“All giants”: Eric Clapton on the band he thought were monster players
Anyone who’s reached the top of the musical world must always find a way to keep themselves grounded. The more that people start believing their own hype and believe that what they’re doing is the greatest music out there, there’s usually only a few more years they can get away with it before the new kids knock them on their asses. So it’s always important to keep one’s ear to the ground, and even after being called a rock and roll god, Eric Clapton felt that these rock veterans helped bring him back down to Earth in the best way possible.
Looking back on what Clapton was doing in Cream, he wasn’t only up in the clouds but in a completely different stratosphere. The last few years had seen him reinvent what blues guitar was meant to be, and even though Jimi Hendrix was clearly the forebearer of all things rock and roll, ‘Slowhand’ did at least make it a close fight when listening to his chops on ‘Crossroads’ or his work on the Bluesbreakers album with John Mayall.
Part of Clapton’s appeal was that he didn’t seem to cater to only one style of blues music. He still loved people like Muddy Waters and Howlin’ Wolf as much as other blues idols, but he was as interested in pushing guitar into new realms as his contemporaries like The Beatles were, whether that meant working in some jazzy changes in the mix or making his guitar sound like it had been dipped in acid.
No one can handle that much intensity for too long, and there came a moment when most people needed a break from that raw aggression. Most people tried jumping on the hippie bandwagon, but for anyone who wanted something mellow, The Band covered every base when they struck out on their own with Music From Big Pink.
Compared to the high-energy blues freakouts Clapton was doing, hearing a mild-mannered band throwing together tunes that blended everything from folk to blues to even mainstream pop was a breath of fresh air. Clapton should have been considered the polar opposite of that kind of music, but he knew he was dealing with musicians who were experts in their craft.
Years after the fact, Clapton had to admit that everyone in The Band was among the best players of their genre, saying, “The Band to me was amazing because they were all giants. Every one of them was a giant on his own, and [Robbie Robertson] was the visionary. I have no doubt that he wrote all those songs.”
But as with all musical giants, the influence doesn’t show until the rest of the music scene follows them. Outside of Clapton pouring out his heart in songs like ‘Layla’ after the fact, hearing the rootsy approach that The Beatles took on tracks like ‘Don’t Let Me Down’ sounded like they had been listening to what The Band had been doing as well.
And looking at where he went during his solo career on records like 461 Ocean Boulevard, Clapton’s smoother approach to rock music proved that his infatuation with The Band wasn’t only a passing fancy. It was a complete musical reset, and while he still had the chops to make a guitar solo that could warp minds, he was now equally as interested in becoming a seasoned songwriter.
