Eric Clapton

Born Eric Patrick Clapton, but Known famously as Eric Clapton or by the moniker, Slow Hand. Clapton is a legendary blues guitarist whose skills allowed him to play with some of the finest rock bands of all time. Bands such as The Yard Birds, Cream, Derek and the Dominos, and Blind faith. So yes, Clapton’s contribution to rock music and it’s evolution is not something menial and Its goes without saying that Eric Clapton has the highest number of inductions into the Rock N Roll hall of fame. He been inducted thrice, these coming from being part of the Yardbirds, Cream, and as a solo artist. Added to that, he has also won 18 Grammys over the course of his musical career. 

Clapton is God

Eric Clapton is ranked second by Rolling stone magazine on their list of greatest guitarists, which speaks volumes about his guitar ability. He was voted by fellow great guitarists and journalists who aren’t all his peer but rather younger guitarists and fans who grew up listening to his songs and idolizing his guitar skills. Ideally their numerous opinions clearly out weigh mine. Though In my opinion, i would say he would sit pretty in third on the list behind Led zeppelin’s Jimmy page and just above the rolling stones riff machine, Keith Richards. Eric Clapton is with out a  doubt a great guitarist who deserves to be one of the top 5 greatest guitar players of all time, otherwise an avid fan wouldn’t have spray painted the words, “Clapton is God,” in an underground station, to immortalize Slow hand as the greatest guitarist in the world. But this was in 1967, and lets face it, that fan might not have listened to Jimi Hendrix yet. If he had, then he'd have written a different name on that wall.

Most of the time when people talk about Eric Clapton, they focus on his guitar skills, which are indeed sublime, but they leave out the part about him being quite the vocalist. His vocal work with bands like Derek and Dominos, Blind faith and as a solo artist is quite the spectacle. He may have had reservations about his voice in earlier years, but slow hand’s voice has given us countless classics like Layla, Cocaine, tears in heaven and Wonderful tonight. But of course his vocals are shadowed by his insane guitar ability, his guitar playing is so good that he is not just among the greatests to ever play guitar but he is spoken of in the same breaths as Jimi Hendrix, BB king and Duane Allman, Stevie Ray Vaughan all of whom are in the elite class of blues guitarists.

Eric Clapton has a lot of incredible guitar moments to his name, take for example the riff on his guitar duet with Duane Allman, Layla. The riff is something else but added to that, the song has an incredible guitar solo’s. He has a number of incredible solos, take for example; The cover of legendary Mississippi Blues man, Robert Johnson’s, Crossroads, Cocaine  and the Beatles' while my guitar gently weeps. Yes, you heard right, George Harrison invited him to play with the Beatles, but he did more than just play, he whipped out another incredible guitar solo  and as such contributed to the great and illustrious history of the Beatles with that great solo. It isn’t his finest guitar solo, because for his finest guitar solo you’d have to listen to Crossroads-cream.

Eric Clapton, like most great musicians, doesn’t have a spotless past, he was heard spewing racist remarks at concerts while drunk about how England should fight to keep herself from becoming a black colony, which is pretty ironic because he’d then go ahead to make covers of songs originally sung and written by black blues artists as well performing them live, so we’ll just blame the alcohol and drugs for his double standards.   

Slow hand also had a run in with alcohol and of course Brown Sugar. His heroin addiction supersedes normal reasoning. Clapton also stated in interview that he would spend about $16000 a week on heroin, which by any measure is quite an the sum irrespective of how rich he is. His addiction of course is said to have been one of the causes for his band, Derek and The Dominos,’ split. And though he eventually beat the addiction, Slow hand still looks back at those years and reminisces about being lucky enough to have survived dying from the addiction. It is well known that Eric Clapton released a song called Cocaine, which many may think was about his love for drugs, but in reality its just a cover version of an earlier song released by J.J. Cale, and is actually an anti drug song which is normally taken out of context.

