Eric Clapton is the one particular person inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame 3 times, however that didn’t cease the famed musician from sharing some selection phrases in regards to the establishment.

“I think of it as a frat boys club that happened to lure [me] in,” the guitar god declared throughout a latest interview with The Real Music Observer.

Clapton — who was inducted with the Yardbirds, Cream and for his solo profession — went on to disclose what initially drew him to the Hall, and why his opinion ultimately shifted.

“I think the fact that they had [former Atlantic Records president and Hall of Fame chairman] Ahmet Ertegun was the ticket for me,” he defined. “He was doing it for people like Ruth Brown and the Drifters, all those early Atlantic artists that were being forgotten. And then, it just kind of started to snowball.”

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Clapton additional famous that the involvement of Rolling Stone journal – whose founder, Jann Wenner, additionally helped set up the Hall – made him “very suspicious.” Yet the endorsement of good friend Robbie Robertson satisfied Clapton to offer the establishment a likelihood.

Eric Clapton Says the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Is ‘Not a Place for Rebels’

Though he admitted to having fun with his reunion with Cream on the 1993 induction ceremony, Clapton finally decided that the Hall’s omissions of influential musicians, such as late guitarist J.J. Cale, carried essentially the most weight.

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“The fact that someone like J.J. has never even been suggested is proof of what that thing is, or proof of what it isn’t,” he declared. “It’s not likely he’ll ever come up. It’s not their thing. I don’t know what their thing is. But he’s too anonymous for those guys.”

Asked about one other notable Hall omission, former Free and Bad Company singer Paul Rodgers, Clapton was forthright.

“He’s a rebel,” the guitarist insisted. “It’s not a place for rebels. It’s establishment stuff.”