Why Eric Clapton was Cream’s initial frontman, according to Jack Bruce
In the 1960s, a combination of technological advancements, creative evolution and commercial competition engendered an environment apt to nurture some of the greatest guitarists in history. Although the Yardbirds never soared to the same heights as The Beatles or the Rolling Stones, the band was pivotal in supplying English rock music with three of its most gifted lead guitarists: Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page.
By the time Jimi Hendrix struck the London scene in 1967 with his debut album with the Experience, Eric Clapton and Jeff Beck had left the Yardbirds. Jimmy Page remained with the band, rebranding it as Led Zeppelin in 1968 with the recruitment of Robert Plant, John Bonham and John Paul Jones. Meanwhile, Beck formed the Jeff Beck Group, and Clapton prospered in Cream with Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker.
The psychedelic trio formed in 1966 and only lasted two years, during which they released four studio albums. As its name suggests, the band’s final album, Goodbye, was a planned conclusion. Cream decided to disband amid rising tension between bassist Bruce and the virtuosic, if volatile, drummer Baker. Although the group was only three strong, it appeared that it had three titans in their respective fields with personalities to match.
Although Clapton contributed vocals to several Cream tracks, Bruce was the band’s frontman. He wrote many of the lyrics and could perform intricate bass lines while giving a great vocal display. However, when Cream foret formed, Clapton was earmarked as the band’s focal point and lead singer.
Speaking to Forbes in 2015, Bruce discussed Cream’s early studio sessions during which the seminal second album took form. “When we went to do our first recordings on 61st Street with Atlantic in New York, for Disraeli Gears, it was decided that Eric was going to be the front man,” he revealed. “I was just going to stay in the background and be the bass player.”
One of the first songs Cream recorded for Disraeli Gears was the lead single ‘Strange Brew’, which featured Clapton on lead vocals. Bruce remembered that, while recording the song, Clapton was the band’s proposed frontman. “‘Strange Brew’ was a very strange situation,” Bruce said. “What they did was use this other song we’d already recorded the track for [‘Hey Lawdy Mama’].”
By they, Bruce referred to Atlantic Records and specifically the co-founding former president Ahmet Ertegun. “Ahmet said to Felix Pappalardi, ‘Take that backing track and write something,’ and he came back the next day with this ‘Strange Brew’,” he continued. “A lot of the time in those days, we would write singles separately as opposed to use album tracks.”
With Atlantic Records trying to promote Clapton as Cream’s frontman, Bruce found it exceedingly difficult to get any appreciation for his songwriting contributions. “It was difficult to get [Atlantic] to let my songs be recorded,” he noted. However, the tides began to change when Bruce got some famous acquaintances on board. “The reason they were accepted at all was Booker T [Jones] and Otis Redding came into the session around the same time, and they were very encouraging about the things I was trying to do.”
With this endorsement, Bruce began to gain confidence in his songwriting. “We were all very fortunate to be in the same environment with them, anyway,” he concluded. “Aretha Franklin was recording there, too. It was wonderful to meet those people. We were in awe of them – they were our idols!”
Watch Cream perform ‘Sunshine of Your Love’, one of Jack Bruce’s early contributions, at their 1993 Rock Hall induction below.