Eric Clapton calls the Rock Hall a “frat boys club”, says it’s “not a place for rebels”
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame has once again come under fire, this time, by three-time inductee Eric Clapton, who described the organisation as a “frat boys club”.
Clapton makes the comment in a new interview with The Real Music Observer, where he touches on the exclusion of important artists like American blues legend J.J. Cale from the Rock Hall.
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Looking back on his own inductions, Clapton says (via Ultimate Guitar): “I came to that thing, whatever it is. I think of it as a frat boys club that happened to lure [me] in.”
“I think the fact that they had Ahmet Ertegun [former Atlantic Records president and chairman of Rock Hall] was the ticket for me. He was doing it for people like Ruth Brown and The Drifters, all those early Atlantic [Records] artists that were being forgotten.”
“And then, it just kind of started to snowball,” Clapton continues, noting that he was doubtful about the whole thing at first.
“And I was very suspicious because, obviously, the [Rolling Stone] magazine was involved. My dear friend Robbie [Robertson] was also part of the ticket. I thought, ‘Well, he was the one that persuaded me to do it.’”
The guitarist also reflects on his Rock Hall performance with bandmates Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker as Cream, saying: “I remember the day we rehearsed for the show because we were going to play a song after we’ve been inducted. And something happened, and people were there. The techs that were in the room with us had never seen us play..”
“We haven’t seen one another for 20 years, and we clicked immediately into the group that we had always had. And it was magic, and I thought, ‘Okay, if this is why we’re doing this Rock and Roll Hall [of Fame induction], then I’ll go with it.’”
While he’s been inducted three times — the first and only musician to do so — Clapton makes it clear that he isn’t all that happy with some of the organisation’s decisions.
“The fact that someone like J.J. has never even been suggested is proof of what that thing is or proof of what it isn’t. It’s not like he’ll ever come up. It’s not their thing. I don’t know what their thing is. But he’s too anonymous for those guys.”
Prompted on how Bad Company frontman Paul Rodgers, too, has not been inducted (the musician previously admitted to turning down the Rock Hall “a couple times”), Clapton explains: “He’s a rebel. It’s not a place for rebels. It’s establishment stuff.”
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Source: www.guitar-bass.net
