Eric Clapton is a dick, an anti-vax promoter, and a racist....

[Romana]

...which everyone here probably already knew, but did you know he was funding his fellow lunatics?

 

[Innula Zenovka]

He was one of the reasons Rock Against Racism started -- that was back in my antifa days, when I was a member of the Anti-Nazi League.

When Eric Clapton's Bigoted 1976 Rant Sparked Rock Against Racism

Eric Clapton went on a racist rant onstage at a 1976 concert, which sparked Britain's Rock Against Racism campaign.

ultimateclassicrock.com

 

[GoblinCampFollower]

He was one of the reasons Rock Against Racism started -- that was back in my antifa days, when I was a member of the Anti-Nazi League.

When Eric Clapton's Bigoted 1976 Rant Sparked Rock Against Racism

Eric Clapton went on a racist rant onstage at a 1976 concert, which sparked Britain's Rock Against Racism campaign.

ultimateclassicrock.com

huh... I had no idea, but apparently loony beliefs are nothing new for him. But being so loud about this back in the 1970's wasn't career ending like it is now (usually). Nice to know he didn't suddenly go insane, he's just always been like this.

 

[Dakota Tebaldi]

He was one of the reasons Rock Against Racism started -- that was back in my antifa days, when I was a member of the Anti-Nazi League.

When Eric Clapton's Bigoted 1976 Rant Sparked Rock Against Racism

Eric Clapton went on a racist rant onstage at a 1976 concert, which sparked Britain's Rock Against Racism campaign.

ultimateclassicrock.com

Wow, I'd never even heard of this

 

[Innula Zenovka]

Wow, I'd never even heard of this

Not only Eric Clapton (though Bowie later changed his views)

White Riot: When rock fought the racism of David Bowie and Eric Clapton

Review: Documentary is as much about power of solidarity as dangers of intolerance

www.irishtimes.com

I'm in the audience somewhere -- I remember attending that concert//rally.

 

[Romana]

Wow, I'd never even heard of this

I hadn't either, not then. I was never a major fan, but I did like since of his songs. Can't listen to them now without thinking about all this.
I didn't know about Bowie. But he grew out of it; married Iman and all. Clapton just became even more of a dick.

 

[Essence Lumin]

Eric Clapton is talented but his guitar playing always seemed a bit sterile sounding compared to say, Jimi Hendrix.

 

[Free]

Eric Clapton is talented but his guitar playing always seemed a bit sterile sounding compared to say, Jimi Hendrix.

Maybe because he's white?

/me runs!

 

[Veritable Quandry]

For all the accolades he gets for his guitar playing, he was never the best, or even close. He was safe. He never reached for the highs, so he never failed. He's a middle-of-the-road white guy playing with bands that are better than he is but who don't step on his toes.

And he's a racist asshat. In some circles, that's a plus.

 

[GoblinCampFollower]

Not only Eric Clapton (though Bowie later changed his views)

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought Bowie was just role playing a character in an interview when he said a few things like that and it was widely misinterpreted.

 

[Romana]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought Bowie was just role playing a character in an interview when he said a few things like that and it was widely misinterpreted.

Probably the "Thin White Duke". And from this, it sounds life it was more the imagery than the ideology. And heavily influenced by drugs.

Bowie Was Ahead of His Time on Race

The Thin White Duke embraced Nazism before becoming an outspoken proponent of civil rights.

www.thedailybeast.com

 

[Imnotgoing Sideways]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought Bowie was just role playing a character in an interview when he said a few things like that and it was widely misinterpreted.

He took on a number of personas for many of his albums. I was personally most fond of Ziggy Stardust. But yeah, Major Tom, Aladdin Sane, and TTWD.

 

[Veritable Quandry]

One thing that strikes me in the OP article is the willingness to play off racist talk and the like as the result of heavy drinking, like who you are dunk isn't really you. That is unmitigated bullshit. Alcohol supresses the part of your brain that inhibits you from doing or saying all the things you are thinking about. It takes away your filter. What comes out isn't some magical Racist in a Bottle. The drink didn't make you racist, it just let out the racist inside you when you stopped thinking about how the people around you would take it.

 

[Innula Zenovka]

This is all going back a long time, of course, but as I recall it, it was all a lot more complicated than the necessarily oversimplified recaps in later magazine articles make it sound.

Back then, WW2 was a lot more recent, and nazi chic was considerably more edgy than it is even now. The full scale of the Holocaust was only just beginning to seep into the public consciousness, and the Thin White Duke was an act he kept on far too long at a time when the neo-Nazi National Front was becoming stronger, feeding off the kind of racist anti-immigration propaganda of which Donald Trump was a more recent exponent.

Clapton's outburst was in a different league, and led to Rock Against Racism being founded, in a political context in which there was already a large and active antifascist movement, because Clapton brought to a head the concerns more and people had been having about any sort of flirtation with fascism and the far right, including about Bowie.

That was then, though. Bowie moved on. Clapton didn't.

 

[GoblinCampFollower]

This is all going back a long time, of course, but as I recall it, it was all a lot more complicated than the necessarily oversimplified recaps in later magazine articles make it sound.

Back then, WW2 was a lot more recent, and nazi chic was considerably more edgy than it is even now. The full scale of the Holocaust was only just beginning to seep into the public consciousness, and the Thin White Duke was an act he kept on far too long at a time when the neo-Nazi National Front was becoming stronger, feeding off the kind of racist anti-immigration propaganda of which Donald Trump was a more recent exponent.

Clapton's outburst was in a different league, and led to Rock Against Racism being founded, in a political context in which there was already a large and active antifascist movement, because Clapton brought to a head the concerns more and people had been having about any sort of flirtation with fascism and the far right, including about Bowie.

That was then, though. Bowie moved on. Clapton didn't.

That makes me think that maybe Bowie had some genuine interest in fascism that he was passing off as "ironic" bigots often seem to love, LOVE racist jokes way too much before exposing their overt racism. The good news is many grow out of it. Good that Bowie did.

 

[Innula Zenovka]

That makes me think that maybe Bowie had some genuine interest in fascism that he was passing off as "ironic" bigots often seem to love, LOVE racist jokes way too much before exposing their overt racism. The good news is many grow out of it. Good that Bowie did.

I won't speculate about Bowie's thoughts and beliefs at the time. He could not have been unaware of the growing concern about, and criticism of, his persona, amongst his fans as much as anyone else, and rehearsed in both the musical and, increasingly, the national news media.

He did nothing, for far too long, to dispel those concerns.

His reasons are his own and, to my mind, speculation won't get us anywhere. He did what did, a long time ago, and he did a lot of other, quite different, things since. To my mind, he made a bad mistake, but we've most of done that a few times ourselves, though in different ways and not so publicly.

Meanwhile, Clapton is still being Clapton.

 

[Romana]

In my clubbing days, post-punk (or maybe it was still considered punk, IDK) there was a local club that was like a NYC or, people even came from the city greatest it was cheaper. People dressed, well, creatively. Among the regulars was a gay couple who my friend, probe to giving people nicknames, called Kevin Cutie and Nicky Nazi.
"Nicky" wasn't really a Nazi, he just wore the bits of regalia for shock value. I don't know how much he even knew about the history, notably how they viewed homosexuals.
I can't say if this is what Bowie was doing or not, of course. At least he explored the real meanings, and ultimately, rejected it.