melhor sua personalidade única. Para tanto, foram colhidos relatos inéditos de figuras que estiveram próximas a ele, como, por exemplo, Linda Keith, Eddie Kramer e Leon Hendrix (seu irmão). Por fim, a qualidade do papel, bem como a edição e a diagramação são impecáveis. Trata-se, portanto, da melhor biografia já escrita sobre Hendrix.

love the book

It was a gift

I am a Hendrix fan of 31 years, all my adult life, and have read (and listened) to most if not all the stuff that has come out since Jimi’s death. Despite this book probably being aimed at a more ‘general’ reader of rock history rather than a Hendrix fanatic, it gave me at least three significant pieces of new information in Jimi’s life that i found quite astonishing. I found the text leading up to his death very moving. More than any other book, this biography really drives home the terribly ominous fateful steps towards his avoidable and tragic death. If you are looking for forensic analysis of his music, guitar technique and equipment you would need to look at other more specific texts but this new biography will sit very well in the bookshelves of real Hendrix fans as well as those interested in Jimi’s hugely important part in popular music history.