All play and no work

ARMY NOT SO ROCK 'N' ROLL

Music great Jimi Hendrix was booted out of the army for letting his sex drive and guitar playing get in the way of military life, show records.

The rock legend was kicked out aged 19 in 1962 after superiors deemed him "one of the poorest" soldiers in his platoon with "no known good characteristics".


Records published on the Smoking Gun website showed the final straw for bosses was when Hendrix was caught masturbating in a toilet when he was supposed to cleaning platoon quarters.

In a report dated May 28, 1962 Sergeant Louis Hoekstra said: "Private Hendrix plays a musical instrument during his off-duty hours, or so he says.

"This is one of his faults, because his mind apparently cannot function while performing his duties and thinking about his guitar."

So disturbed were offices by his apparent inability to "carry on an intelligent conversation" that at one point he was given a drugs test, which he passed.

Hendrix was also labelled an "extreme introvert" who paid little attention to rules and slept on the job.

In June 1963, 13 months after enlisting in the 101st Airborne Support Group in Kentucky, he was given his marching orders from the army.

The guitarist, who died from a heroin overdose in 1970, did not challenge the decision.