Even if Hendrix was aware of Dale's illness, it would make no sense for him to make the statement to only apply to Dick Dale. It was the Beach Boys at that time that functioned as the main representative of surf music, not Dick Dale. As has already been stated here, Hendrix knew his type of music was taking over and that other forms of music such as surf music were on their way out. This is exactly what happened, too. You didn't have to be a musical genius such as Hendrix to understand that. But when he made such a statement as that, I'm sure he wasn't gloating; he was just stating a fact. Now the psychedelic era which Hendrix was talking about is long gone, too. But like I said in another post, now we can look at this more objectively and appreciate both surf music and acid rock.
