This Week in Rock History Hendrix Passes Away

Jimi Hendrix performs during his last concert.
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This week in rock history, Janis Joplin left Big Brother and the Holding Company, Jimi Hendrix passed away, and Radiohead released "Creep" to underwhelming results.

September 21, 1968: Janis Joplin announces her departure from Big Brother and the Holding Company

In 1966, Janis Joplin joined Big Brother and the Holding Company, one of the most popular psychedelic-rock bands in San Francisco's hippie community. At the time, both the group and the Texas-born singer were eager to refocus their sounds, and their chemistry was immediate: Joplin brought bluesy, heartrending vocals and Big Brother shifted their experimental songwriting into more straightforward structures to complement her. Off the strength of singles such as "Down on Me," they continued to rise in popularity across the country and deliver scorching live shows, including the Monterey Pop Festival set in 1967 that secured their record deal with Columbia; the ensuing album, Cheap Thrills, hit Number One on the Billboard 200 and is ranked Number 338 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.

Eventually, Joplin's soul inclinations proved too strong for the rock outfit, and she announced in the fall of 1968 that she was leaving to start a bluesier band. Soon after, she debuted her new backing group, which would grow into the Kozmic Blues Band.

September 18, 1970: Jimi Hendrix dies

The night of Hendrix's death, he dropped by a party and then stayed the night with his girlfriend, figure skater Monika Dannemann. He took several tablets of a powerful sedative and passed out; the combination of the sleeping pill, and the drugs and alcohol in his system, caused him to vomit the contents of his stomach, which he choked on.

The blues-based psychedelic guitarist, one of the most seminal musicians of the 1960s, was born in Seattle in 1942 and became a backing musician in New York in the early 1960s. In 1966, he signed a management contract with Chas Chandler, ex-bassist of the Animals; Chandler brought him to London, where he became an immediate sensation in the rock community. The debut Jimi Hendrix Experience album, Are You Experienced, was released in the United Kingdom in 1967, after which he scored international fame and delivered his epochal performances as the Monterey Pop and Woodstock festivals.

At the time of his tragic death, Hendrix was desperate to stop his hectic touring schedule and complete his next studio album, which was partially released in 1971 as The Cry of Love.

September 21, 1992: Radiohead releases "Creep"

Radiohead's debut single was, fittingly, a misfit of British radio – it was widely unpopular when first released, with many DJs agreeing with BBC Radio 1's decree that the song was too depressing. However, the Parlophone track did gain a following with Israeli DJs, then hopscotched over to San Francisco and became a cult hit on Bay Area airwaves.

"Creep," written by frontman Thom Yorke while he attended Exeter University in the late 1980s, gained slow traction as Radiohead finished recording their first album, Pablo Honey. The single was reissued with the album in 1993, when it cracked the Top Ten on the UK Singles Charts and achieved similar popularity around the world.

The band dropped their breakthrough hit from their live setlists in the late 1990s, and still play it sparingly. Other rockers have been less reticent: "Creep" has been covered by Prince, Moby, Weezer and more.