Pattie Boyd with first husband George Harrison

It is common knowledge that the great Eric Clapton stole of the wife of another great guitarist, George  Harrison, of the Beatles and many claim that the song, Layla, was Eric Clapton’s way of confessing his undying love for Pattie Boyd, after she had turned down his advances. Pattie Boyd did eventually call it quits on her marriage to Harrison and married Eric Clapton, but the real reason Pattie Boyd gave for leaving George Harrison was infidelity. She sited numerous occasions where he cheated on her, but song, Layla, did add an extra twist to the tale of how she became Eric Clapton’s wife.  The song is without a doubt one of rock music’s finest songs, but the story attached to it is far more intriguing. 

Layla is a fine classic rock song the showcase the skills of  two of the greatest guitarists ever, Eric Clapton and slide guitar phenomenon, Duane Allman. It has one of the finest guitar riffs ever played on the guitar,  a great Clapton solo, as well as Duane Allman’s slide guitar solo at the end, which gave the ending an incredible vibe.  Even after over 20 years from its original release, Layla’s acoustic version earned Clapton a Grammy for best rock song, though on the night he took home a total of 6 Grammys. Most of these were for of his sorrow filled song, “Tears in heaven,” which was written about the death of his 4 year old son, Connor, who had fallen from the window of an apartment on the 53-rd floor of a building owned by a friend of Clapton’s wife.  The song won three Grammys on the night and is still one of his most successful songs ever. 

For your listening pleasure, check out his incredible guitar skills on these great classics

Layla-Derek and The Dominoes 

Crossroads-Cream

While my guitar gently weeps-the Beatles

 Cocaine-Eric Clapton

Grunge

Grunge, an alternative rock sub-genre commonly called the Seattle Sound, It should come as no surprise that most of the famous and genre defining grunge bands were also from Seattle, bands like Nirvana, Pearl Jam and Soundgarden. Modern rock fans can be excused for associating this sub-genre with the band that brought it mainstream popularity and fame. The band in question here is Nirvana.

 

Nirvana were and still are the most popular grunge band ever, owing to no small part the publicity they got from the suicide of Lead vocalist and guitarist, Kurt Cobain. Cobain’s suicide galvanized nirvana's position as one of grunge’s finest and solidified their position in rock music history. Cobain's suicide sent airwaves all over the music industry, that you can even hear it being referenced in rap music by popular rappers like the game. Cobain's suicide raked in a lot of publicity for the band and for grunge as a genre.

It may come as a surprise to the modern rock fan that Nirvana weren’t the only grunge band around. yes, there were other incredible grunge bands, that were also making incredible grunge music, though not as widely publicized as Nirvana. Its actually safe to say that Nirvana’s demise allowed some incredible bands to emerge out of its shadow, the best example is Courtney love’s band, Hole, that only gained mainstream popularity after Nirvana and Kurt Cobain had left the grunge scene.

Grunge may have declined, but the old guard is still out there doing what they do best, making great music. Bands like Alice in chains, Pearl Jam, and Soundgarden are still going at it today, not as explosively as they did in the 90’s but they're still out there making good music.

These bands not only defined the genre, they collectively inspired  a whole generation.
 Here a list of my  top 10 grunge bands.

10. Temple of the dog

Formed as a tribute band to late Mother love bone front man, Andrew wood, Temple of the dog was formed by chris cornell and some of grunge’s finest personalities, that included Eddie vedder, Mike mcCready, Stone Gossard, Jeff Ament, and Matt cameron. The band’s only album, Temple of the dog, had some great songs, most notably Hunger strike, which is a great grunge classic. The band's other great songs are, say hello 2 heaven, and reach down.

9.Screaming trees.

One of the first grunge bands to come into existence, the Screaming tress were formed in 1995, and are considered one of the God fathers of grunge music. After their hit  Album, Dust, the band endured prolonged spells of inactivity that led to their eventual break up in 2000. Though many may not know the screaming trees, largely due to them being an underground band that had a problem finding mainstream popularity, they really made some great music.  The band had a number of incredible hits, most notably, Nearly lost you, Dollar bill and shadow of the season.

