No, that's not Eric Clapton. It's a much more attractive guitarist, Aurore Ounjian, who I first heard with a band out of Boston called Mean Creek. They are no more, but now she's with Beach Slang, who's front-man is a Philly native. Check both groups out, their shit isn't old and tired like Clapton's.
Yes, I just took a shot at a guitar/rock & roll legend. I'm not the only one. Following Thanksgiving a story started getting some steam, about Eric Clapton recording an "Anti-Lockdown" song with Van Morrison. Now the proceeds of the collaboration are said to be going to musicians who have been hit hard by the COVID-19 Pandemeic. I have "are said to be" bold because honestly I have a hard time trusting anyone, especially people like Van Morrison who have been very vocal in their opposition to lockdowns, anti-masks and/or loudly denying the seriousness of COVID.
It also bums me out because I have always liked Van Morrison's music. I've always liked Clapton's music...Well, the old stuff. He hasn't produced shit worth listening to since the 1990's. I never bought into the "Clapton is God" bullshit. Especially as I got older and listened to and searched out more music. He's overrated. I'll give you some names of some of Eric Clapton's contemporaries, all who are better and/or more versatile guitar players.
Jimi Hendrix
Buddy Guy
David Gilmour
Peter Green
Jeff Beck
Kenny Burrell
Stevie Ray Vaughan
Mark Knopfler
Robert Cray
Duane Allman
Rory Gallagher
Robin Trower
Mick Ronson
Carlos Santana
Neal Schon
Eric Gales
Jeff Buckley
(Who released one album before his tragic death. His follow up was released after his death as well as some live tracks and other studio work that was dug up.)
At first I wasn't going to put the shredders in here, but considering the span of Clapton's career, fuck it, I'll throw a few on.
Eddie Van Halen
Zakk Wylde (checkout the album "Book of Shadows")
Derek Trucks
Randy Rhoads
Jerry Cantrell
Phil Collen
Brian May
Ok, that's enough for now.
So Clapton is overrated and hasn't done squat in awhile. He's put out a lot of Blues stuff later in his career but I'm not impressed, considering I can listen to an old Black man's original recording of it from ages ago. this is what leads us into the cancelling question.
When people found out Eric Clapton was onboard with Van Morrison's COVID ignorance, they started digging back into the history of Clapton. They found the real dirt and mud. The junkie, alcoholic, racist past. While on stage, August 5, 1976, high and drunk Clapton said this:
“Do we have any foreigners in the audience tonight? If so, please put up your hands … So where are you? Well wherever you all are, I think you should all just leave. Not just leave the hall, leave our country … I don’t want you here, in the room or in my country. Listen to me, man! I think we should send them all back. Stop Britain from becoming a black colony. Get the foreigners out. Get the wogs out. Get the coons out. Keep Britain white … The black wogs and coons and Arabs and f*cking Jamaicans don’t belong here, we don’t want them here. This is England, this is a white country, we don’t want any black wogs and coons living here. We need to make clear to them they are not welcome. England is for white people, man … This is Great Britain, a white country, what is happening to us, for f*ck’s sake? … Throw the wogs out! Keep Britain white!”
Clapton in the days after the concert did not apologize, but when asked about it in interviews he doubled down on his racist rants. He did not apologize for these rants for years and the first, major public apology wasn't until his 2017 Documentary "Life in 12 Bars," Where his drug and alcohol addiction got the blame for his being a fucking cunt.
“I was so ashamed of who I was, a kind of semi-racist, which didn’t make sense. Half of my friends were black, I dated a black woman, and I championed black music.”
Yes, he "championed black music." If by "championed" you mean, profited greatly on music Black men and Women created and didn't profit from. In that list of Guitarist above, I didn't include Jimmy Paige. Why? Because fuck him too! Zeppelin recorded 20 songs and claimed them as theirs and did not credit the artist who originally wrote the song, until they were sued over a number of them. 4 of the artist Zeppelin stole from were white, the rest were black. So when people want to pat these guys and Clapton on the back for championing Black music, I want to puke in the soup. They both just tried to make as much money off of black music as possible, with giving the least amount of credit possible.
Now, I was shocked back in 2017 when I saw the documentary and heard about Clapton being a racist cunt. Why was I shocked? He was making a living off of playing black music. His band was often made up of many black musicians. Maybe he was blinded by the drugs. Personally I have always thought it's bullshit when people try to blame their stupidity on drugs and/or alcohol. If anything, the substances loosen you up to let your true colors, thoughts, feelings fly.
We often say people can change, people can grow, but honestly I think that's just something we say. Something to give us hope. I think the vast majority of people don't change. They may mask things, hide parts of themselves, but inside, they're the same idiot they ever were.
Should Clapton be cancelled for what he said in 1976? Maybe, but he should have had his ass kicked.
Should Clapton and Van Morrison be cancelled for being Anti-lockdown, COVID's not that big of deal, dickheads? Maybe, but I'm more of a 'I hope they both get COVID and suffer' kind of guy.
Should Clapton be cancelled for being an overrated hack? Definitely!
