How Jimi Hendrix got banned from the BBC with the help of Lulu

29 July 2026, 00:25

He was one of the most incendiary performers in the history of guitar music.

Quite literally, given the 1967 image of Jimi Hendrix setting his electric guitar on fire and coaxing the flames whilst kneeling down has become one of rock music's most legendary.

By 1969 however, Hendrix was world renowned as one of the leading figures of countercultural movements.

His virtuosity on guitar was unmatched, as was his effortless cool and boundary-breaking charisma.

Few musicians had a borderless appeal quite like Jimi – but that didn't stop the stiffs at the BBC taking a disliking to him.

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Hendrix was a fairly frequent performer on the BBC throughout 1967, appearing on Top Of The Pops a total of four times.

But for two years after, British audiences wouldn't have been able to catch a glimpse of the 'Purple Haze' trailblazer.

That was until he hijacked Lulu's television show, and subsequently got blacklisted by the BBC.

Strangely enough, Jimi's first UK television performance for two years was thanks to Lulu.

The diminutive Scottish firecracker had her own series at that time, titled Happening For Lulu which saw her welcome a myriad of music guests from across the music spectrum.

By that point, Lulu was a massive star with 'Shout' and 'To Sir, With Love' making her a sensation both at home and overseas.

But her television show hit rocky waters only after its second show, after Jimi Hendrix' rebellious display.

Hendrix' unruly antics would result in his final ever appearance on British television, which in the years since has become one of the most notorious.

The moment of tension came when Jimi decided not to stick to the script, in playing a song he wasn't instructed to.

Jimi Hendrix and the Experience played a blistering rendition of the now-classic 'Voodoo Chile' before meandering into 'Hey Joe', their biggest hit.

It was the song that introduced Hendrix to a mass audience back in 1966, so was understandably the song the television producers wanted him to perform.

According to his bandmate in bass player Noel Redding, the producers had asked the band to invite Lulu on stage to sing the final verse of the song alongside them.

Not only did they reject the idea outright, they went completely rogue, grinding the song to a halt halfway through.

Jimi Hendrix Experience Live Lulu Show 1969 BBC

Blues rock supergroup Cream had just broken up, and given Hendrix deemed them his peers, he decided to rip through a cover of their most known song, 'Sunshine Of Your Love'.

“Well, let’s stop playing this rubbish and dedicate a song to Cream,” he told the audience in the television studio.

“Regardless of what group they might be, I’d like to dedicate this to Eric Clapton, Ginger Baker and Jack Bruce.”

He decided to pay tribute in the best way he knew possible: by absolutely shredding.

Launching into a white-knuckled, loose and loud rendition of the Cream classic, the band ran over the show's allotted time.

Heads at the BBC were immediately angered, and cancelled the show whilst they were still letting it out on stage.

The blatant breach of protocol wasn't taken too kindly by the BBC, which led to Hendrix being banned from appearing on television or any of the BBC's radio stations.

In an interview years later however, Lulu believed that being shut out of the BBC actually worked in his favour and made Hendrix more legendary than ever.

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"They wouldn’t play him on the radio, then they wouldn’t put him on any television shows,” she recalled whilst talking on The Louis Theroux Podcast in 2026, adding “but I think it made him more popular than ever.”

Tragically, Jimi Hendrix would die just shy of two years after he was banned.

If anything though, the incident encapsulated everything about Hendrix: a refusal to be boxed in, he was an artist that followed his own distinct vision, which transformed him into one of the greatest icons in music history.