When Clapton was God

[julius2790]

Deep down, he's a man who enjoys making bad music. That's worth hating on its own.

I love that you have these very strong opinions and I love that you have no problem sharing them in the most direct way possible! My hat's off to you, madame.

[burpgun]

I've always figured if Clapton had stopped just short of his recovering-alcoholic-doing-beer-commercials phase, history would treat him a lot kinder. I've never really been into bluesy stuff but Cream absolutely shreds. There's some decent stuff here and there through the 70s, although I'll never claim any deep knowledge of his work. I was a little kid when that song "Cocaine" was still a classic rock staple, and it used to unnerve me.

Alas, in the 80s he just became a lazy whore. Didn't he finally get to a stage where he stopped playing leads? Perhaps his problem was his lack of song writing ability. When he was pared up people with good taste and song writing ability, for at least a period of time, he burned brightly.

Still, you do an absolutely maudlin track like "Tears In Heaven" and you've pretty much tossed your career down the well. In my younger years I was a house painter, and the most important thing on any given day was the rotation between the crew of boom box privileges. We were a mix of punks and hippies and we all baked most of the time, but it mostly fine on the music front. But we had this one guy who only wanted to listen to that Clapton "Unplugged" record, and it was horrible. Just horrible, and I still think about it more than 20 years later.

[julius2790]

Still, you do an absolutely maudlin track like "Tears In Heaven" and you've pretty much tossed your career down the well. In my younger years I was a house painter, and the most important thing on any given day was the rotation between the crew of boom box privileges. We were a mix of punks and hippies and we all baked most of the time, but it mostly fine on the music front. But we had this one guy who only wanted to listen to that Clapton "Unplugged" record, and it was horrible. Just horrible, and I still think about it more than 20 years later.

Ha! Do you remember Mr. Show?...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7oYe-CxEfc&t=1286s

...at 23 minutes in. Epic skit. So funny.

[andy_tchp]

Deep down, he's a man who enjoys making bad music. That's worth hating on its own.

Superb, that's signature-worthy Megan.

[mackerelmint]

Deep down, he's a man who enjoys making bad music. That's worth hating on its own.

I love that you have these very strong opinions and I love that you have no problem sharing them in the most direct way possible! My hat's off to you, madame.

Aw, shucks.

[scottT]

In my teens & early 20s I loved pretty much all of his work with Cream (although I have just as much love for Ginger Baker & Jack Bruce). They really had something. I still listen to them from time to time.

Clapton has said that when he heard Jack Bruce, everything changed. Jack Bruce did have a way of bringing out the best in him. Add to that JB co-wrote most of their material (with Pete Brown), and was the primary singer while playing some very busy and groundbreaking bass parts. Ginger Baker was so good, he was almost slumming it with Cream. I'm thinking they were the first super group, a template for many power trios to come, and probably a precursor to heavy metal.

I've never really been into bluesy stuff but Cream absolutely shreds.

I am into bluesy stuff, and I agree!

(And I would hate to be forced to listen to "unplugged".)

[scottT]

My feelings towards Clapton are very complicated. His music means a lot to me and I'm not sickened on it like some people (I'm 24 if that seems related??), but I don't think I'd have a nice time hanging out with him.

Bluesbreakers
Live Cream 1 & 2
Blind Faith
Layla (great album, bad song) and the Live @ the Fillmore album
461 Ocean Boulevard
even From The Cradle and the Robert Johnson tribute stuff

All that stuff is music I love and would enjoy listening to at any given minute.

Regarding the ugly things he's said in public... eesh, it ain't good, is it? Anyone who is a fan of rock from the 60s/70s has to acknowledge that those (white guys) making that great music were probably shitty people who believed and did a lot of shitty things. EC said racist shit, Lennon/Macca are basically known women beaters, Chuck Berry/Stones/Bill Wyman/Jimmy Page liking verrrrry young girls...

Romesh Ranganathan did a documentary about Richard Pryor, who he has tattooed on his arm, and how he has to rationalise the misogynistic things he said with his comedic influence. I think if you can have a relative (like a grandparent) who occasionally says offensive things and still have familial affection for them, you can enjoy Badge in spite of the people involved.

Great post. Agreed. Badge is also a favorite of mine. I heard the story that it was actually written "bridge" on the music sheet, and EC misread it as "Badge" and that's how the song got its name.

While on my recent Cream kick, I checked out the Royal Albert Hall reunion performance. I have to say, for some old dudes who hadn't performed that stuff together in a long time, they were all in fine form! It would have been nice to have seen Clapton with a Gibson, because the Strat just isn't quite the same, but at this point it's what he prefers. "Badge" is a standout from the performance. The silence (dragged out even longer live) really builds anticipation and it's so cool when he finally starts that descending arpeggio figure.

[scottT]

Oh, here's a thing: I do really like the song "Let It Rain", and like you say, Scott, I can remember the guitar solos in that tune pretty much note for note. It's great soloing at the end there, and I used to always tell myself that no matter how much I thought Clapton was an embarrassment, he could play some wonderful solos and I don't even really always like guitar solos.

