Clapton makes himself even more popular

poopot

rlw said:

This is a really good example of how shite Clapton really is.   No emotion, poor singing and unimaginative playing.  Shite as shite can be.

Well that’s 7 minutes of my life I’m not getting back!…

totally agree with you… it is indeed shite as shite can be!…

corporate, safe blews for accountants and dullards…

by contrast… another “white man” absolutely sweating out emotion

https://youtu.be/i5sqJNFFwqc

fuck Clapton!…

rlw

And this is a bit shite too.  Just copying the original really.  We could all do this down the pub on Saturday night.

rlw

Good job we're all different though

poopot

rlw said:

And this is a bit shite too.  Just copying the original really.  We could all do this down the pub on Saturday night.

“Most” of us could yes… and prolly with more soul and feeling to be fair…

Devil#20

Well I've read the whole thread and I'm still not sure if either of them is a cunt or not. However Alvin Lee is certainly not a cunt and his opening line of one of his songs "never really understood religion. 'cept it seems a good excuse to kill" 

jdgm

I'm glad to hear there are so many on this forum who are as good if not better than Clapton. 

Alas, I'm not.  And I wasn't, back in 1964.

Happy Xmas and best wishes to all!

Philly_Q

poopot said:

a white middle class racist from Surrey loved my accountants and middle management types countrywide?

poopot said:

corporate, safe blews for accountants and dullards…

I know you're writing for effect, but stop going on about accountants!  It's just a job.

What are you that's so bloody cool and gives your opinions more credibility?  A hunky firefighter, space scientist and part time superhero?

Poboy

Philly_Q said:

poopot said:

a white middle class racist from Surrey loved my accountants and middle management types countrywide?

poopot said:

corporate, safe blews for accountants and dullards…

I know you're writing for effect, but stop going on about accountants!  It's just a job.

What are you that's so bloody cool and gives your opinions more credibility?  A hunky firefighter, space scientist and part time superhero?

And spelling it as "blews" comes across as a bit silly. A student mentality.

poopot

Philly_Q said:

poopot said:

a white middle class racist from Surrey loved my accountants and middle management types countrywide?

poopot said:

corporate, safe blews for accountants and dullards…

I know you're writing for effect, but stop going on about accountants!  It's just a job.

What are you that's so bloody cool and gives your opinions more credibility?  A hunky firefighter, space scientist and part time superhero?

Flag pole painter…

BillDL

Why does everything these days have to be a fierce competition.  Has entertainment and having fun all disappeared and been replaced by an expectation of perfection?

We are bombarded by competitiveness at every turn.  I'm not talking about masterchef and similar offerings on the TV, where the whole object is to strive for perfection and win, or the fact that gymnasts and athletes have reached the peak of physical human capability where winners win by decimal points or thousands of a second.  I am talking about entertainment.  When karaoke first became popular here you could stand up in a pub and belt out a number completely out of tune and you were applauded for having the guts to get up and potentially make a fool of yourself, but most people were laughing with you and not at you.  Within a few years karaoke in pubs was dominated by people who had practiced two or three songs to death and became so "professional" that normal people were too scared to get up and follow their performances.

When a guitarist or a singer hits a bum note in a live performance these days it's all over social media with torrents of cruel ridicule because people have been conditioned into expecting note perfect playing, as exemplified by so many youtube guitar heroes that don't tell you how many takes or overdubs or edits it took to make the playing sound absolutely perfect.

When I hear a guitarist in a pub band playing an old blues number it is almost always based on the way one of their influences arranged and played that particular song through the years since it was written.  There are very few that are totally unique simply because too radical a departure from the style puts it into a different genre.  Do any pub and club blues bands ever play the song Stormy Monday in the original style of T-Bone Walker?  I doubt it.  They will tend to play it in the much the same style as whatever player they were inspired to play the song by (or a mixture of several), whether that be Albert King, Muddy Waters, Buddy Guy, BB King, The Allmans, Peter Green, Alvin Lee, Eric Clapton (Cream, Mayall, or Solo - all different), SRV, Gary Moore, or any of the countless high profile people who have covered the song commercially. When somebody says, with reference to Eric Clapton's playing, that  "any decent pub blues guitarist could play it better", I have to ask "whose version would that be, and what would make it 'better'?"   Guitar playing should be entertainment, not a competition.  If people don't like it they don't have to listen to it, but clearly an awful lot of people liked how Clapton played or he wouldn't have filled so many arenas and sold so many records over his 50 odd years of playing professionally.

A guitarist playing a Van Halen song note perfect inspires me much less than hearing the painfully wailing sustained soulful bends that use very few notes in Clapton's Holy Mother (1986 live at Birmingham and the August album).  Could most of us play those notes?  Probably.  I know I can.  Will it sound better than Clapton doing it?  Who cares.  He created a solo that spoke within the song despite fluffing a few notes live and not being very complicated in theory.

If you do a search for Ted Nugent on YouTube you are now likely to be shown a long list of videos talking about his right-wing political stance, and his his outspoken views on Covid, vaccinations and guns, interspersed with the odd video of his music.  I happen to have some of his music.  I went off it naturally a while back but it was nothing to do with his rants or beliefs.  Would this stop me buying any of his music if I still liked it?  I don't know.  It probably would because I wouldn't like a dick like him receiving money from my purchase, but I am not going to throw out those ted Nugent CDs because I do listen to them from time to time.

fob

Offset said:

Crossroads?  It's crap.