8. Mudhoney

The band came into existence after the split of the band called green river. The band's distorted guitar sound inspired the dirty guitar sound that became the grunge signature for bands that came after it, and though the band may not have been as famous or as mainstream as most of the bands on this list, Mudhoney inspired numerous grunge bands and artists. The  band’s EP superfuzz bigmuff has some of the bands finest songs like, every good boy deserves fudge, my brother the cow, and  piece of cake.

7. Mother love bone

Another band formed from ex green river members, mother love bone was an exceptional grunge act whose influence is felt wide in the grunge community. Mother love bone may not have lasted long, but shortly before lead Singer Andrew Wood died, the band recorded some awesome material which includes Great grunge classics like Chloe dancer, bone china, and Star dog Champion. The band's split gave us some incredible grunge bands like Pearl Jam, Temple of the dog and love battery from its ex-members.

6. Stone Temple Pilots

Most people remember the stone Temple pilots for their grammy award winning song, “sex type things,” but they had other songs such as plush that really set them on their way to mainstream popularity. And yes the band may not have originated from Seattle, but they sure made grunge good enough to warrant them a place among the great Seattle contingent. The band may have split from vocalist Scott weiland, but ideally replacing him with Linkin park front man Chester Bennington seems to be a step in the right direction.

5. Melvins

One of the first bands to make grunge styled music, heck they made grunge even before it was called grunge. The melvins inspired so many grunge acts, like Nirvana, Green river, and Soundgarden. They have awesome Songs like Lizzy,Boris, Night Goat, that are still incredible to this day.

4. SoundGarden

With Kim Thayil, an incredible guitar player, and the awesome Chris Cornell on Vocals, need i say more? I believe that just having these two in the band, is synonymous with having three quarters of a recipe for good music. I mean Chris Cornell  is a great vocalist, there’s just no debating how good he is. SoundGarden have loads of incredible songs like, Black hole sun, Jesus Christ pose, Live to rise, and Outshined.

3.  Pearl Jam

With an album like Ten, and hit songs like Even Flow, black, alive and Jeremy, there’s little room to doubt Pearl Jam’s greatness. And with a Front man like eddie Vedder with his incredible song writing skill and growling vocals, guitarists like Stone Gossard and Mike McCready, it’s just hard to not love pearl Jam. After over 20 years in existence pearl jam are still a grunge powerhouse and they don’t look to be stopping anytime soon.

2. Alice in chains

 Alice in chains may not be as popular or as mainstream as Nirvana, but they have a lot of incredible grunge songs.  With Guitarist Jerry Cantrell and the incredible late Layne Staley on vocals, Alice in chains were a grunge behemoth that kept dishing out hit after hit. They, like most of the bands on this list, had a lot of incredible songs, such as, “Man in the box,” Rooster, would?, Check my brain, rain when i die, Bleed the freak and Angry chair as well as having an incredible album, Dirt. Even after the death of their talented front man, Layne Staley, they still carried on and are still out there making great music.

1. Nirvana

 Formed by the inspirational kurt cobain and bassist Krist Novoselic, Nirvana, were the ultimate grunge band, credited with having brought mainstream success to grunge. They went on to inspire the grunge generation. With songs like the anthemic Smells like teen spirit, Heart Shaped box and come as you are, Nirvana set the pace for grunge. Nirvana had creative talent in boatloads, with Kurt Cobain’s guitar skills and his incredible singing style added to the ferocious and incredible drumming of the ever smiling Dave Grohl  as well as the bass playing of Krist Novoselic. Its just hard to beat that line up.