But, I come to find out that he didn't play those solos on that cut, am I right? I don't want to look it up. Who did play those, do you recall?

Edit: I looked it up. Stephen Stills, who I do like, played the middle solos, not the ones I like so much at the end.

o.k. Yeah, I couldn't have told you. I'm pretty much all about Cream and Derek and the Dominoes. I'm even blithely unaware of his work in Blind Faith, though I like Steve Winwood so I should check them out. Even the commercial success of the Slowhand album in 1977 (right at the peak time of my musical development) left me unscathed. To me that stuff was as bland as musical wallpaper and Clapton was a non-entity as far as I was concerned, eclipsed by some of the greatest rock music in history going on around it.

For someone as lauded as he was, he has always struck me as refreshingly free of ego. Jack Bruce wanted him to be the singer of Cream, and he didn't want to. He even kept a rather low profile as a side man with Delaney and Bonnie and Friends, and obviously had no problem making room for another great guitarist, Duane Allman for the Layla album. He eventually became a front man in his own right, but I never got the feeling that's what he was in it for.

[Larry Mal]

o.k. Yeah, I couldn't have told you. I'm pretty much all about Cream and Derek and the Dominoes. I'm even blithely unaware of his work in Blind Faith, though I like Steve Winwood so I should check them out. Even the commercial success of the Slowhand album in 1977 (right at the peak time of my musical development) left me unscathed. To me that stuff was as bland as musical wallpaper and Clapton was a non-entity as far as I was concerned, eclipsed by some of the greatest rock music in history going on around it.

For someone as lauded as he was, he has always struck me as refreshingly free of ego. Jack Bruce wanted him to be the singer of Cream, and he didn't want to. He even kept a rather low profile as a side man with Delaney and Bonnie and Friends, and obviously had no problem making room for another great guitarist, Duane Allman for the Layla album. He eventually became a front man in his own right, but I never got the feeling that's what he was in it for.

I pulled my posts earlier because I thought that I was just being negative on your thread, so if you don't see them here now it's not because of anything you did, I just felt like I might be smothering your attempt at conversation with negativity. Even I'm aware of my tendencies in that way!

But, you do mention a good point about Clapton, he did make effort to reinvent himself artistically at times and you have to give him credit for that. He also went from "Clapton is God" to playing 20 minute solos and then he put himself as a sideman in an act that I bet no one has heard any songs from, and he learned while he was doing that.

For all his failings, he's worked at his craft throughout his life, to some degree.

Blind Faith is a very good album, here's them having fun with a Buddy Holly tune.

[scottT]

I pulled my posts earlier because I thought that I was just being negative on your thread, so if you don't see them here now it's not because of anything you did, I just felt like I might be smothering your attempt at conversation with negativity. Even I'm aware of my tendencies in that way!

Not at all. I thought they were honest opinions balanced with good and bad.

Blind Faith is a very good album, here's them having fun with a Buddy Holly tune.

Thanks! I enjoyed that. A good rendition of a very favorite Buddy Holly tune.

[shadowplay]

I for one am happy to see a masculine proper guitar forum thread, nothing effeminate here. Clapton fulfills his traditional male gender role of turgid blooze noodling with a side order of arsehole hate speech superbly.

D

[PorkyPrimeCut]

I'm quite fond of the Blind Faith album. I clearly remember finding it in a charity shop for 50p. Ah, those were the days.

I love the story about when Hendrix came to town & was billed to play the same night as Clapton. There was a little stand-off as they decided who was to play first & Hendrix eventually agreed to go on first (lower down the bill, so to speak).
Half way through his set someone at the side of the stage saw Clapton stood motionless, staring in bewilderment with a fag almost falling out of his mouth, as he realised he'd never be able to follow Hendrix's wizardry.

OK, that tale's probably evolved somewhat over the years but it still makes me smile.

[NickD]

So far as Clapton's musical output goes, Bluesbreakers, Cream, Yardbirds, fine. Anything after that, no thanks. He should have retired at the end of the 60s.

It probably isn't a coincidence that the crap music comes when he was the frontman...

[Larry Mal]

Thanks! I enjoyed that. A good rendition of a very favorite Buddy Holly tune.

You have to wonder how Buddy Holly would have evolved as an artist. He was very good.

[MechaBulletBill]

Lennon/Macca are basically known women beaters

What?
It's no secret Lennon had his demons, but McCartney?? The only time I've heard anything suggesting anything like that was Heather Mills as she tried dragging Paul's name through the mud during a bitter divorce. As far as I know her claims have been debunked, or have I missed something?

A while ago someone on ILF was posting old interviews that didn't show either in a good light, but I can't find them so make of that what you will.

I for one am happy to see a masculine proper guitar forum thread, nothing effeminate here.

History seems to remember the young Clapton as the "sensitive" one out of Cream (true or not). When I think macho bloozroc from that era, I tend to think more about Page's duckface or the Faces/Stones light trousers and bare chests. Is there a reason EC's music - which I can completely understand someone finding boring, even my favourite bits - strikes you as especially masculine?