www.billnelson.com

Obviously these are the alleged words of Clapton , not wonder toy

Part of the problem I have with this is, can it be proved that this is in fact what Clapton said? I find the line "I used to be into dope, now I'm into racism...." a little suspect

I'm really just not sure what to think given that as far as I'm aware, Clapton has been pretty much embraced by many of his peers within the black music community

If the above transcript is in fact true, then it is indefensible. But something tells me it was fuelled more by idiotic and irresponsible substance abuse more than any real deep seated prejudice. I just find it hard to see Clapton as a racist......perhaps I'm just being naive

I wasn't there. That's how the story goes. It was the impetus for the forming of Rock Against Racisim... So maybe you should ask Red Saunders.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rock_Against_Racism

Sure he was drunk. Nobody ever says what is really on their minds when they are drunk. The fact that he didn't really think it was a problem when he woke up the next day or week or year or decade says a lot. Here's what he has been saying throughout the years.

It was his funny little Monty Python skit... Get it?

In an interview from October 1976 with Sounds Magazine, Clapton remarked: "I thought it was quite funny actually. I don't know much about politics. I don't even know if it would be good or bad for him to get in. I don't even know who the Prime Minister is now. I just don't know what came over me that night. It must have been something that happened in the day but it came out in this garbled thing...I thought the whole thing was like Monty Python. There's this rock group playing onstage and the singer starts talking about politics. It's so stupid. Those people who paid their money sittin' listening to this madman dribbling on and the band meanwhile getting fidgety thinking 'oh dear'."

In a 2004 interview with Uncut (magazine), Clapton referred to Powell as "outrageously brave", and stated that his "feeling about this has not changed", because the UK is still "... inviting people in as cheap labour and then putting them in ghettos." In 2004, Clapton told an interviewer for Scotland on Sunday, "There's no way I could be a racist. It would make no sense". In his 2007 autobiography, Clapton called himself "deliberately oblivious to it all" and wrote, "I had never really understood or been directly affected by racial conflict... when I listened to music, I was disinterested in where the players came from or what colour their skin was. Interesting, then, that 10 years later, I would be labelled a racist... Since then, I have learnt to keep my opinions to myself. Of course, it might also have had something to do with the fact that Pattie had just been leered at by a member of the Saudi royal family." In a December 2007 interview with Melvin Bragg on The South Bank Show, Clapton reiterated his support for Enoch Powell and again denied that Powell's views were racist.

Maybe he's just stupid.

Yeah, I read all this today after first reading your post about it wonder toy.

I guess I just find it all a bit bizarre. It's a little hard for me to reconcile this considering how much impact his playing has had on me over the years. I mean, I absolutely abhor racism........

Well....yeah

I think the verdict is in.

I like some of his stuff and i loath a lot of it. It's not like he started or ended every concert with this rant. I like some of Ted Nugent's songs but don't really care for a lot of what he has to say and got to see Ted say some really stupid bullshit at a HOB show that made me want to leave. A friend draaagggged me there and I didn't want to be rude.

It is embarrassing at the least and repugnant and just sad all together.

It is clear from his staement, 'I was disinterested in where the players came from or what colour their skin was.' That maybe he has no business trying to play the blues. I have to agree with George Carlin on this one. It's not enough just to know what notes to play. You hae to know WHY you're playing them. A guy who just bought a five million dollar Ferrari has no reason to be playing the blues.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3sR08T7RQY

Well said. Though, I think most blues music is incredibly tiresome anyway. At least when its a guy who looks like he has something to cry about its easier to take.

When you see someone like the late Hubert Sumlin just stand there with a Les Paul and make beautiful music.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hPCPm0FPNk8

You know the difference immediately.

The nicest, sweetest man I was ever lucky enough to meet. The kind of standards Eric Clapton will NEVER have and the kind of guitar playing Eric Clapton never had nor ever will.

That guy brings some real flare to blues guitar, I have to say.

I suppose that makes sense in that it can seem manufactured when someone who is obviously well-off, ‘sings the blues’. Sort of cheapens the message, if you are into authenticity or the purity of form. And regards of the player’s skill level, it can sound more akin to a Top 40 cover band more often than not. It’s usually nothing more than copying a sound.

But as some have mentioned here earlier, let Jeff Beck or Bill have a go playing the blues and you are positively thrilled. Not sure that Clapton can still do that or not. Honestly, hand on heart, I prefer our Felix’s blues playing to most, but then again I am being biased here. But not really. It all comes down to personal taste.

Another similar comparison in regards to Clapton who delivers clean, safe blues nowadays would be Elvis Presley who also took black music and gave it an ‘acceptable’ face for middle-class white kids in America. But really, examining music this closely tends to take all the joy out of it, so I will end this here.