Biography of Cream
English power trio Cream was one of the first and best. Eric Clapton (guitar), Jack Bruce (bass) and Ginger Baker (drums) were all veterans of the British blues scene by the time they formed Cream in late 1966, but their brand of highly amplified, free-form playing took the music to new directions that a band like The Yardbirds could only dream of. One of the first bands to legitimatize jamming onstage, each member was a solid soloist in his own right, Baker's solo on "Toad" being a constant highlight of their live show. Their original material (much of it written by Bruce) strayed far from their blues roots in a more pop direction, but expanded their audience in the bargain. When they called it quits in 1969, rock critics mourned their demise, but their two principal contributions (rock's first "supergroup" and helping to lay the foundation for heavy metal) live on. ~ Steve Aldrich