YMMV / Eric Clapton

• Broken Base: Fans disagree as to whether his post-60s work was a welcome focus on songwriting and artistic growth or a misguided rejection of his guitar-god image that caused him to become boring and conventional. This even extends to guitar choice, with a number of fans rejecting any music Clapton released after he switched out his Gibsons for Fender Stratocasters.
• Cargo Ship: "I've Got A Rock 'N' Roll Heart" amusingly sounds like it's about this if you take lyrics too literally:
  I get off on '57 Chevys
  I get off on screamin' guitar
• Common Knowledge: A lot of people seem to believe "Eric Clapton's son Conor died in 1991 because Eric left a window open in his 53rd-story apartment," which is nowhere close to the truth. For one thing, Clapton didn't have custody of Conor; that was Conor's mother, Lory Del Santo. The apartment was being leased by Del Santo and her then-partner Silvio Sardi, and there was also a nanny living with them. Clapton didn't live there and wasn't present when the accident happened. A janitor had been working on the window and left it open, and Conor, being a rambunctious 4-year-old, ran to the window before anyone could catch him. Clapton had been scheduled to come to the apartment later that day to take Conor out for lunch and a visit to a zoo.
• Covered Up:
  • Clapton almost exclusively played the Unplugged Version of "Layla" in live shows for a time due to the extreme difficulty of coordinating the song outside the studio. These days, it mostly depends on which sidemen he has. A rare example of an artist displacing their own song, as the acoustic version is the version you are most likely to hear on pop stations these days and it is the version younger listeners are more familiar with, although the electric version still remains a beloved classic as well.
  • Most people know "I Shot The Sheriff" was originally a Bob Marley song, but Clapton's version is still heard more often. Originally this was a case of Adaptation Displacement as Clapton's version was far better known than Marley's original upon its release, but as Clapton's stature has diminished with younger listeners (see Overshadowed by Controversy below), Marley's has only grown with time.
  • "After Midnight" and "Cocaine" were both originally written and recorded by J.J. Cale. Cale's version of "Cocaine" was a #1 hit in New Zealand, of all places.
    • Clapton actually covered up Cale twice with "After Midnight". Clapton's up-tempo 1970 version was based on Cale's obscure 1966 original. When Cale re-recorded it in 1971 he rearranged it into a slow, bluesy song, and when Clapton re-recorded it in 1987 it was more in line with that take of the song.
  • Ditto "Crossroads", a Robert Johnson tune.
  • "Change The World" was first sung by Wynonna Judd.
• Early-Installment Weirdness: Clapton is best known in recent decades for his unplugged solo material, his blues revival efforts, and his lighter pop hits, but back in The '60s he was a certified rock god who essentially defined the role of lead guitarist. His work with Cream and John Mayall may not sound as innovative today, especially since it was almost immediately followed by the even more revolutionary work of Jimi Hendrix (who was a great admirer of Clapton), but rock audiences had never heard anything like it in 1966.
  • In fact, Cream's "Tales of Brave Ulysses", which wound up on the B-side of "Strange Brew" in the spring of 1967, was the first record to utilize a wah pedal, beating Hendrix' "Burning of the Midnight Lamp" by several months.
• Epic Riff: Several, especially "Crossroads", where his arrangement is the most famous.
• Genre Turning Point:
  • Clapton's one album and subsequent live performances with John Mayall's Blues Breakers, particularly their cover of Freddie King's "Hide Away". There had been great rock guitarists before (e.g., Chuck Berry and Link Wray), but Clapton took the role to new levels, effectively creating the role of guitar hero.
  • From a technical aspect, Clapton's use of a Les Paul overdriven through Marshall amplifiers innovated what has become the signature rock guitar sound, often accomplished by distortion pedals today.
  • Mayall's original plan was to release a live album that would have emphasized Clapton's solos even more. Poor recording quality resulted in the studio version instead.
• Growing the Beard: The first time he grew a full beard was in 1969 with Blind Faith, when was getting disillusioned with his "guitar hero" status. After the tour, he joined Blind Faith's little-known supporting act Delaney and Bonnie and Friends. The duo encouraged him to work on his singing and song-writing abilities. He became more than just a guitarist and more well-rounded as an artist. This led directly to his first self-titled album and a very successful solo career. In fact, the most well-known image of him is with a beard during the 1970's and 1980's rather than the baby-faced (or thin-moustachioed) kid from The Yardbirds, The Bluesbreakers and Cream.
  • Prior to that was the level of virtuosity and feel Clapton acquired between leaving The Yardbirds (where he was already well regarded as an impressive player) and the Blues Breakers album, which set the scene for the rest of Clapton's career, and which is probably the album of his most cited by other players as influential on their own development.
• Heartwarming Moments: "Wonderful Tonight" and "Let it Grow"
• Memetic Mutation: CLAPTON IS GOD.
  • This lyric video for his song "Cocaine" has several comments that involve making up a sentence (or a variant of the "She don't lie" refrain) ending with something that rhymes with "cocaine". Here's a few of the best ones:
  If you have a hammer, and you want to play golf, croquet
  When you've got a bald spot, and want to keep what you've got, Rogaine
  When you break Batman's back, and make a real big crack, you're Bane
  Karen walks in the store, she can't hold it no more, complain
  When your dinner's in doubt, and you order take-out, Lo Mein
  When you need a hot grill, ask Hank Hill for a fill, propane
  She don't breathe, she don't breathe, she don't breathe, choking
  When you're all out of fun, make out with a shotgun, Cobain
  When you hide in a cab, then get hung in Iraq, Hussein
  He fights crime, he fights crime, he fights crime, Bruce Wayne
  • Alternatively, there is this:
  She does not speak falsely
  She does not speak falsely
  She does not speak falsely
  Benzoylmethylecgonine
• Overshadowed by Controversy: As Clapton becomes older and his hit-making years are further behind him, many younger people are far more likely to associate him with his multiple charged and controversial statements than anything to do with his music. The first incident of note was him going on stage, dead drunk in 1976, and stumbling into an anti-immigration, anti-black rant including such choice sayings as "Throw the wogs out! Keep Britain white!" and extolling the right-wing British politician Enoch Powell. Clapton has tried to explain it in the past as drunken trolling aimed at hecklers, but mostly him, his fans, and his numerous multi-ethnic collaborators all just pretend it never happened (although he continued to speak positively of Powell well into the 2000s). While it didn't waver his reputation at the time, it came back to the limelight after his anti-vaccination, anti-quarantine statements in the midst of the COVID-19 Pandemic. This soon extended to him giving support of musicians who publicly express similar sentiments, as well as refusing to play in any venue that requires proof of vaccination. These bouts of racism and anti-vax sentiments have since become his defining features to many, despite his immense influence and the prolific nature of his work.
• Periphery Demographic: "Lay Down Sally" was a Top 30 hit on the Billboard Country Music chart in 1978.
• Signature Song: "Layla", "Wonderful Tonight", "Tears in Heaven" and his Covered Up version of "Cocaine".
• Suspiciously Similar Song: Goes both ways with "Let It Grow". Reviewers in 1974 noted the resemblance of the melody to "Stairway to Heaven". Fast forward eight years, and "Africa" has melodic similarities to "Let It Grow".

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