I love you, man, but this is a bit much. It's like saying the Beatles weren't noteworthy until after their long stint in Hamburg strip clubs, so they're really German. Nonsense. The greatest early influences on Jimi's music were American---in his own words, Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, Buddy Holly, Eddie Cochran, BB King, Albert King. Lot of Curtis Mayfield too, and Ike Turner too. His stint with The Isley Brothers (and several other R&B bands) cast a long shadow over his later output.
In your sense of the term, Jimi was never a "Rock" guitar player. And good for him!
I think this is where you and I differ. (Which is fine. To each his own.) I'm more of a rock'n'roll guy. (Than a rock guy, I mean. I don't listen to either one very much.) I can still enjoy the Stones but I don't care if I ever hear Zep, Deep Purple, or Black Sabbath again. (And I loved 'em all as a teenager.) It's funny but I think AC/DC is a better, um, balls out rock band than any of those three were. Maybe Australia is where rock REALLY got it right. ;o) Seriously, I will still listen to "Back in Black".
As much as I tried to cop licks from Page and Blackmore as a teen, I think David Gilmour's solo on "Time" is better than any solo they ever played. (And it is end-to-end American blues licks, brilliantly spaced and voiced.)
And a lot of it has to do with what the drummers do. Charlie Watts in the Stones can actually play a good rockin' beat. And the Stones are the most relentlessly American sounding of those British rock bands you mentioned above.
I think an unfortunate thing happened in America when a lot of up and coming bands here were influenced by British bands who could be very loud and some fun but really couldn't groove. (Traffic and Pink Floyd could---curiously, they don't "rock" like Zep, Purple, Sabbath, Nazareth, Uriah Heep. Hhm...) There's always been a lot of room for groove in good American music, from gospel to soul to blues to R&B to funk to swamp rock, even good rockabilly and punk like The Cramps. (The good, early Cramps---"Goo Goo Muck" with that "Get Off My Cloud" drum beat---not the sh*t with a thudding bass and drum blasts that came later and sucked.)
No stodgy beats here! (I'm in a Ray Charles mood tonight.)
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