The 10 Commandments of Guitar etc etc

[bartyclue]

What is it about this generation that really believe the Eric Clapton is overrated?

Simple.. Pure ignorance. Stupid people say stupid things.

[lennon211]

Unless I'm the one who is ignorant, there is a difference between ignorance, which is not possessing knowledge or education, and stupid which is showing a lack of intelligence. Since I was willing to weigh in on the why people might find him overrated, I would agree that there is an ignorance about his playing that is very pervasive among the uninformed masses who have heard only a handful of songs. The same ignorance goes into many of the other artists from that era and the strides that they made in creating what we know today as popular music. Tastes change, concert ticket prices rise (precluding many younger listeners from going to a Clapton show) and if iTunes isn't pushing the album, there is a lack of a connection between the listener and the music which would foster such appreciation. Also blame market saturation and the fact there are guitarists that this generation would say that they connect to more. I would completely agree that there is also a willingness to ignore the accomplishments of the past and those players that are still active by a lot of the younger audiences that think that only stuff that came out five minutes ago can be good, which is borderline stupidity in many cases. However, calling people either stupid or ignorant isn't the best way to convert them either. Showing them value in music such as Clapton's is probably a much better solution. It's worked in my film-studies class as I've shown them many movies that the students never would have looked at before, much less thought about critically, and they demonstrate a much greater appreciation for black and white and silent cinema that surprises me at times.

[bartyclue]

Unless I'm the one who is ignorant, there is a difference between ignorance, which is not possessing knowledge or education, and stupid which is showing a lack of intelligence. Since I was willing to weigh in on the why people might find him overrated, I would agree that there is an ignorance about his playing that is very pervasive among the uninformed masses who have heard only a handful of songs. The same ignorance goes into many of the other artists from that era and the strides that they made in creating what we know today as popular music. Tastes change, concert ticket prices rise (precluding many younger listeners from going to a Clapton show) and if iTunes isn't pushing the album, there is a lack of a connection between the listener and the music which would foster such appreciation. Also blame market saturation and the fact there are guitarists that this generation would say that they connect to more. I would completely agree that there is also a willingness to ignore the accomplishments of the past and those players that are still active by a lot of the younger audiences that think that only stuff that came out five minutes ago can be good, which is borderline stupidity in many cases. However, calling people either stupid or ignorant isn't the best way to convert them either. Showing them value in music such as Clapton's is probably a much better solution. It's worked in my film-studies class as I've shown them many movies that the students never would have looked at before, much less thought about critically, and they demonstrate a much greater appreciation for black and white and silent cinema that surprises me at times.

Tomato... Tomahto... My point is that for anyone to say someone is overated is just dumb. Does dumb work? I am certainly no Clapton devotee but I would never call the man overrated. Nor would I call anyone overrated. Whose to say what is worthy and what isnt? If something is appealing to someone but not to others, then the person who doesn't like it would be likely to spew stupidity without even a basis for their opinion let alone being anywhere near correct. Can someome say Clapton isn't as good as Malmsteen? Yeah if you put it in the proper context, like Eric can't arrpegiate as fast... but is Malmsteen as good a writing soulful tasty songs or can play the blues like him? People should celebrate the differences in Artists and not knock them down. Would the sex pistols or even U2 for that matter have made anything of their careers had they not "rated" enough?

[lennon211]

To be clear, I'm not calling him overrated either. I was simply playing devil's advocate to a question that was posed.