Is Eric Clapton a racist?

ask Patti

https://freshsheetmusic.com/media/catalog/product/p/a/paul_murtha-eric_clapton_on_stage_-_trombone_1-musicnotes_thumbnail.png

if Connor Clapton had grown up today, his dad would still get to write Tears in Heaven

I like to believe Clapton died somewhere in 1976, but was kept alive through infusions of racist propaganda and far-right conspiracy theories, resulting in the creature that has been infecting us with pseudoscience for the past year or so.

Too bad Clapton didn't join the "27 Club" instead of Hendrix. The world would've been a whole lot better with that swap.

we'd have never gotten "Change the World" or his "I Shot the Sheriff" cover!

There was a Clapton documentary on about a month ago and one memorable part had him saying his parents made him cut his hair when he was a teenager, and that ever since then he hadn't trusted anyone.So yeah, some traumas he's working through here, give the man a break, etc.

I imagining some alternate universe where people complain "Man, I can't believe Hendrix went from Electric Ladyland to this bland Babyface shit! I bet Clapton wouldn't have done this had he survived that heroin overdose."

My guitar teacher is a big fan of Clapton ... but literally only what he did in Cream through Derek & the Dominoes, so 1967-1970. He is bored by or outright hates everything he's done since 1970.

So as far as he's concerned, yeah, Clapton died in 1970, right after Hendrix.

"My Father's Eyes", Pilgrim, THIS is authentic blues!!!!

The outtakes from the aborted second album for Derek & the Dominos are pretty good (I think from 1971?) but that's pretty much the miserable end of the Eric Clapton worth hearing.

can't lie, i quite like this cocaine/sunshine of your love mash-up:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hdqSEPmdF98

Whenever I consider the forking paths of Hendrix surviving, the outcomes are far more Clive Davis presents Carlos and Jimi's Supernaturals III than Mdou Moctar collabs.

I'm going to have to disagree with the "Clapton sucks after 1970" angle -- in fact, I think "461 Ocean Boulevard" is one of the best albums Clapton has made (but I do think the hits are the weakest tracks on the album -- I've never really been a fan of "I Shot the Sheriff" and "Willie and the Hand Jive," but I absolutely love "Motherless Children" and especially "Let It Grow"). After that, though, I will say that things generally do go downhill from there (though I do have a bit of a soft spot for "Lay Down Sally," weirdly enough).

I actually like unplugged

There was a Clapton documentary on about a month ago and one memorable part had him saying his parents made him cut his hair when he was a teenager, and that ever since then he hadn't trusted anyone.So yeah, some traumas he's working through here, give the man a break, etc.

A bizarre moment in my 10-year-old life -- I briefly got obsessed with the song "Bad Love" and would rewind and play that part of my Journeyman cassette over and over again. Very much a product of that pre-adolescent phase where you start to have an inkling of what having your own music taste is but haven't really figured it out yet, much in the same way as you might start to stare at a girl you think is pretty at that age but have no idea what might be a next step.

In my actual adolescence I briefly thought Cream was alright, but the more other music I heard the less good they seemed.

diarrhea medicine

I've always thought of Clapton as medicine that *gave* you diarrhea.

Only just noticed how much of a self-rip that song is from Layla. Even the chord change from the chorus to verse.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tUbpwNWmjfI

Now that I think about it, Layla, On Tour with Eric Clapton and Blues Breakers with Eric Clapton are the only three Clapton-related albums I enjoy as a whole, and he was a sideman on two of those (though he's easily the best thing about Blues Breakers). I might throw the live Yardbirds album in there too, but regardless, his heyday is ridiculously uneven for a figure of his stature - pretty much everything I'd ever want to hear from Cream is on that 20-track The Very Best of Cream compilation. Luckily he was so prolific that there's more than enough music to fill a truly great box set of those years (1963-1971, and Crossroads was NOT it, even if you clip off the later stuff).

I think this is the only blip in the "Clapton sucks after 1970" write-off. Pros And Cons is terrible Waters cringe but Clapton stuck around for the first leg of the tour and hearing him on something like "Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun" where he's forced to be interesting is legit great.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YIu03Nh-QTk

What about “it’s in the way that you use it”

He used it wrong.

As I noted above, my angle isn't so much "Clapton sucked after 1970" as it is "Clapton sucked after unveiling his racist side to the world." I stand by this wholeheartedly.

So it's more like, "Clapton sucked after August, 1976" then?

I guess so, yeah. I still admittedly love "461 Ocean Boulevard".

Live shows are another thing. The material can be terrible, whether it's the songs or the arrangements, but he can still play well when he cares/tries/exercises good taste for once.

I guess so, yeah. I still admittedly love "461 Ocean Boulevard".

― Lone Wanderer Mark II

Great, underrated album. Very stoned vibes. It might be my favorite of his.

Eh...at this point I love blues and blues rock but really why bother much after Cream considering. I'd rather just listen to Freddie King, Magic Sam, Walter Trout, Govt Mule or Rory Gallagher or Buddy Guy. Even of his generation, Jeff Beck and Robin Trower were doing fresher things than old slow hand over the last decade or so.

Only one of EC's later records I have been remotely curious about but not enough to check it out was the one he did with JJ Cale. Never got around to that one, but there are JJ Cale records I have not checked out that are in front of that one.

The live gig DVD reunion with Cream was pretty good, I saw that one.

FWIW, some skeptics have had nice things to say about From the Cradle - it's the one latter day Clapton album that might be worth your time, but as earlnash mentioned, you can find much better blues albums from the last 30 years elsewhere. Buddy Guy alone has done better (check out 2001's Sweet Tea).

I will second the praise for the Cream reunion DVD. Surprisingly quite good, easily the best thing Clapton has done in the last 40 years.

a lot of cream songs have this sort of low key hazy smokiness that i can appreciate on some level, different thing from fully actualized hard rock like zep or sab

like, how tom heavy the drumming is on sunshine of your love, it kind of floats above everything while stringing it all along

Buddy Guy's Sweet Tea rules. My early Clapton fan pal saw one clip of the Cream reunion and, seeing that Clapton was apparently playing his Strat, shut it right off.

Not to derail the thread, but this is a very funny skewering of Clapton.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QFiYTs7EWsU

I like fooling people into thinking this is Will Oldham:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=awbA-uWHycE

Yeah, some of those sleepy-time "Tulsa" records are harmless...if someone puts them on, I won't object and may even find them pleasant, but they're not something I'd ever want to put on myself.

Eric Clapton is good ... for me to poop on

The version of "We're Going Wrong" on that Cream reunion is totally ace. That said, a huge part is that Jack Bruce's voice is sanded into a fine gravel and has such an ache and Ginger Bakers rolling toms are really tasty.