For Eric Clapton's Anniversary.
Born in the small village of Ripley, Surrey, Clapton recalls his childhood without enthusiasm: “I was the kind of guy people throw stones at. Skinny, frail, always skipping gym.”
Salvation came in the form of American records: “The first record I heard was a Buddy Holly disc. It blew me away. Then there were records by Bo Diddley and Chuck Berry. The mere mention of their names made me tremble. I began to look into who was behind them with great interest and found out: they were black bluesmen: Muddy Waters, B.B. King, and the great Robert Johnson. All this excited my imagination.”
For his 14th birthday, Eric received an acoustic guitar by Hofner.
A self-proclaimed "blues purist", Clapton had established himself as a skilled instrumentalist by 1966, appearing in the bands of A. Corner and J. Mayall, as well as the Yardbirds.
Feeling that he had outgrown these groups, the guitarist, together with Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker, founded the group Cream, which combined a heavier performance of blues standards and psychedelia, seasoned with their own delights.
Somewhat earlier, Clapton combined his Gibson Les Paul guitar with a Marshall amplifier, obtaining a very "thick" sound, and soon Cream, along with Hendrix, who had arrived in England, became the forerunners of hard rock.
The power of the ensemble is most clearly conveyed by the stunning live album "Live Cream Vol. II»: Clapton's loud and hard guitar, Bruce's ornate bass and unique vocals, Baker's hurricane drums bring down a whole cascade of mind-blowing sounds on the listener.
E. Clapton: «In Cream, each of us could play for any amount of time. If you had put the three of us in front of an audience with no time limit, the concert would never have ended. In fact, it was nothing more than three junkies' self-admiration, proving their coolness to several hundred stoned young people of obscure professions».
However, the contradictions between Bruce and Baker, which tore the group apart, made themselves felt, and in 1969 the ensemble released its last album, «Goodbye», which included the song «Badge», written and recorded with the participation of George Harrison, decorated with the Beatle's elegant guitar strumming.
Then Clapton joined Blind Faith, but the band broke up under the weight of the exorbitant expectations of rock music lovers (hence the name of the group), still managing to release a single, but outstanding album. Moreover, the most striking person in the ensemble was Steve Winwood, who played the keyboards and performed vocals.
When the golden 60s ended (and the clanging of armor of Purple, Sabbath and Heep was already heard ahead), Clapton changed the Gibson, which produced a "meaty" sound, for a standard Fender Strat, and his work in the future did not carry the same experimental and energetic charge; but the recordings he made in the 60s still retain their influence on new generations of guitarists.
E. Clapton: "I realize that I have a share of responsibility for keeping the blues alive. It is an honorable mission. But I didn't want to become a 100% bluesman, because I knew I would always be behind my teachers."
"Blues is an individual art. One man with a guitar against the whole world."
The guitar is my voice. When I have a piece of music in my head, I don't hear the song itself, I just hear the guitar part. I put words to it and perform. The guitar is primary in my head anyway, I use it as a voice and try to express my soul through it. I don't have any special singing abilities, so I have to rivet the audience's attention to the guitar…"
"Music became my outlet, and I learned to listen to it with all five senses. I found that in this way I could erase all the emotions of fear and confusion associated with my family. This became even more acute in 1954, when I was nine years old."
"My basic philosophy about making music is that you can boil it down to one note if that note is the most sincere."
"Music has to come from the heart, it has to be felt. If it's not there, then don't do it."
T. Iommi: "I still like 'Steppin' Out,' one of the instrumentals on the album
"Bluesbreakers with Eric Clapton." There's nothing wrong with that album at all. It was great for guitarists because it inspired them, made them try to learn what they heard.
From a broader perspective, Clapton changed music. A lot of guitarists learned from his early work. Any guitarist who says they haven't been influenced by Clapton in some way or another is probably lying."