Hendrix heads list of 100 guitar greats with 'Are You Experienced'

Jimi Hendrix's pioneering 1967 release, Are You Experienced, has been named the greatest guitar album of all time. The album, which boasted tracks such as "Foxy Lady" and "Fire", was chosen by music experts from Mojo magazine.

The Beatles failed to make even the top 20, although the writers thought their 1966 effort Revolver, with its backward guitar snatches on "Tomorrow Never Knows", deserved a place in the list of the 100 greatest guitar albums.

The Rolling Stones managed only number 11 with Exile On Main Street, while the Who were runners-up with 1965's My Generation.

Completing a top three of Sixties releases is a self-titled 1962 compilation by the bluesman Howlin' Wolf.

Hendrix, who was left- handed, made it to number two in the British chart with his debut album Are You Experienced, continuing the promise shown on earlier singles "Hey Joe" and "Purple Haze".

He had perfected his incendiary style in the clubs of Greenwich village in New York, but found fame after being brought to the UK by the former Animals bass player Chas Chandler.

Are You Experienced showcased his incredible talent as well as his range of innovative guitar sounds using an array of electronic boxes.

The Mojo writer Ritchie Unterberger said: "It's impossible to cram all the innovative ways of playing an electric guitar that Hendrix pioneered on his first album into one paragraph. Foremost among them were his use of controlled feedback coaxing both oceanic waves and subtle flutters; his mastery of a huge range of high-volume distorted tones and his piercing, clear, lightning-quick blues runs."

Two albums from the Nineties make it into the top 10 - Loveless by My Bloody Valentine (1991) and Radiohead's The Bends.

THE TOP TEN

1 Are You Experienced - Jimi Hendrix Experience

2 My Generation - The Who

3 Howlin' Wolf - Howlin' Wolf

4 Maggot Brain - Funkadelic

5 Loveless - My Bloody Valentine

6 The Bends - Radiohead

7 Ramones - Ramones

8 Genius Of The Electric Guitar - Charlie Christian

9 New Orleans Street Singer - Snooks Eaglin

10 The Rock'N'Roll Trio - Johnny Burnette And The Rock'N'Roll Trio