‘NSU’: the gross Cream song that exposed Eric Clapton
No one wants to know the intimate details of other people’s medical histories, but if there’s anything we’ve already gathered, rock stars seem to have no inhibitions when it comes to publicly airing all the gory details of their health. That’s particularly true in their sex lives, which, regardless of whether we’d like to have that information thrust upon us or not, happens to be a common lyrical muse. Just ask Cream.
From the get-go, the original 1960s supergroup comprised of Jack Bruce, Eric Clapton, and Ginger Baker wanted to prove that they were something different. Most bands, however, would do that by pretty tame means – an edgy haircut, a fresh style, an innovative musical approach. Not so much Cream. It was evident from the very beginning that rock and roll was in for a whole new rising because they started life by brutally exposing one member’s personal problems.
Written during their very first rehearsal and indeed making it as the opener to their debut album Fresh Cream in 1966, the song ‘NSU’ is deceptively less innocuous than you might think. Lyrically, it’s pretty safe, made up of simple rhymes like “Driving in my car, smoking my cigar/ The only time I’m happy’s when I play my guitar,” but it’s in the title of the track itself that a smutty reference can be found hiding in plain sight.
According to Bruce, who wrote the song as well as much of Cream’s complete discography, the acronym of ‘NSU’, in fact, had a very different meaning. He said: “It was like an early punk song… the title meant non-specific urethritis. It didn’t mean an NSU Quickly – which was one of those little 1960s mopeds. I used to say it was about a member of the band who had this venereal disease. I can’t tell you which one… except he played guitar.”
Throwing Clapton well and truly under the bus, the ruse of a sweet little moped song was soon up, and his run-in with an STI was more glaringly out in the open than perhaps he ever wanted it to be. But frankly, the guitarist had no choice but to suck up his embarrassment as he had a rock world to dominate, and though his intimate issue had been exposed in the first taste anyone had of his new outfit, it was ultimately the song that led on to the gateway of Cream’s stratospheric heights over their four-year tenure.
Being able to put his bandmates’ cruel jibe behind him was, in many ways, Clapton’s greatest strength, as embracing the unlikely title was the only way forward if he wanted to conquer the airwaves. It was just as well he did, because Cream soon whipped up a storm in some pretty seismic support, right from a nascent Jimi Hendrix to the global icon of Ringo Starr.
But a word of caution to anyone dreaming of those illustrious heights of stardom – make sure your medical records are truly watertight. They do say it’s a world of sex and drugs and rock and roll, but if you’re the one who ends up being outed, it may not all be as fun and games as it sounds.
