The Animals’ bass player became Jimi Hendrix’s manager!
After a successful spell in the mid-60s, thanks to three super hits in House Of The Rising Sun (1964), Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood (1965), and We’ve Gotta Get Out of This Place (also 1965), English rockers The Animals broke up and reformed in America under the name Eric Burdon and the Animals.
This version of the band did not do as well as the original lineup, although some chart hits did appear, mainly San Franciscan Nights (1967).
Apart from these tunes, The Animals also covered many already well-known hits such as Boom Boom (John Lee Hooker), Mess Around and Hallelujah I Love Her So (Ray Charles), Sweet Little Sixteen (Chuck Berry), and Ring Of Fire (Johnny Cash).
Known as a British Invasion band, The Animals were partly responsible for the musical bond formed between the U.S. and the U.K. during the ’60s. Led by The Beatles, other British Invasion acts were The Rolling Stones, The Who, The Yardbirds, Dusty Springfield, The Kinks, and Van Morrison.
Together with the artists moving in the other direction, this movement would come to form the basis of popular music as we know it.
Chas Chandler and Jimi Hendrix
The Animals are also known for their bass player Chas Chandler who would go on to discover, mentor, and manage Jimi Hendrix.
Apparently, it was Chas who came up with the idea to set his Strat on fire, he also recruited Noel Redding and Mitch Mitchell and introduced Jimi to Eric Clapton.
Chas financed Hendrix’s first single, Hey Joe, and was in general very hands-on during the early recordings but then left him during the Electric Ladyland sessions, claiming Jimi had become too self-indulgent, took too long to record the tunes and, mainly, consumed too much acid.
After Chas had left what many see as the most culturally important guitar player in the world, he moved on to manage the English rock band Slade instead. Guiding them to six #1’s.
The latter stage of his life has been spent mainly answering questions about Jimi. During these interviews (check one in the playlist above) he revealed that he and Jimi actually made up and were just about to start working together again when he passed from misadventure.
The Animals Tunes | Related Pages
Hey Joe
You can learn to play Hey Joe by Jimi Hendrix/Billy Roberts using chords, lyrics, chord analysis, TAB, and the original recordings.
| C G | D A | E7 | E7 |
Hey Joe, ah where you goin’ with that gun of your hand…
House Of The Rising Sun
You can learn to play House Of The Rising Sun by The Animals using chords, lyrics, TAB, chord analysis, and the original recording.
| Am | C | D | F |
There is a house in New Orleans…
Ring of Fire
You can learn to play Ring of Fire by Johnny Cash using chords, lyrics, chord analysis, TAB, and the original recording.
| G |3/4 G G/D C |4/4 G |
Love is a burning thing…
The Animals on the web
Artists & Bands
Behind every single tune you learn, there’s an artist or band with an entire catalogue of music, waiting to be discovered.
Find out more about these great Artists & Bands, and let their tunes guide you to success.
About me | Dan Lundholm
This was an article about The Animals tunes, by Dan Lundholm. Discover more about him and learn guitar with Spytunes.
Most importantly, find out why you should learn guitar through playing tunes, not practising scales, and studying theory in isolation.
