Music Notes: I Hate Eric Clapton, but I Love Earl Sweatshirt and Nardwuar

Oh hey! Sorry, I took, uh… two weeks off there. I recently picked up a second job, and I’ve been working basically nonstop, so I decided to take some time to chill. I missed you though, I promise, I did!

I’ve also just reached an inevitable writer’s block after writing 32 of these newsletters. It happens to all of us, even the greatest artists of our age. I even thought about writing ABOUT writer’s block, but decided against it, because that’s corny. I mean, I’m corny, but not THAT bad.

Instead, I’m gonna talk about a couple of things, and we’re going to start with how much I absolutely despise Eric Clapton.

Vaccine Skepticism and Frivolous Lawsuits: The Eric Clapton Story

We’ll start with the more recent story, because there’s two reasons why blatant racist and blues-appropriator Eric Clapton has been in the news this week.

His new single, “Heart of a Child,” which drops on Christmas Eve (don’t stream it) was co-written with a vaccine skeptic named Robin Monotti. Monotti is an anti-vaccine skeptic, who has apparently been talking with Clapton about this stuff for a while.

This isn’t Clapton’s first foray into this territory, as he’s been very vocal about being anti-lockdown and anti-vaccine for the better part of a year.

He was on an anti-lockdown song called “Stand and Deliver” with Van Morrison about a year ago, another one with Van (I expected better of you, Van Morrison) in June, released ANOTHER ONE called “This Has Gotta Stop” in August, and now he’s got a FOURTH vaccine-related song.

Apparently the WHOLE track isn’t revolving around vaccines, but rest assured that Eric managed to slip some of it in there.

Here’s some lyrics from “This Has Gotta Stop.” Bask in the poetry.

This has gotta stop

Enough is enough

I can't take this BS any longer

It's gone far enough

If you wanna claim my soul

You'll have to come and break down this door

I knew that something was going on wrong

When you started laying down the law

I can't move my hands

I break out in sweat

I wanna cry

Can't take it anymore

Hm. Not great. I’m not saying Eric Clapton isn’t ALLOWED to discuss his opinions in his music. Many great musicians have taken opinionated stances, and I’m a fan of many overtly political songs and musicians.

But if you’re gonna voice your opinions, add some subtlety, maybe? Or like, some creativity, perhaps?

It’s just an intense fall from grace for a guy that has such a solid track record. Wait, hold on. I’m receiving word that Eric Clapton does not have a solid track record. We here at Music Is Good regret the error.

(One of my favorite pieces of irony from the past year is Eric Clapton accusing Rolling Stone of running a “slur campaign” against him. No, buddy, I think you ran a slur campaign on stage in 1976.)

Seriously, though. If your opinions are historically bigoted and incorrect, maybe sit this one out.

Now, rock’s Tom MacDonald isn’t done yet. He also recently sued a widow for trying to sell a bootleg CD on eBay for $11. The woman now has to pay $4,000 for legal fees for the two of them.

The seller tried to sell a CD, which she states that she wasn’t aware was bootlegged. She took the listing down one day after putting it up, and Clapton’s legal team decided to pounce.

I’m not sure how much of this decision was his and how much was his label’s, but it very much seems like the kind of thing that he could have stopped, if he really wanted to. When you’re a musician with a popular catalog and a decades-long career, $11 is a very strange hill to die on.

Anyway, I’ve been able to survive for a while without listening to Clapton. It really didn’t take much to cut his music out of my life, considering most of his best songs are covers, anyway. I wonder if Eric knows “I Shot the Sheriff” is an anti-police song.

christmas eve6 @Eve6

98% of eric clapton’s hits are covers and the other 2% suck

Never forget, Duane Allman carries “Layla.” Moving on.

New Music from Earl Sweatshirt

After a couple of singles, “2010” and the recently-released “Tabula Rosa” featuring Armand Hammer, Earl Sweatshirt announced a new album coming next month.

“Sick” will be his first album since 2019’s “FEET OF CLAY,” which I absolutely loved. 

Both “Tabula Rosa” and “2010” are fantastic lyrically, despite sounding different instrumentally. “Tabula Rosa,” as you hopefully just clicked on and listened to, is more of the familiar jazz-inspired style, whereas the instrumental from “2010” is more synthesized and electronic. 

It seems like Earl is gonna bring some variance on “Sick,” and I’m excited to see what he’s capable of, because he hasn’t missed yet.

Earl is a pillar in alternative rap music, which means his stuff gets hyped up to no end, but I think he’s one of the few rappers that really does live up to the hype. So much of his public exposure is people joking about “EAST” and how odd it sounds, but Earl is so much more than that.

He’s deep, he’s incredibly tapped into rap music as a whole, especially the underground, and he’s one of rap’s best currently. Let’s hope he’s not the only Odd Future alum to release an album next year. Frank, seriously. Get on it.

Some Words on Nardwuar, the Best Music Journalist in the World

So, I watched this video this week, and was so excited for it. It was so awesome to see JPEGMAFIA, who is a self-proclaimed fan of Nardwuar, get interviewed by the man himself.

I think he’s gained a lot of traction on the internet in recent years due to virality, especially from artist’s reactions of him digging up some really obscure thing from their past. There are whole channels and videos on Youtube and TikTok devoted to posting reactions like these.

He’s also had a few other great clips, such as asking Tr*vis Sc*tt how he keeps his pants up, getting yelled at by Tyler, the Creator, and giving Lil Uzi a Rob Zombie poster.

(The “very impressive!” takes me out every single time.)

By all accounts, Nardwuar is a great dude. He’s funny, personable, and his oddity sets him apart from a lot of other journalists. The interview is wholly about the artist, but somehow he manages to steal the show often. He also manages to make people feel really comfortable around him, to the point where he interviews the same really famous people over and over.

He also gives these people countless gifts. You literally walk away better off than you were before having been interviewed by Nardwaur.

I just love people like him, man. I wanted to say a few words because I admire him (and his insane investigative team) greatly as a journalist, an interviewer, and as a person. He’s a rare breed.

He just seems so devoted to spreading positivity, and if I ever get the platform to speak to musicians about their work at his level, I hope to do the same. 

If you’ve never seen a Nardwuar interview in full, do yourself a favor and watch a few. They’ll make your day. 

Alright, that’s it, I think. This was fun! I missed this. I needed the time off, but I had fun getting back on the horse, as it were. No playlist for you this time around, sorry, but I’ll talk to you soon! I’m not sure when, because Thursday is Christmas Eve, but soon!