Jimi Hendrix "Electric Ladyland" [1968]

Both a landmark recording and the mother of all cautionary tales, and they're both the same thing: Hendrix had finally rid himself of the horrors of sobriety for every last second of every day by the time he dragged his white boys into the studio one last time to do "Electric Ladyland." The schizoid and uneven recordings here -- freak-out noisescapes, acid-blurry off-time soul (think Curtis Mayfield in a rubber room), painstakingly manicured radio singles and drunk late-night blues jams with British rock's hoi polloi -- make for incredibly annoying and haphazard listening. And that's just Side One of Four! Hendrix is so bent on attempting to play "everything" that he accomplishes "nothing." Adding insult to acid casualty, lyrically Hendrix frustratingly blasts off into outer space or down to the ocean floor with feckless regularity, never bothering to relate an actual "experience" at all, despite the name of his own goddamn band. "Electric Ladyland" is a classic only among people who craved to caress the hem of the man's tackily-patterned garment. The rest of us can easily recognize when someone's spiraling out of control, and what to do about it: get out of the way before he pukes on you.