The national anthem, the star-spangled banner, is one of the most recognizable songs throughout America. If there’s one song that Americans should know, whether they like it or not, it’s the national anthem. The song has been a part of many historic events since its inception. It is played before the start of sporting events, military occasions, and appropriate public occasions. It represents a lot of things, but it traditionally represents honoring the country and respecting our fallen soldiers and policemen. The anthem has been used in many ways to confront national issues or express one’s views, such as athletes kneeling during the anthem in response to racial injustice, or playing the anthem differently to express one’s emotions like Jimi Hendrix did at Woodstock. Jimi Hendrix’s take on the national anthem at Woodstock was far from traditional. He goes against the traditional sound and adds his own spin on it, essentially a remix. His version expresses a lot of emotion through the different sounds that clash and make unusual sounds. Jimi Hendrix did serve in the Vietnam War, so he did experience a lot of gruesome things. He has most likely seen pain, suffering, and evil because of the war, and he is expressing that through the unconventional way he played the national anthem. He also was a black man living during the civil rights movement. A year earlier, Martin Luther King Jr. had been assassinated and he was the most prominent figure during the civil rights movement. Hendrix relating to the inequality and struggles of being a black man in America also shared his pain and emotions through the way the anthem was played. Jimi Hendrix’s anthem promotes a story, a story of struggle and independence. In the video of him playing at Woodstock, people gave him strange looks, almost confused as to what he was playing. Viewers found the performance transgressive because it goes completely against the norm of how the national anthem should be played. It was not societally accepted to play the anthem in that manner. What gave him the authority to speak through music on the question of patriotism and the future of the country was his experience. He did the most patriotic thing one can do, which was serve. Not only did he serve in the military but he served in one of the most deadly wars in U.S history: the Vietnam War. As previously mentioned he was a black man during the civil rights movement. So his experience as an American was not easy, from fighting in a war to fighting for his race, his experience was far from normal. He felt the need to voice himself on a platform where he had great reach, music, and he did a successful job in doing so.