Celebrating 59 Years of Jimi Hendrix's Groundbreaking Debut Album 'Are You Experienced'

The first album of Jim Hendrix's band dropped May 12, 1967.

In many ways, rock music has never been the same.

Blues? Rock? R&B? Unforgettable guitar licks? Are You Experienced by the Jimi Hendrix Experience had it all.

Unmatched cultural impact

Hendrix is often regarded as the greatest rock guitarist of all time.

Everyone has to start somewhere, but few start this hot.

Rolling Stone named it the No. 6 debut album of all time, and UltimateClassicRock.com noted, "It's difficult to overstate the impact of the Jimi Hendrix Experience's earth-shattering Are You Experienced."

The album "shifted the paradigm for hard-rock guitar playing and showmanship," according to UCR's Bryan Rolli. "Any guitarist who has ever cranked the gain knob on their amp and wrung a power chord from their axe owes a debt to Hendrix."

Are You Experienced introduced the world to a type of blues-rock fusion not previously heard and helped usher acid rock into the mainstream as well.

It is also credited with helping establish what would be known as the album era of popular music.

Here are the tracks on the U.K. version:

Side one:

• Foxy Lady
• Manic Depression
• Red House
• Can You See Me
• Love or Confusion
• I Don't Live Today

Side two:

• May This Be Love
• Fire
• Third Stone from the Sun
• Remember
• Are You Experienced?

What about the United States version?

While fans in the U.K. got to listen to the first Hendrix album in May of 1967, record buyers in the United States did not get the experience until late summer.

The U.S. version dropped in August, and it had a different mix of tracks - for better or for worse.

Now-familiar songs "Purple Haze," "Hey Joe," and "The Wind Cries Mary" were included in the U.S. release after already gaining popularity on the radio.

However, iconic blues ballad "Red House," was among three tracks left off.

The version that came out on this side of the pond also had a new cover, and it stayed on the Billboard top albums chart in the United States for 106 weeks, topping out at No. 5.

Ironically, that staying power outlasted the performance in the U.K., where the album was only on the chart or 33 weeks.

Legacy lives on

Hendrix died tragically in 1970 at the age of 27, but he left an incredible legacy for any length of career.

His band's debut album was chosen for the National Recording Registry of the Library of Congress to represent culturally relevant works, and Rolling Stonenamed him the top guitarist of all time because, "His career may have lasted eight years, but musicians spend a lifetime studying his dazzling technique and improvisational genius."

RS also noted his impact as "a Black Artist who left white crowds gaping in awe" as a major part of his legacy and quotes Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello crediting Hendrix for "exploding our idea of what rock music could be."

Hendrix went on to release two more studio albums - Axis: Bold as Love in 1967 and Electric Ladyland in '68 - along with multiple live albums and the compilation Smash Hits prior to his death.

This story was originally published by Men's Journal on May 12, 2026, where it first appeared in the Entertainment section. Add Men's Journal as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

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This story was originally published May 12, 2026 at 6:00 AM.