Fender is celebrating a significant milestone in the history of the Stratocaster in 2024, as the world’s most famous electric guitar turns 70. And now it has commenced the celebrations with a star-studded cover clip of Jimi Hendrix’s Voodoo Child (Slight Return).
It’s a rip-roaring, diverse take on the guitar hero’s classic, featuring an array of unique voices that are clearly intended to illustrate the Strat’s flexibility.
The full list of featured artists includes Tom Morello, Nile Rodgers, Ari O’Neal, Mateus Asato, Rei, Tash Sultana, Jimmie Vaughan, Rebecca Lovell, Tyler Bryant and Biffy Clyro’s Simon Neil.
It’s quite the line-up – one that smartly shows the breadth and depth of the Strat’s use in the hands of both classic and contemporary artists from across the musical spectrum – albeit with a strong slant to rock, given the base material.
Yes, it’s a marketing clip, but we have to admit it’s a fun one – recalling the tag-team format of the Jackson Virtuoso Mega Shred video that we loved last year – albeit channeling one of rock’s most iconic guitar compositions in the process.
Hearing the different personalities adding new life to a very familiar lick is really inspirational, too – with a breakneck mix and rotating cast to hold your interest.
Alongside the main jam, Fender has also filmed a host of clips, in which the artists involved discuss their own Strat stories.
“I got my Stratocaster in 1973 when I realized that it was what my sound was missing, and once I did… it changed my life 1000%,” explains Rodgers, [as transcribed in the accompanying press release].
“I have been able to write the jazz-influenced dance-disco funk-pop songs that people have loved for decades – as well as rock, country, folk and EDM collaborations – thanks to my Strat.”
Rodgers rightly regards himself as something of a genre chameleon and highlighting the instrument’s flexibility seems to be a concerted theme of the 70th celebrations.
Indeed, in our recent conversation with Fender’s EVP of Product, Justin Norvell, the exec also highlighted the Strat’s tonal and genre flexibility as the key to its long life.
“You can play country, punk, metal, funk, blues, whatever on a Stratocaster,” reflects Norvell.
“You sound like a Stratocaster. But you sound like yourself. You can hear Stevie Ray Vaughan, you can hear David Gilmour, you can hear any amount of people. And you’d be like, ‘I know who that is, but I also know it’s on a Strat.’ That transparency and that beauty [means] it continues to be a relevant tool.”
The “Forever ahead of its time” tag certainly represents a smart angle from Fender: acknowledging the changing habits of players who are now much less concerned by the musical tribes and genre limitations that dominated the Strat’s first decades.
It also nods to the evolving way we are using instruments. For instance, the rising amount of guitarists who are multi-instrumentalists and turn their hands to different tools as required by their productions.
The new clip follows the earlier debut of Fender’s 70th Anniversary Stratocaster line – a selection of new standard and custom shop iterations of the perennially popular electric.
For more information on the 70th Anniversary celebrations of the Strat, check out our full interview with Justin Norvell and keep an eye on Fender.
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