I'd bought Jimi Hendrix a guitar - this white left-handed Stratocaster. The following day, I learned that Jimi was dead, that he'd passed out after getting stoned on a mixture of booze and drugs, and choked on his own vomit. Why didn't that stop me? Well, I can only say that it was arrogance. Arrogance in that I believed that I was going to be all right. I guess I was behaving like some sort of pseudoartist, you know, exploring the dark side. It must have been risky business for the people who tried to stop me. Upon reflection, I can see all the care and love that it took to come talk to me during the period when I was underground. I can see how fucking careless and callous I was to slap them all in the face by not listening. —Eric Clapton