The influence of American Blues music on young musicians in the United Kingdom in the 50s and early 60s was massive and inspired artists like Eric Clapton to later contribute even more to the evolution of that kind of music and also to Rock and Roll. Although his career has been quite diverse, not always focused on Blues in its pure form, it has always been Clapton's favorite kind of music to play and to listen to. Over the decades, he had the chance to meet many of his peers and to share his opinions on their music. One of those bands was the Texan power trio ZZ Top, which for decades was formed by Billy Gibbons, Frank Beard and Dusty Hill (Who died in 2021). What is Eric Clapton's opinion on ZZ Top Eric Clapton has been a big fan of ZZ Top since the first time he heard their music, which was in Texas decades ago when he put a coin in a jukebox. According to him, his world changed after hearing Billy Gibbons’ guitar playing. "When I first started going to Texas, I would hang out and the only thing that was on the jukeboxes in Texas was ZZ Top (laughs). Then I'd put the money in it and I hear it and my world changed. Then I got to meet Billy (Gibbons) and realized: 'there's another very, very serious archivist type. You know, musicologist type of guy. I mean, he's a scholar. All that stuff they do is great and everything but it's built on a really strong foundation. So it was a very simple decision (on) who's gonna close the show (Crossroads Festival 2004). It has to be them," Eric Clapton said on the DVD of the 2004 Crossroads Festival (Transcribed by Rock and Roll Garage). Since he had the chance to meet the power trio originally formed by Billy Gibbons (guitar and vocals), Dusty Hill (bass and vocals) and Frank Beard (drums), he has remained friends with them. When Hill passed away in 2021 at the age of 72, Clapton wrote on his social media: "RIP Dusty.... Dusty Hill passed away today, he was 72, and a great guy..." Billy Gibbons and Eric Clapton were both good friends of Jimi Hendrix Billy Gibbons is four years younger than Eric Clapton and began his career a little later, in 1967. It was when the British guitarist was already a rising rock star with the supergroup Cream. Although Gibbons was not yet famous and was on the other side of the Atlantic while playing with the band The Moving Sidewalks, he had a mutual friend with Clapton. That friend was the late legendary guitarist Jimi Hendrix, who took Gibbons’ band on the road in 1969. The late guitarist even gave Gibbons a pink Stratocaster at the time, which he still has to this day. “Yes indeed, the little pink Stratocaster. It’s in safekeeping. It still gets a good whoopin’ in the studio every once in a while,” he told Live Signing in 2020. After changing the course of guitar playing in only a few years, Hendrix died in 1970. He was only 27 and still is considered by many the greatest guitarist of all time. ZZ Top inducted Cream into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame When the legendary supergroup Cream was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1993, Clapton and his bandmates Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker invited another power trio, ZZ Top, to induct them. Curiously, each member of ZZ Top praised the respective member of Cream who played the same instrument. Dusty Hill spoke about Jack Bruce, Billy Gibbons about Eric Clapton, and Frank Beard about Ginger Baker. Gibbons praised Eric Clapton, saying: "There is only one name that rounds out of this trio. As we all discussed this backstage, it was a group of talented musicians. Made up by three guys that expressed power. Eric Clapton being the third (besides the other two mentioned), created a sound that everybody in this room can relate to. (He) certainly set the stage for our outfit," Billy Gibbons said (Transcribed by Rock and Roll Garage). During his speech, the drummer Frank Beard advised Ginger Baker to play the songs exactly as they were on the record. Especially because he had spent a long time studying them when he was younger. "(...) (I'm here) not because we were in the studio and I'd do anything to get out of the studio. But because tonight I get to hear Ginger Baker play drums. Starting out in the 60s there were 100 drummers in Dallas. When Ginger Baker and Cream came out, we all set our drums up like Ginger Baker. We all had two bass drums now and we all had our tom-toms set (like his), we all put two cymbals in each stand. It worked out good," He continued: "(...) But what I'm trying to say is that he was the one drummer that we all wanted to be like. We all studied his work and listened to the record. (...) So when we get through introducing Cream, (and they try to lead me back to my table) I'm not going. I'm gonna be hiding over here behind an amplifier and I'm gonna be watching Ginger Baker play drums. He better do it like the records because I spent 2, 3, 400 hours learning those songs just like those records. And I'm gonna know if he doesn't do it (laughs)," Frank Beard said (Transcribed by Rock and Roll Garage). During the same speech, Dusty Hill also praised Jack Bruce. He said that every musician he knew loved Cream and still were fans of them. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WAN4gYSw0yE&list=PLw1q6AgPvRhy6rSdomL4harRS8Mn0pJwO
