ERIC CLAPTON - CLAPTON TRIES TO DODGE GUITAR LEGEND TAG

CLAPTON TRIES TO DODGE GUITAR LEGEND TAG

ERIC CLAPTON became so stressed by his status as a guitar great he turned to drink and drugs to lower people's expectations. The multi-Grammy-winning artist rocketed to fame with 1960s supergroup CREAM but soon became overwhelmed by his success. He reveals his behaviour spiralled out of control as the pressure grew too intense: "It kind of followed me a little while, and then, you know, when I started to get into the dope and the drink... I stopped playing lead. I was just really getting lazy. "I think I deliberately, at some point, tried to undermine, get rid of it, you know. Because the guitar legend thing was big, in the early '70s. And it became a shackle, you know."