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1981 single by Eric Clapton

"I Can`t Stand It" was the first single from Eric Clapton`s 1981 album Another Ticket. On the record label for the vinyl 45, its credited as Eric Clapton and His Band. It was also used for interludes on Bill O`Reilly`s radio show, The Radio Factor.

Reception

Record World called it a "dark, driving rocker with Clapton`s vocal lurking ominously around drum spanks & keyboard textures."[2]

AllMusic critic Matthew Greenwald recalls the song as "one of Eric Clapton`s biggest hits from the early `80s" and found "this song found him continuing, in his words, to be as much a musicologist as a musician." Greenwald goes on to saying that the song`s "lyrics have a venomous jealousy, and they are some of Clapton`s most literate of the period". He rounded his review up by saying that "musically, some classic, almost Booker T. & the M.G.`s-styled chord changes highlight the driving tempo, providing Clapton with a huge hit".[3] William Ruhlman of AllMusic recalls that I Can`t Stand It "held up well".[4]

Besides becoming a pop hit in its own right, reaching No. 10 on the Billboard Hot 100, it was also the first No. 1 song on Billboard`s Top Tracks chart for rock songs, which debuted in March 1981. It stayed at the summit for two weeks.[5] The song reached No. 15 in Canada. By 1981, Broadcast Music, Inc. measured more than one million broadcasts of the song, earning Clapton a special recognition certificate.[6]

Personnel

• Eric Clapton – lead vocals, lead guitar
• Albert Lee – rhythm guitar
• Gary Brooker – keyboards
• Dave Markee – bass guitar
• Henry Spinetti – drums

Chart positions

Weekly charts

See also

• List of Billboard Mainstream Rock number-one songs of the 1980s