[Slowhand] Musings on Clapton Fandom

[daniel shearon]

Olli's response to Delta Nick's post got me to thinking, and before I
could stop myself I typed this email.

I turn 36 this year, young by Slowhand standards, and I have been a
fan since around the time I turned 15. Coincidentally this was around
the time I started trying to play guitar. It wasn't the guitar that
made me a fan, at least not only his guitar. I remember hearing the
news about this British guitarist's son's death and thinking how
horrible it was. All I really knew about Clapton at the time was the
handful of songs they played on classic rock stations and was only
aware of his substance abuse issues in the vaguest of senses. My
guitar playing was of the strummy, Eagles and Jimmy Buffett kind of
style and really wasn't much to speak of. I had been at it for a
couple of years without much to show for it. Then I heard Tears In
Heaven on the radio and heard what it was about and it floored me.
Even though I was only a teenager, it astounded me that instead of
turning up dead from self-destructing, he turned out a song that still
can turn my eyes misty when I am in the right mood. I was sincerely
impressed that he was still able to exist much less write and perform
this tribute to his son. I bought the single for TIH on cassette and
listened to it over and over again. The flip side of the single was
Tracks and Lines, one of the instrumentals from the soundtrack to
Rush. More than TIH, that track intrigued me musically the way nothing
else had before. I was at my grandparent's house when Unplugged came
on Mtv. To my surprise, my grandfather sat down and watched it with
me. It turns out he was a fan of country blues, and had records and
tapes of guys like Sonny Terry and Brownie McGee.

I decided that I was going to learn to play Tears In Heaven. It was
far removed from the songs I had tried to play prior to this
undertaking. Over the next few months my playing made a quantum leap
from utter crap to almost not crap. I only wanted one thing for
Christmas that year, the Clapton Box Set. I spent the next few years
with no new Clapton content. Then FTC hit and by then I was all in.
The research and study I had done into his music and his life brought
me to the point where I am a fan of Eric Clapton, not just his guitar
playing, but of the man. I look forward to the next thing he does
because I want to know that he is still making music. The albums and
efforts over the last few years I have enjoyed, some more than others
but I always found something to enjoy. There hasn't been any studio or
live albums released since 1994 that I have regretted buying. I
suggest that there wouldn't be anywhere near the number of email
lists, magazines and fan sites if he was still putting out music like
he did with Cream or D&D. It just wouldn't be as interesting. If you
made it to the end of this, I'm sorry that you spent this much time
absorbing my rambling, and I would be interested to hear others chime
in with their own stories about what led you to being a fan.

Take care,
DS

Daniel Shearon
GPS Specialist
Hayes Instrument Co.
daniel at hayesinstrument.com
dshearon at gmail.com