The Clapton Chronicles: Eric Clapton Discusses Addiction

Eric Clapton is one of the most influential artists in the history of music. He is also one of the luckiest. Not because of his remarkable talent or incredible success. No, he is lucky just to be alive. For not only is Clapton a world class musician, he is also a world class alcoholic and drug addict.    

Now happy and healthy at age 80, the revolutionary guitarist has been a rock music staple for over sixty years. Clapton was enshrined into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a solo artist in 2000. He was also inducted along with his bands The Yardbirds and Cream, making him the only three-time inductee. Most importantly, he has been sober since 1987.

The guitarist began experimenting with illicit substances in the 1960s. He became dependent on them throughout the next two decades. A renowned drug and alcohol abuser, Clapton admits to being suicidal, “almost on a nightly basis.” In a real way, it was his addiction that kept Eric alive. He states, “The only reason I didn’t commit suicide was that I knew I wouldn’t be able to drink any more if I was dead.”

“Addiction doesn’t negotiate,” says Clapton. He knows that better than just about anyone. And even though his insanely destructive lifestyle nearly ended his life, he created some of the most iconic rock tunes of all time. But these days, Eric hopes to serve as a beacon for those bombarded with the same afflictions that he still carries. He achieves this, in part, by relating his sentiments and experiences. This is Eric Clapton discussing addiction.  

“It started with sugar”

I couldn’t get through a day without doing something to alter my consciousness. It started with sugar. When I was five or six years old, I was cramming sugar down my throat as fast as I could get it down…I became addicted to sugar because it changed the way I felt.

“Grateful that I survived”

All of it was okay until drugs and drink got involved…I’m just very grateful that I survived it and didn’t die because I was often in some very seriously dangerous situations with booze and drugs.

“As soon as I could lie about my age”

I started drinking as soon as I could lie about my age and get into a pub. And then it was speed. I got into the heavy stuff in my twenties, but I’d already been fooling around by a long time by then.

Jimi

I’d bought Jimi Hendrix a guitar — this white left-handed Stratocaster. The following day, I learned that Jimi was dead. That he’d passed out after getting stoned on a mixture of booze and drugs and choked on his own vomit. Why didn’t that stop me?

“The 70s”

It was at some point towards the end of the sixties and all the way through the seventies – I was out, you know? I was kind of on holiday, and being a musician was my way of making the money to be on holiday…There were people who were moving through that period with respect and dignity, and I just didn’t run into them that often.   

“I can handle it”

The thing about that kind of addiction that’s pretty funny, on reflection, is that I always thought, ‘I’m handling this. I can handle it. I can stop anytime. I just don’t want to stop right now.’

Snorting heroin “saved my bacon”

Clapton has admitted to having a fear of needles. Thus, when he became addicted to heroin, snorting was his method of consumption. Ironically, this fear saved his life. “Financially [snorting] is the last way [you should do it] unless you can really afford it. But it saved my bacon, because doing [heroin] intravenously is much more dangerous, obviously, with dirty needles or overdosing.”

 “I thought I needed that shit”

I thought that if I stopped drinking and taking drugs, I wouldn’t be able to play anymore. In other words, I thought I needed that shit to be creative.

“Cocaine”

Written by Tulsa troubadour J.J. Cale, Clapton released “Cocaine” on his 1977 album Slowhand. Eric stopped performing the number for a time, fearing it promoted the wrong message. However, he has incorporated the tune back into his live sets, stating that he loves playing the song, “just purely from a musical point of view.”

“The worst part”

I was taking people with me. That’s always the worst part about an addict or an alcoholic: people are dragged along, and sometimes they go down before the principal character.