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Eddie Van Halen’s opinion on Cream
Eddie Van Halen was born in Amsterdam, Netherlands back in 1955 and moved with his family to the United States a few years later. So the music from the 60s affected him a lot, especially bands that appeared when he was a teenager.
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Over the decades he talked about many groups from that era and one of them was the supergroup Cream.
What is Eddie Van Halen’s opinion on Cream
Cream is considered the first Rock supergroup in history and it was formed in London, England back in 1966 by Eric Clapton (Guitar, vocals), Jack Bruce (Bass, vocals) and Ginger Baker (Drums). They were one of the first bands to make heavier songs that would later be an important inspiration for Hard Rock music.
Eddie, of course, became a big fan of the group especially because of Eric Clapton. Over the years he called the British guitarist his hero but noted that he only really liked his work in Cream.
He explained in an interview with Steve Baltin in 2009 why he loved Cream. “The only band I was really over into was Cream. And the only thing I really liked about them was their live stuff. ‘Cause they played two verses, then go off and jam for 20 minutes. (Then) come back and do a chorus and end.”
“And I love the live jam stuff, the improvisation. ‘Cause it was nothing like the record, and that is why I loved Cream. ‘Cause Ginger Baker and Jack Bruce pushed Eric Clapton. I almost feel bad for Eric because half the time he probably didn’t know the one was because these guys were jazz players playing Marshall amps and loud as s**t. Listen to ‘I’m So Glad’ on Goodbye Cream. If that doesn’t blow your f**king mind I don’t know what will,” Eddie Van Halen said.
His two favorite Cream albums
After becoming a fan of Clapton’s work with Cream, Eddie went to buy the record the guitarist had previously recorded with John Mayall. That album was also an influence to him but Cream continued to be his favorite band that Clapton played in. Back in 2016, Eddie listed for Guitar Tricks Insider some of his favorite albums of all time. Two of them were Cream albums: “Wheels of Fire” (1968) and “Goodbye” (1969).
He also praised those records in an interview with Rolling Stone in 2011. “Actually after Cream I dug back a little bit to the Bluesbreakers stuff. But my favorite stuff was when he was in Cream. Which was only a couple, three years. It wasn’t a very long run. But what I really liked was their live stuff, like ‘Wheels of Fire’ and ‘Goodbye’, Cream and stuff like that. Because then you could really hear the three guys playing in their live element,” Eddie Van Halen said.
Why he considered Eric Clapton his hero
The late legendary guitarist said many times that he would slow down the records and learn just by hearing every note that Clapton played. Although he loved Clapton, he also noted once that it was Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker who made him sound even better.
But after Cream, Eddie really didn’t like what Clapton did, because according to him it was quite different from what he did when he was part of the power trio. He had the chance to see when he was young Clapton as part of Derek and The Dominoes and he didn’t enjoy the show at all.
During a session of questions and answers with What It Means to Be American in 2015 (Transcribed by Rock and Roll Garage), Eddie explained why Clapton was his hero. “As a guitarist, Eric Clapton was my hero because he was a straight-ahead guy. (He) must plugged his guitar straight into an amp and it was very organic, so to speak.”
“Not putting a lot of “bs” (bullshit) in between. So, yeah, I liked him during Cream.. After Cream, I kind of lost interest in him. I basically stopped listening to music altogether. I didn’t listen to much of anything after that. (So) I was so busy and wrapped up in my own little world that I just didn’t eat.”
