Pete Townshend’s unflinching critique of Cream: “It sounded so empty”
The Who’s Pete Townshend is the harshest critic in rock. Very few bands have been fortunate enough to only receive praise from Townshend, and he can pick holes with even the most esteemed groups. Although Townshend holds a sacred place in his heart for many of these bands, that doesn’t mean they are devoid of criticism.
Townshend has never been afraid of saying what’s on his mind, even if it means ruffling feathers among the plumage of his peers. Nobody is free from his wrath, which has given him a fierce reputation for his unwavering opinions. Townshend has trashed everyone from Led Zeppelin to The Beatles at some point. Even his own band, The Who, has been on the receiving end of his infamously scathing tongue, and Townshend’s unflinching honesty is an admirable trait.
Admittedly, he has softened in recent years and now spends less time lamenting the state of music. However, back when The Who were in their pomp, Townshend understood that controversy was a useful marketing tool, which also allowed him to get anything off his chest that he desired.
In the 1960s, Britain was awash with rock bands who cut their teeth on the club circuit before taking the world by storm. The Who were no anomaly, and other acts, such as The Rolling Stones, were enjoying a trajectory similar to superstardom. However, Cream were one band unlike any other in London. They had all served in known groups or worked as session musicians, which had given cache to their respective names, which meant they were able to climb up the greasy rock ‘n’ roll ladder quickly.
Before forming in 1966, Eric Clapton, Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker already had reputations within the music industry. While it’s a stretch to call them the world’s first supergroup, their manager ran with this line, and it added a sense of intrigue around the band that enhanced their status. Together, they set the world alight in their short time as an outfit, even though it only lasted two years.
It also proved to be a springboard for Clapton to establish himself as an artist in his own right. While Townshend is an admirer of his talents as a technician, he doesn’t feel the same way about the guitarist’s work with Cream. Like everybody else within London’s musical circle, Townshend was already familiar with all three members before they formed Cream.
Furthermore, their first official show came at the National Blues & Jazz Festival in 1966, headlined by The Who, but the guitarist was never mightily impressed by their output.
The Who guitarist provided unprovoked thoughts on Cream during an interview with Guitar, where he spoke about how his band successfully defined his sound before comparing and contrasting the two groups.
“I think that, partly because of [Keith Moon’s] drumming style, I had to play a really, really solid, tightly syncopated but nonetheless tightly metronomic style of guitar playing,” he explained. Townshend continued: “I was driving him rather than him driving me. There was no space, really, for fancy leads. As soon as I started playing single notes, everything seemed to fall apart.”
“I have to say, that was my experience listening to Cream,” he added. “It felt to me that sometimes it sounded so empty. I thought they would’ve been so much better if they had a Hammond player.” Despite his biting remark about the hollowness of Cream’s sound, Townshend also complemented Clapton’s ability. “I always loved Eric’s playing, but not always his sound. It always felt to me like it was a bit muffled, in the Marshall days. That’s why I prefer Traffic and Blind Faith. I like the sound of that,” he continued.
Townshend has always been a professional contrarian. Therefore, it should be no surprise that he prefers Clapton’s lesser-known work with Blind Faith to his universally adored output with Cream. In truth, by Townshend’s standards, describing their sound as “empty” is relatively kind compared to other entries in his book of insults, and Cream could have been on the receiving end of a more severe verbal wounding.