Honorable mentions

The Smashing pumpkins

hole

Sonic youth

Bush

Toadies

These are the top 10 greatest grunge songs

    1.       Smells like teen spirit-Nirvana

without a doubt the ultimate grunge song.  It is also one of the most iconic and most recognized songs in rock music. Its no doubt the go to great grunge anthem, i mean there’s literally no grunge fan who doesn’t recognize kurt Coban’s opening guitar riff, but the riff isn't the only good thing about this incredible song. It also has some of Dave Grohl’s finest drumming. I could go on and on about how great this song is, but I'd run out of syllables before i feel content about saying all that needs to be said about this song.

    2.       The man in the box-Alice in chains

 Everything about this song screams, “GRUNGE”, from the distorted heavy opening riff by guitarist Jerry Cantrell, to how Layne Staley supports the riffing with his vocals and lets not to leave out the way he sing the chorus and the line “Jesus Christ, Deny your maker.” its just incredible.

   3.       Alive-Pearl Jam

A great combination of great guitar playing, vocals and lyrics. This song is yet another testament to Eddie Vedder’s song writting ability as well the guitar skills of Mike McCready, because his guitar solo on this song is a touch of class.

   4.       Come as you are-Nirvana

Released off of Nirvana's incredible 1992 album, Nevermind, come as you are is incredible song that starts with an incredible kurt cobain riff that sounds like its being played under water,  followed by his subdued vocals. The song later picks up, gets heavier and goes into full Nirvana mode. And though kurt cobain wasn’t a big fan of playing guitar solos, this song has him going all out to treat us to a nice guitar solo.

   5.       Blackhole sun - SoundGarden

Its a slow and soft one this, but it’s quite the song, and when you have a vocalist like Chris Cornell, arguably the finest vocalist of the 90’s, you always end up creating incredible music, and this song outlines his vocal prowess.

   6.       Hunger strike-Temple of the dog

Written by Chris Cornell, this 1991 release off  of Temple of the Dog’s self titled album, Temple of the dog, is an incredible duet between two of grunge’s finest front men, Eddie vedder and of course the main man, Chris Cornell. This song is the most successful temple of the dog song out there and yes, you could call it a collaboration between Pearl Jam and Soundgarden.

   7.       Would?-Alice in chains

Off of their 1992 album, Dirt, Would?, was written by guitarist Jerry Cantrell for late mother love bone front man Andrew Wood. Regarded as one of Alice in chains finest songs, would? along with hits like Rooster, really catapulted their 1992 album, Dirt, to mainstream popularity and success, making Dirt one of their finest grunge albums and also a must have album for any grunge fan. In short, the album had many awesome songs but Would? Stands out the most.

   8.       Jeremy-Pearl jam

An Eddie Vedder penned song, that was inspired by a high school student who had shot and killed himself in front of his class. Jeremy is nothing short of incredible, It coupled with other great songs like Even flow, and Black make pearl Jam’s Album, Ten, one of grunge’s finest albums ever. Jeremy by itself is an incredible song which always makes for a good listen.

   9.       Plush-stone temple pilots

Many fans site Sex type thing as the Stone temple pilots standout song, probably because it won a grammy and all that mainstream bureaucracy. But Plush is their most definitive grunge song and is probably the highlight of their career along with their debut album, Core. Plush is just incredible to say the least

  10.   Malibu-Hole

Many don’t rate Courteny love’s band, Hole, highly, but Hole really did make some incredible songs and Malibu is one of them. The lyrics have a touch sentimentality about them, and Love herself, claims, they were written partly for her Late Husband, Kurt Cobain. This is evident in lines like, “Help me please, burn the sorrow from your eyes, Oh come on be alive again, don't lay down and die!” Its a really beautiful grunge song.

Honorable mentions

sex type thing-Stone temple pilots
Nearly lost you-Screaming trees
Heart shaped box-nirvana

Even flow-pearl Jam

Rooster-Alice in chains

Out Shined - Sound garden

Cherub rock-smashing pumpkins

Doll parts- hole

Chloe dancer-mother love bone