Clapton left the Yardbirds in 1965 because they were veering too far from the blues-style rock he really enjoyed playing. He almost immediately joined another band, the Bluesbreakers. Due to that band’s devout reliance on blues music, Clapton was really influenced and developed as a player. He very quickly became the most prominent member of the group and graffiti reading “Clapton is God” started appearing everywhere in England.
Clapton then left the Bluesbreakers in 1966 in order to start his own band, Cream, with bassist Jack Bruce and drummer Ginger Baker. Clapton wished to start a musical revolution and change what people thought about music, with which he succeeded. His band very quickly became on of the most prominent bands of the 60s, even beginning to be compared with the all time greats of the Rolling Stones and the Beatles. However, because of arguing egos among the band members and drug use in all of them, they broke up in 1969. Clapton, however, got back together with Baker and with bassist Rich Green and Traffic’s Steve Winwood to record one album as Blind Faith, rock’s first “supergroup”. They released one cd and went on a 24 city tour in America, the stress from which caused the band to break up not even one year after it was formed.
Clapton kept busy for a while with lesser bands and small-time performances, during which time he was influenced the most. He was involved in a complicated love triangle with his friend, George Harrison’s, wife (who he eventually married in 1979 and divorced in 1988), which inspired him to write “Layla”. He performed that on his ground-breaking double album Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs with legendary slide guitarist Duane Allman. Unfortunately for Clapton, his stress with the entire love triangle and career pressures caused him to start and develop a major problem with heroin.
Clapton then took time off in the seventies to recover from his addiction. He underwent controversial yet effective electro-acupuncture treatment and was fully rehabilitated. Immediately after his recovery, Clapton bounced back into the music scene and played with a few different bands. He released a highly successful single of a cover of Bob Marley’s “I Shot the Sheriff”. The rehabilitation changed his music, however, some people and critics were disappointed. Clapton had abandoned his old guitar-heavy ways and has become more laid-back and vocally-conscious.
Clapton continued to release more albums throughout the eighties with his new style of music, with which he did very well, especially after the death of his son and a few good friends. In 1990, Stevie Ray Vaughn road crew members, Colin Smythe and Nigel Browne, were killed in a helicopter crash. Not too long after, Clapton’s son, Conor, fell to his death from a 49 story high-rise. Clapton’s grief affected his music, and earned him a Grammy for his tribute to his son, “Tears in Heaven.” He also received five other Grammies for his single of that song and his album, Unplugged.
In 1994, Clapton returned to his old blues style, and shocked critics and fans once again. However, in 1997, Clapton marked his final departure from his blues-laced rock with his techno-pedigreed Retail Therapy. From that point, he released one more album on his own in 1998 and played with BB King in 2000, once again in a traditional blues style.
“Clapton is God” really isn’t that far from the truth. His music was not only influenced by the greats, but he influenced them all back. Despite his many problems in life, they only benefited his music and what we now know as legend Eric Clapton. Clapton is the only rock artist ever to be admitted into the Rock & Roll hall of fame on three accounts (once for the Yardbirds, once for Cream, and once as a solo artist). He is still alive and well today, and even after he dies, he will remain one of the most influential musicians of all time.