The day God was killed

"Clapton is God"

Those words were written in spray paint on a London subway station wall in the mid-1960s by a fan thrilled by the sounds Clapton emitted from his stratocaster guitar and confirmed by the discerning music critics of his time.  

The phrase was immortalized by a photographer who captured that image along with that of a woman whose conservative dog peed on the wall as a sign of disagreement or because something different smelled in the near future. 

By that time Clapton was already one of the first guitar heroes, having participated in the band "The Yardbirds", from which he left because, according to him, it was becoming too commercial and the roots and essence of the band had been forgotten. 

Clapton went on to join the band John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers where he recorded an album considered among the best of all time. Later Clapton decided in 1966 to put together his own band, summoning the best bass player of that time, Jack Bruce and the best drummer, Ginger Baker. Cream was formed with the three best musicians of the moment, who unleashed a real whirlwind of virtuosity and musicality with classics like Sunshine of your love or their cover of Crossroads, making a perfect blend of rock, blues and psychedelia. 

On the other side of the world a myth was also emerging. A young left-handed African-American guitarist, born in Seattle, was trying to survive in the New York music scene, after having accompanied great artists, among them Little Richards, who fired him for stealing the limelight by being equally or more extravagant than Richards himself. We are talking about a certain Jimmy Hendrix. 

Linda Keith, Keith Richards' girlfriend at the time, was dazzled by the virtuosity and flamboyance of Jimmy Hendrix's live display, and tried to help him by introducing him to Chas Chandler, a former member of The Animals who had begun to dabble as a manager. 

Chandler saw Jimmy Hendrix perform "Hey Joe" and was so amazed that he immediately offered him a trip to London, which at the time was the center of the rock scene.  Hendrix, having nothing to lose, accepted with the only condition of meeting his idols Jeff Beck and Eric Clapton.  Jimmy was a big fan of Cream and particularly of their guitarist. 

Hendrix and his new manager left for London, and a few days later, on October 1st 1966, one of the greatest meetings in the history of music took place. Cream was playing at the London Polytechnic and Jimmy demanded the fulfillment of the promise to his manager, who did not see any problem since he knew them very well. 

So it was that they both entered the backstage of the stage and Jimmy could personally meet the members of a band that was admired by everyone and elevated to the level of gods.  After having greeted them, Jimmy Hendrix in an almost sacrilegious act, did something that no mortal would have dared to do, he asked them to play a song with them at the end of the show. The rest of the audience wondered how could this young, skinny, skinny stranger, recently arrived from the USA, make such a request. The curious thing is that the band, showing off their superiority, accepted the offer without knowing what would happen next.  

When the time came, Jimmy went on stage, suggested the band to play "killing floor" by Howlin Wolf, a song that Cream knew perfectly well, connected his white stratocaster to the input of the amplifier and started to play. At that moment the history of music changed forever.

Hendrix began to pull out scales and chords in an incredible way, with a virtuosity and speed that had never been seen before.  Bruce and BaKer woke up and joined the musical frenzy. All the lights fell on this anonymous guitarist, who claimed with sufficient arguments the position of the current God. 

Clapton, who was trying to accompany the new hero in the shadows, began to sweat, his hands were shaking to such an extent that in the middle of the song, he took off his guitar, unplugged it and left the stage. 

Chandler went out to look for Clapton and found him in a backyard smoking a cigarette, totally nervous, angry, embarrassed and humiliated.  When Eric saw him he shouted "You knew that would happen, you never told me it was that good!

From then on, word began to spread that there was a new messiah, and great artists and musicians of the scene like Mick Jager, Jeff Beck, or Paul McCartney himself, crowded into Jimmy Hendrix's shows to see this new guitar genius live.

The rest is history!