Why does Eric Clapton attract so much negative comment..

darthed1981

Jalapeno said:

poopot said:

plus he’s done nothing of worth since cream… Edge of Darkness

FTFY

Edge of Darkness was great.

RocknRollDave

Greatape said:

A third-rate 'blues jam night' guitarist. He's a lick-spaffer. There's no thought to melody. (And I don't mean 'long and complicated - BB can be very melodic with two notes.) Worst of all, his time feel, note placement etc. It's appalling. Has he actually listened to Otis Rush, or indeed any of those guys? The push and pull - sometimes subtle, other times less so - is what makes that music come to life. He sounds like a school marching band playing blues. Except they'd do it better. 

Oh man, this is perfectly put. 

100% on the money.

Keiko

"love is lovely"

At some point he's thought to himself, "yeah that's a great lyric, thats going in."

Stay off the drugs kids.

Greatape

RocknRollDave said:

Greatape said:

A third-rate 'blues jam night' guitarist. He's a lick-spaffer. There's no thought to melody. (And I don't mean 'long and complicated - BB can be very melodic with two notes.) Worst of all, his time feel, note placement etc. It's appalling. Has he actually listened to Otis Rush, or indeed any of those guys? The push and pull - sometimes subtle, other times less so - is what makes that music come to life. He sounds like a school marching band playing blues. Except they'd do it better. 

Oh man, this is perfectly put. 

100% on the money.

Look, I get it - many people are deeply emotionally invested in the guy's music. They love him. He's a beloved part of their childhood. And I don't really want to piss on their chips. That's like the presenter of a favourite kid's show from your childhood turning out to be a wrong 'un. 

However. The question was asked. 

scrumhalf

My guitar educaton came in significant part from Clapton - Yardbirds, Bluesbreakers, Cream, Blind Faith. I still listen to this stuff and love it.

Having read his biography and discovered that he's rather whiny I'm less minded to like him as a person. I don't care about the political ramblings of a drunk, people can change.

However, the two big reasons fo rme are:

- He let himself be affected by a less-than-flattering Rolling Stone article. Did he not realise that Roliing Stone treat music as a backdrop to their writing (which for them is the most important thing), not as something of worth in itself?

- A man who could play spell-binding guitar chose to come out with a succession of, I believe, boring "oh the songs are so important" albums which were nothing special compared to the innovation that came beforehand.

Springywheel

Greatape said:

With that out of the way:

The least important part of Cream. (Jack Bruce's subsequent solo work bears that out). 

A third-rate 'blues jam night' guitarist. He's a lick-spaffer. There's no thought to melody. (And I don't mean 'long and complicated - BB can be very melodic with two notes.) Worst of all, his time feel, note placement etc. It's appalling. Has he actually listened to Otis Rush, or indeed any of those guys? The push and pull - sometimes subtle, other times less so - is what makes that music come to life. He sounds like a school marching band playing blues. Except they'd do it better. 

One of these guitarists is a musician, and the other is Eric Clapton:

Pompous drivel 

CoolCat

Each to their own however, I thought his acoustic album, Unplugged, was brilliant.

Just as an FYI - he released Unplugged way back 1992!

Greatape

Springywheel said:

Greatape said:

With that out of the way:

The least important part of Cream. (Jack Bruce's subsequent solo work bears that out). 

A third-rate 'blues jam night' guitarist. He's a lick-spaffer. There's no thought to melody. (And I don't mean 'long and complicated - BB can be very melodic with two notes.) Worst of all, his time feel, note placement etc. It's appalling. Has he actually listened to Otis Rush, or indeed any of those guys? The push and pull - sometimes subtle, other times less so - is what makes that music come to life. He sounds like a school marching band playing blues. Except they'd do it better. 

One of these guitarists is a musician, and the other is Eric Clapton:

Pompous drivel 

Thanks for your reasoned analysis.