(Credits: Far Out / Showtime Documentary Films)
Sun 21 December 2025 15:00, UK
The unspoken rule in the 1960s guitar community was centred around the fact that Eric Clapton was one of the greatest of all time.
Before Jimi Hendrix came in to turn rock and roll on its head, ‘Slowhand’ was one of the biggest draws of the English rock scene, working out of The Yardbirds and his latest supergroup, Cream. Then again, blues was only one aspect of what Clapton could do.
Throughout his solo career, Clapton was known for dipping his toes into different flavours of pop music. From angles of reggae, country and back to blues, the songwriter turned his simplest ideas into pop gold on tracks like ‘Wonderful Tonight’ and ‘Cocaine’. In terms of perfect pop, though, Slowhand had to bow down to one of the genre’s resident kings.
Around the time Clapton was making the rounds as one of the most fiery guitarists imaginable, Brian Wilson was slowly painting his masterpiece. Wanting to take rock music out of the niche audience that wanted to talk about girls, cars and surfing, Wilson worked in the studio to create Pet Sounds, which would become the model for any music fan to base their career on.
When first hearing the album, Clapton was knocked out by its brilliance, telling Melody Maker at the time, “I consider Pet Sounds to be one of the greatest pop LPs to ever be released. It encompasses everything that’s ever knocked me out and rolled it all into one. Brian Wilson is, without a doubt, a pop genius”.
Brian Wilson in his happy place: making music. (Credits: Far Out / Brian Wilson)
Once Clapton heard what Wilson could do on tracks like ‘God Only Knows’ and ‘Sloop John B’, he knew that he needed a band that was more sonically adventurous than The Yardbirds. Later, Clapton would recall Pet Sounds being one of the main inspirations behind Cream getting together, explaining: “It was like ‘It’s over’. We were forming Cream when Pet Sounds came out. That became the primary influence for a lot of the songwriting. We couldn’t get it, but we would listen to that album non-stop”.
Clapton wasn’t the only one completely enamoured with what Wilson had created. Being caught in an international competition, The Beatles were looking to put together an album that could match the ambition of Pet Sounds, eventually working on their masterpiece Sgt Pepper as a retort.
As the rock scene began shifting towards the sounds of psychedelia, Clapton also co-mingled with both pop rock giants. Coming off the Cream album Disraeli Gears, Clapton would serve as The Beatles’ only guest guitarist, performing on the track ‘While My Guitar Gently Weeps’ from The White Album. Later in life, Clapton also worked with Wilson on his solo track ‘City Blues’.
Even though Clapton would return to his blues-infused roots throughout his solo career, the influence of Wilson’s music on the public at large can’t be denied. Regardless of how much ear candy Clapton packed into his solo material, his attempts at radio-friendly rock tunes are still a pale imitation of what Wilson did when he followed his intuition.
Clapton isn’t the only musician to be completely enchanted by Wilson. Following the beach Boys maestro’s passing, Elton John paid tribute to the star alongside other icons like Paul McCartney and Keith Richards. “Brian Wilson was always so kind to me from the day I met him,” the post began. “He sang ‘Someone Saved My Life Tonight’ at a tribute concert in 2003, and it was an extraordinary moment for me. I played on his solo records, he sang on my album, The Union, and even performed for my AIDS Foundation,” he continued.
The ‘Rocket Man’ singer added, “I grew to love him as a person, and for me, he was the biggest influence on my songwriting ever; he was a musical genius and revolutionary. He changed the goalposts when it came to writing songs and shaped music forever. A true giant.”
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