Ginger Baker’s most scathing musical assessments
Iconoclast is a word that gets thrown around too often, but when considering the term at length, it soon becomes apparent that no other phrase can categorise the late Ginger Baker. He was arguably the greatest drummer of all time. However, alongside being a rhythmic virtuoso who fused jazz and world influences in an astoundingly influential style, he was also a composer with a sharp ear for the harmonic.
This character makes him stand out from the crowd, with his best friend and former Cream and Blind Faith bandmate, Eric Clapton, aptly describing him as “a fully formed musician”. The man who opened the gates for all rock drumming that followed, it’s no coincidence that other rhythmic heroes such as John Bonham, Neil Peart, Nick Mason and Stewart Copeland have all effused about him over the years.
Late Led Zeppelin drummer John Bonham explains in the book In Their Own Words: “[Baker] was the first to come out with this ‘new’ attitude — that a drummer could be a forward musician in a rock band, and not something that was stuck in the background and forgotten about.”
Also notorious for the unrelenting extent of his hellraising lifestyle, Baker’s playing reflected his explosive personality and a natural propensity to surprise. In music, he was expressive and visceral, so there was no surprise that these are two words that can also be attributed to his life outside of the art.
After meeting one of his ultimate heroes for an interview, Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer, Chad Smith, offered an account of the former Cream man. “Ginger is a complete, one-of-a-kind original, love him or not,” he said. “Personally, I wouldn’t put him in the lovable category, but what he did for drumming is undeniable. With Cream and the way he helmed that band, it was incredible. There was Blind Faith and more supergroup music, and then he drops out to go to Africa and plays with Fela Kuti. And had his own bands – all the time burning through musicians, women and drugs. I think Ginger was the original ‘most interesting man in the world.’ The fact that he’s still alive is a tremendous feat considering his lifestyle.”
Although he passed away in 2019, Ginger Baker will always be remembered for the significance of the music he created and the myriad of brutal assessments he gave of other musicians. As the former category is well-accounted for, we’ve listed his most scathing reviews of fellow musicians. From The Rolling Stones to entire genres, no one was safe from his wrath.
Find the list below.
The most scathing musical assessments of Ginger Baker:
5. The general public are “fucking dumb”
Where else but to start with one of Ginger Baker’s most cutting takes? Constantly compared to Led Zeppelin’s John Bonham and The Who’s Keith Moon because of their importance to the development of rock, in the documentary, Beware of Mr. Baker, the Lewisham native put the comparisons to bed forever. Frankly labelling the general public as “so fucking dumb”, he then proceeded to explain why he was better than both his contemporaries.
He said: “The general public are so fucking dumb that anybody could think Bonham was anywhere near this kind of drummer that I am. It’s just extraordinary. Bonham had technique, but he couldn’t swing a fucking sack of shit; or Moony, for that matter. If they were still alive today, (you could) ask them.”
4. I “hate” The Rolling Stones
This critique comes via another comparison to Baker’s contemporaries, recorded in an extensive interview with Classic Rock back in 2010. As well as mentioning the usual suspects, Bonham and Moon, the flame-haired drummer also tore into a couple of other prominent drummers. These were The Beatles’ widely maligned stickman Ringo Starr and the glue of The Rolling Stones, Charlie Watts. Despite Watts being respected across music, Baker tore into his band, The Rolling Stones.
He recalled: “John Bonham, Ringo Starr, Charlie Watts… they’re a three or four. I like Charlie, he’s a good friend since the old jazz days, and he’s perfect for the Stones. He got me a gig with Alexis [Korner’s Blues Incorporated], and I recommended him for the Stones.”
Expressing his hate for The Rolling Stones, Baker labelled their frontman Mick Jagger as “a musical moron”. He continued: “But I hate the Stones and always have done. Mick Jagger is a musical moron. True, he is an economic genius. Most of ’em are fucking morons. Phil Seamen told me: ‘These pop musicians wouldn’t know a hatchet from a crotchet.'”
3. Gary Moore was “contrived”
Another musician Ginger Baker disdained was Northern Irish guitarist Gary Moore, whom he played with in the short-lived supergroup BBM, alongside nemesis Jack Bruce. Famously, Moore played in the same blues rock tradition as Peter Green and Eric Clapton. Before enjoying a celebrated solo career, he made his name in groups such as Skid Row and Thin Lizzy. The likes of John Petrucci, Kirk Hammett and Zakk Wylde have all cited him as a great influence.
Looking back on BBM, Baker told Classic Rock: “A tour was suggested; I’d get £50,000 a gig. What I didn’t realise was that Gary Moore was playing so loud that he blew his ears – just as Jack done to me. More gigs were cancelled than played. And they were awful anyway. Unlike Cream, everything with Gary Moore was contrived. Every solo he played was the same. I like to improvise.”
He continued: “Unknown to me, they organised a rehearsal at Brixton Academy, and when I got there, I could hear Gary Moore’s guitar outside on the street. We played it note-perfect, as usual – it should have been the fucking gig. The next day his manager phones me and says Gary’s blown his ears again, and they’ve taken him to the doctor. I said: ‘Why don’t you take him to a fucking psychiatrist, cos that’s what he needs.’ That wasn’t the right thing to say to Mr God Almighty.”
Later, Baker said: “That was a terrible time, playing with the Pampered Pompadour Of Pop. One gig in Paris was cancelled when he cut his finger opening a fucking tin. Eric would have put a plaster on and played… Oh no, not Gary. And Jack became Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde again.”
2. Heavy metal can do one
Due to his position as an influential drummer and the fact that Cream are deemed forerunners to the metal genre, Baker was constantly asked for his thoughts on all things devil horns. When speaking to Forbes in 2015, when probed on Led Zeppelin again, he gave one of his most vitriolic musical assessments. He labelled the entire metal genre as “incredibly repulsive”.
Baker opined: “I’ve seen where Cream is sort of held responsible for the birth of heavy metal. Well, I would definitely go for aborting [laughs]. I loathe and detest heavy metal. I think it is an abortion. A lot of these guys come up and say, ‘Man, you were my influence, the way you thrashed the drums.’ They don’t seem to understand I was thrashing in order to hear what I was playing. It was anger, not enjoyment – and painful. I suffered on stage because of that [high amplifier] volume crap. I didn’t like it then, and like it even less now. That whole Rock and Roll Hall of Fame thing — at least half the people in there don’t have a place in any kind of hall of fame anywhere, in my opinion.”
1. Hawkwind are “the biggest joke in history”
Speaking to Classic Rock, Ginger Baker delivered a host of biting musical assessments and hot takes that define how much of a tough customer he was. From tearing into his age-old foe Jack Bruce to attacking other contemporaries, it was pure dynamite.
However, the outfit he destroyed most brutally was the space-rock posse Hawkwind, who he drummed for between 1980 and 1981. He described his experience with the Dave Brock-led outfit as “the biggest joke in history” before dismissing their music as “fucking appalling”.
“That was the biggest joke in history,” Ginger scoffed. “I needed the money, and that was the only reason. Sadly I never saw what was offered, because they didn’t have any money. Hawkwind were more interested in their stage appearance and their lighting than their actual music – and their music was fucking appalling. Atrocious. I hated it all. Thank Christ, I wasn’t with them very long.”
