Jack Bruce revealed the two classic bands Cream looked down on: “Go away and learn how to play”
When discussing the many innovations initiated in rock music during the 1960s, it is rarely mentioned that a great deal of braggadocio underpinned such efforts. Whether it be John Lennon’s chutzpah spurring The Beatles on or Jimi Hendrix realising he was far too luminous to be a side man, self-assuredness was seen across the board during the decade. Yet, for all these notable examples, one outfit typified the unfettered peacocking better than any other: Cream.
Comprised of guitarist Eric Clapton, bassist Jack Bruce and drummer Ginger Baker, they were the first genuine rock supergroup. This tag also heavily alludes to the status of each member prior to formation and the triumphs they would enjoy together. Famously, Baker and Bruce had worked together in the acclaimed Graham Bond Organisation which brought every member to prominence.
However, in one of the most notorious examples of the hubris of the era, both men were so proud. They believed so thoroughly in their unique artistic excellence that despite being the group’s rhythm section, they hated each other with all of their being. This caused many a physical altercation and initiated a hateful feud that lasted right until the very end. Legend has it that Bruce phoned Baker when he was on his deathbed, just to tell him where to go, before putting the phone down and eventually dying without resolving the long-running conflict.
In 1966, the drummer started Cream alongside his friend Eric Clapton, who had cemented himself as Britain’s finest guitarist thanks to his stints in The Yardbirds and John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers. Both men had felt stifled in their previous outfits, so they got together to a truly innovative outlet. There was one problem, though: Clapton wanted only one man on the bass, Jack Bruce.
Baker would eventually relent, and together, the trio fused blues, jazz, and R&B to create a distinctive spin on psychedelia. Of course, the immense hatred between the rhythm section would worsen during their two years together, but before the acrimonious end, they made history by soundtracking the counterculture.
While Clapton might have constantly found himself caught between the warring Baker and Bruce, all three members of the band agreed that they were far superior to all their contemporaries, with two particularly irking them. Led Zeppelin and The Rolling Stones might have enjoyed immense chart success at home and in America, but Cream were secure in the knowledge that they were real musicians. Bruce even recalled that Cream actually “looked down on” Zeppelin and The Stones due to their origins.
The bassist told Forbes: “I remember Jimmy Page from being a session musician. That’s why I never took Zeppelin seriously. They were a bunch of session musicians that we kind of looked down on. We looked down on everybody [laughs]. We looked down on Mick Jagger and Keith Richards early on when they used to come along and try to sit in with us. We’d tell them to piss off: ‘Go away, learn to play and then come back.'”
He continued: “They had this idea we didn’t recognise as valid at the time – the kind of Chuck Berry approach to rock. I think Chuck Berry is great, by the way. But we were darker, more interested in the seedy side of the music, this real bluesy thing coming more from jazz. So in our stupid, arrogant way, we looked down on those people.”
Cream might have been the best musicians of their time, but like Ozymandias, this hubris would be the end of them. Ironically, after they imploded, Led Zeppelin moved into the space they left and continued to push the boundaries of rock in ways that were more expansive than anything they ever did.
Watch Cream live below.
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