Har Mar Superstar’s Sean Tillmann has no sympathy for Eric Clapton’s “Tears In Heaven”

In HateSong, we ask our favorite musicians, writers, comedians, actors, and so forth to expound on the one song they hate most in the world.
The hater: As Har Mar Superstar, Sean Tillmann is perhaps best known not for his music, but for his underpants. Tillman’s rock ’n’ roll alter ego plays most of his shows in his tighty-whities, bouncing around stage enthusiastically and refreshingly without shame. It’s that kind of artistic presence—his latest record, Bye Bye 17, is out now—that’s made Tillman a mover and a shaker in the music scene. He’s written songs for Jennifer Lopez and The Cheetah Girls, opened for The Strokes and Tenacious D, appeared on a number of TV shows, and acted in films like Starsky And Hutch and Whip It! He also hosts a podcast, Nocturnal Emotions, during which he talks about embarrassing moments with actors and musicians like Flea, Ted Leo, and Macaulay Culkin. One of the podcast’s segments, “Let Me Ruin Your Favorite Song,” features Tillmann doing pretty much what the segment promises and ruining the guest’s favorite song. The A.V. Club doesn’t have a favorite song, but we still wanted to know what Tillmann would choose as his least favorite song.
The hated: Eric Clapton, “Tears In Heaven” (1992)
Sean Tillmann: I hate that song so much.
The A.V. Club: Why?
ST: Well, it’s kind of a tie between that and the national anthem as my least favorite songs. “Tears In Heaven” is so fucking sappy and sad that it’s a whole level of “woe is me.” I just can’t comprehend it. And I like “woe is me” jams, but when it’s so pathetic and it’s so revered, I think it’s very polarizing. You either hate it or you love it, you know?
AVC: Granted, it did come out of an incredibly sad situation. Even Eric Clapton didn’t play it for years because he thought it was too sad.
ST: We did karaoke like a month ago after brunch. It was 4 p.m., really early. We were kind of drunk already, too. Anyway, it was only me, my four friends, and another couple there, and this chick decides her first song is going to be “Tears In Heaven.” And I was like, “It’s four in the afternoon; it’s bright out. You don’t want to hear ‘Tears in Heaven’ in the middle of the day sung by some chick at a bar.” That’s a horrible idea.