Of course it is. It might be a bit more educational to find out what you think of as the epitome of this kind of playing - not just 'well this and that track is better', what do you consider the best? I'm guessing a lot of the people you could list will have a different perspective on Clapton's ability.

poopot said:

Clapton is boring as are the folk who listen to him

Yeah? Well you're a poopoo face and your mum smells!

rlw said:

<poor Clapton video>

This is a really good example of how shite Clapton really is.   No emotion, poor singing and unimaginative playing.  Shite as shite can be.

Perhaps a bit unfair. For someone who will have been filmed playing on countless occasions - in fact, probably filmed every time he plays in public - there are going to be times where he's having an off-day. I'm sure there must be examples of SRV being so far off his bosoms that he can barely hold it together. We're all in double trouble if we're being judged by our worst moments.

poopot said:

rlw said:

And this is a bit shite too.  Just copying the original really.  We could all do this down the pub on Saturday night.

<Clapton on Jools>

“Most” of us could yes… and prolly with more soul and feeling to be fair…

Again, genuine request, but if you have a link to you and your band playing down the pub I'd love to see it.

Offset

@fob "It might be a bit more educational to find out what you think of as the epitome of this kind of playing - not just 'well this and that track is better', what do you consider the best?" 

As I said before, this isn't about who's 'best' - it's about the perception of Clapton's playing.  I won't argue he hasn't been influential because he very obviously has.  Nor will I say I don't like his music, because whilst a lot of his output has not been to my taste (he says tactfully), some of it has been - although nearly all the stuff I do like comes from the dim and distant past.  What I AM saying is that I don't think he's the great player that many consider him to be and I just don't get the adulation and the reverence in which he's held.

"rlw said: This is a really good example of how shite Clapton really is.   No emotion, poor singing and unimaginative playing.  Shite as shite can be"

I think @rlw had their tongue firmly in their cheek here with respect.  The video was posted to counter my opinions on Clapton, but I'm afraid it merely reinforced them.

Each to his or her own though - I'm not saying I'm right, I'm merely sharing my view on someone who's been a pivotal part of the British rock scene for over half a decade, and it's been interesting to hear the opinions of others.  After all, it's what a forum is for :-)

fob

Offset said:

As I said before, this isn't about who's 'best' - it's about the perception of Clapton's playing. 

It's been pointed out many times on this thread that all this is in the ear of the beholder etc. My request for you to post a track/artist who you think is the best (or in the mix as that opinion will change day to day) wasn't a petulant challenge - I know text on the internet can be inferred completley differently to how it's intended - I'm curious to know what you think is the best. You don't like Clapton, fair enough, but I'm always open to other people's superlatives.

@rlw clearly did have tounge in cheek but I don't think the reply was. Although, I've seen some great pub bands - so who knows?

Poboy

A lot of sneery 'student types' in this thread. 
Maybe they don't really 'get' music.

poopot

fob said:

poopot said:

Clapton is boring as are the folk who listen to him

Yeah? Well you're a poopoo face and your mum smells!

My mum died a few weeks back

poopot

fob said:

Again, genuine request, but if you have a link to you and your band playing down the pub I'd love to see it.

There are plenty of vids of the function band playing… really can’t be arsed to dig them out…

for the originals… you’ll just have to wait to give it a scathing critique…

https://thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/219087/nye#latest

fob

poopot said:

fob said:

poopot said:

Clapton is boring as are the folk who listen to him

Yeah? Well you're a poopoo face and your mum smells!

My mum died a few weeks back

Is that confirmation?

poopot

fob said:

poopot said:

fob said:

poopot said:

Clapton is boring as are the folk who listen to him

Yeah? Well you're a poopoo face and your mum smells!

My mum died a few weeks back

Is that confirmation?

Nah… she didn’t really die… she’s in her 70’s and going strong… I showed her your comment and she said you sounded like a dick and to put what I put!…

fob

poopot said:

fob said:

Again, genuine request, but if you have a link to you and your band playing down the pub I'd love to see it.

There are plenty of vids of the function band playing… really can’t be arsed to dig them out…

If you can't be arsed...

Rocker

I don't see why being described as 'an average' blues guitarist makes Eric Clapton in need of such contempt by some members of this forum.  Such behaviour reminds me of the time I spent on the (American) Telecaster forum.  Any member of that forum was treated with the utmost contempt if their Telecaster did not meet what some of the senior forum members deemed 'a Telecaster'.  Talk about narrow minded tunnel vision.  I am sorry to see such tunnel vision appearing on our forum.

I am not an out and out fan of Eric Clapton.  I like some of his songs and I admire his longevity in the music business.  For the record, I have managed to accumulate seven Eric Clapton CDs to date.  Not counting the 'Beano' disk I have, recordings that are usually deemed the high point of Clapton's guitar playing but an album that I find to be of little interest.  Clapton has written or co-written many fine songs and for that he deserves to be considered one of the greats of British music.