Purple Haze / 51st Anniversary

The Jimi Hendrix Experience released the single “Purple Haze,” backed with “51st Anniversary” on Track Records, in the United Kingdom on March 17, 1967. This white-label promotional copy was likely sent to radio stations and music papers in England and beyond to promote the band’s second single. 

Jimi Hendrix (1942-1970) was an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter who gained mainstream prominence in the late 1960s with hits such as “Hey Joe,” “Purple Haze,” “All Along the Watchtower,” and “Fire,” and is now celebrated as one of the most influential electric guitarists of all time. 

Jimi Hendrix was a science fiction fan, and the genre’s futuristic and surreal stories often inspired his songwriting. “Purple Haze” is one such composition, influenced by imagery from Philip José Farmer’s 1957 novel, Night of Light. On its release, “Purple Haze” entered the Top 10 on the singles chart and stayed there for 14 weeks. The song proved Hendrix’s success wasn’t a fluke, and “Purple Haze” remains his most enduring hit. 

On March 25, 1967, New Musical Express lauded Hendrix and the song, describing the track as “mean, insidious, cloying r-and-b—the sort of stuff we rarely hear produced in this country.”