The very specific reason Pete Townshend couldn’t stand listening to Cream: “So empty”
Just because you’re responsible for having created some of classic rock’s finest works, that doesn’t mean that you’ve got to be a fan of what all of your contemporaries are doing all the time.
Rivalries, or as we call it in the modern day, beef between two or more artists, is far from a new concept, and quite often in the heat of the moment where one artist is vying to be the centre of attention, they’ll find themselves unnecessarily lashing out at those around them in order to make them seem as though they’re the ones on top of the game.
However, this has a tendency to backfire frequently, with the outcome of negatively commenting on someone else’s work coming off in the public’s perception as petulant and needless. It’s perfectly possible to achieve more than someone else without resorting to playground-level put-downs that attempt to make them appear inferior, and that requires simply relying on your talent alone rather than a war of words.
And yet, so many artists get ahead of themselves, and in an act of desperation to make them seem better than those around them, they’ll think that they’re in a position to be able to critique the failings of other artists. Of course, if you are of a certain calibre, then it might feel as though said criticisms are being offered in a constructive manner where you’re hoping that those on the receiving end will realise where they need to improve, but so often, this is far from the way it is interpreted.
During the late 1960s and early 1970s, The Who were not just at the top of their game creatively, but making ambitious rock records that were ostensibly laying down a gauntlet for other acts to step up to to give them a bit of competition.
Take an album like Tommy, and consider how ahead of its time it was for its 1969 release in terms of composition, concept and the quality of the recording, and it becomes understandable why something that didn’t match it on any front would have been a disappointment to the ears of the band.
However, during a 2021 interview with Guitar, Pete Townshend made his opinions clear on just how much of a letdown one of the other most beloved acts of the period were to him, despite the fact that he still acknowledged the musical talents of his guitar-playing counterpart in the band, Eric Clapton. Talking about how being the sole guitarist in a group meant there was little room for him to throw in fancy leads, Townshend admitted that Clapton’s work in power trio Cream was less than appealing to him.
“I have to say, that was my experience listening to Cream,” Townshend admitted. “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. 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.”
While this isn’t as much of a dig at Clapton’s work as it possibly could have been, it still feels like an unnecessary way for him to assert his dominance over someone who was a rival of his. Clapton’s style and the sound he produced may not have been for Townshend, but when the pair of them are now in their old age, there’s no need to reflect on what they could have done better almost 60 years ago.
