Legendary Bands - Cream Posters

Okay, so Cream was rock's first supergroup, and they're one of classic rock's sacred cows; but were they really that good? In a nutshell, yes. During their brief, three-year career, Cream expanded rock's vocabulary, introducing the idea of blues snobbery and instrumental virtuosity. Hundreds of crummy, guitar-heavy bands followed in their wake, but Cream had the chops and material to back it up.

Before forming Cream in 1966, guitarist Eric Clapton had already been mistaken for God as a member of the Yardbirds. His bandmates Jack Bruce (bass/vocals) and Ginger Baker (drums) came mainly from jazz/blues backgrounds; like Clapton, Bruce had played with blues trouper John Mayall. Yet Cream was essentially a rock band, though it improvised heavily and drew from a blues repertoire (their "Crossroads" marked the first time Robert Johnson had a hit single). The live and studio Cream were two different animals. In the studio Bruce's eccentric writing style set the tone for a psychedelic, only slightly bluesy approach, with Clapton taking economical, song-enhancing solos. Onstage all hell would break loose, with the band breaking into lengthy, furious improvs--fueled by the band's personal animosities as much as anything.

Those animosities led to Cream breaking up at the height of its powers, after a farewell show at the Royal Albert Hall in 1969. Plans for a mid-'80s reunion were reportedly shot down by Clapton (Bruce and Baker wound up forming a less spectacular power-trio with guitarist Gary Moore). The band did reunite for one historic jam in 1993 during Cream's induction into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame. "If we can be together again, anyone can!" Jack Bruce told the industry crowd that night; "I've been reunited with two people I love very dearly," Clapton declared. "It's been very moving." Clapton continues to play Cream material in concert; Bruce was recently seen doing the same on a Ringo Starr tour.