Eric Clapton has some harsh words for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame – despite being the only person to have been inducted three times.
The guitar icon was inducted as part of The Yardbirds in 1992, as a member of Cream in 1993 and as a solo artist in 2000.
Despite that unprecedented triple honour, Clapton believes he was suckered into ever getting involved in the first place.
He tells The Real Music Observer: “I think of it as a frat boys club that happened to lure me in."
Explaining how he was convinced to join, Clapton says the involvement of former Atlantic Records president and Rock Hall chairman Ahmet Ertugen was a key factor.
He adds: "I think the fact that they had Ahmet Ertegun was the ticket for me. He was doing it for people like Ruth Brown and the Drifters, all those early Atlantic artists that were being forgotten. And then, it just kind of started to snowball."
He says he was "suspicious" of Rolling Stone magazine Jann Wenner's involvement in launching the Rock Hall. But ultimately it's the names that haven't been inducted that prove to Clapton that the Rock Hall should be taken with a pinch of salt.
On J.J. Cale never being nominated, Clapton says: “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 likely 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."
Bad Company and Free singer Paul Rodgers not being inducted is another example Clapton points to. He adds: "He’s a rebel. It’s not a place for rebels. It’s establishment stuff."
