singemonkey wrote
I read the bits of the Clapton bio I was interested in in the book shop. Not very enlightening. He says little about his guitar playing - his approach to it. It was fascinating to discover that he still does not at all understand why people were calling him God. He imagines it's because he was playing other people's blues to them that they'd never heard before. So they thought he'd invented it and thus thought he was amazing. Jeez. No wonder he declined so badly after that.
I was really astonished by that. It's like Sachin Tendulkar claiming that his fame derives from being a pretty reliable batsman who can hold the fort. Or John McEnroe saying people liked him because of his serve. For a couple of years Clapton was the greatest blues guitar player in the world. But I don't think he's too bright.
Clapton's always played down that reputation. I once saw him interviewed on TV and the "greatest guitarist in the world" tag came up. His response was along the lines of "I've never said I'm the greatest guitarist in the world, and I'm not. It's what I aspire to, but I'm not there right now."
I don't think this is unusual. Sir Donald Bradman played down his own reputation - though sometimes in a teasing way. He once disowned the "greatest batsman ever" tag only for the interviewer to trot out the stats and say "but you were averaging 99 when the other guys were averaging 55, 60....". Bradman said "Well a lot of them were better players than me - but they kept on getting out."
I've met Brian Lara and he's a delightful man and doesn't have a big head at all. If he went around agreeing that he was the greatest batsman on earth (or even one of) then I think a lot less people would like him.
Richard Thompson once criticised that infamous Rolling Stone "greatest guitarists ever" thing for ranking him higher in the guitar playing stakes than Robbie Robertson.
Danny Thompson reacts quite strongly to any suggestions that he is a great player. He says things like "I know I can play a bit, otherwise people wouldn't keep on hiring me."
So I think such attitudes are quite common. Besides, if they 'fess up to the hype then I think conversation gets pretty boring for them. Brian Lara was quite keen to talk about golf - I bet he's sick of talking about cricket.
