Eric Clapton is one of the Blues Rock guitarists who has remained devoted to the genre throughout his career, always preserving its fundamental elements while experimenting with different sounds and styles. In the United States, ZZ Top’s Billy Gibbons has also kept the Blues alive throughout the decades, making his mark on music history. Clapton has shared his thoughts on many of his peers, including Gibbons.
What is Eric Clapton’s opinion on Billy Gibbons as a guitarist
Eric Clapton has always been a big fan of ZZ Top and greatly admires Billy Gibbons‘ guitar playing. According to Clapton, his world changed after he first heard the guitarist when one of the band’s songs came on a jukebox in Texas. “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).
Clapton got along with the power trio really well and remained a good friend of theirs. After original bassist Dusty Hill passed in 2021 at the age of 72, he posted a tribute. “RIP Dusty…. Dusty Hill passed away today, he was 72, and a great guy…”
Billy Gibbons said that the Eric Clapton guitar sound was so good that “brought people to their knees”
Billy Gibbons became a fan of Eric Clapton when he was still a member of John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers. In his view, the guitar sound on that album he recorded with the British Blues band was so good that “brought people to their knees”.”It was probably around ’67 when John Mayall released the ‘Blues Breakers’ album with Eric Clapton. The sound of that record brought people to their knees. (They) think this is the greatest (sound) and it certainly stands the test of time.”
“But on the back, there’s a picture of Eric that you can detect it’s Sunburst Les Paul (guitar). Kind slightly out of focus you can also see: ‘Oh, he’s playing through a Marshall amp’. So those two things really ignited the interest in chasing down the instrument that had gone out of production,” he said in an interview with The Neurotic Guitarist in 2023 (Transcribed by Rock and Roll Garage). “Bluesbreakers with Eric Clapton”, also known as the “Beano” album, was released in 1966.
ZZ Top inducted Cream into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
The legendary British supergroup Cream, formed by Eric Clapton, Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker, was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame by ZZ Top. The ceremony took place in 1993, and each member of the Texan band gave a speech about his respective counterpart in Cream. Billy Gibbons talking about Clapton, Dusty Hill about Jack Bruce and Frank Beard about Ginger Baker.
Billy praised 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, drummer Frank Beard urged Ginger Baker to play the songs just as they sounded on the records, especially since he had spent so much 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 his speech, Dusty Hill praised Jack Bruce and said that every musician he knew loved Cream and still were fans of them.