Clapton: The Autobiography

Eric Clapton is among the dullest of rock stars, yet this is the most engrossing rock bio ever! His own ego and excess created soap operas Telemundo would die for. He destroyed himself and those around him with aristocratic contrition, repeating his mistakes again and again. He was hipper than thou and yet a fool who tried to have his cake and eat it too. Already a junkie, he told Pattie Boyd (George Harrison’s wife) he would become one if she didn’t leave his best friend. Openly unfaithful, he couldn’t decide between wives and girlfriends. He drank from sun-up until he blacked out or lost control of all bodily functions. All this while touring incessantly (he played the Royal Albert Hall 28 times in two months). Despite his malfeasance, he’s charming, popular, remorseful and childlike. In the end, this is a tale of redemption, as Clapton goes through recovery and helps others through his Crossroads drug clinic. He is humbled in a Magnificent Ambersons manner. The world of pop music and privilege he dryly observes we’ll never see again.