Cream was the original supergroup, formed in the mid-60s by three of Britain's preeminent blues rockers, drummer Ginger Baker and bassist Jack Bruce, who’d previously played together in the Graham Bond Organisation and Yardbirds' guitar hero, Eric Clapton. The band released four albums in just two years, perfecting a potent blend of blues and psychedelia that would help usher in hard rock and heavy metal at the dawn of the ’70s. While their time together was short – tensions between Bruce and Baker led to their break up in 1968 – Cream’s influence was massive. 

One of their most popular cuts, “Sunshine of Your Love” arrived on their second studio album, Disraeli Gears in 1967. The song was written by Jack Bruce who was inspired by a bass riff he heard at a Jimi Hendrix concert, and beat poet Pete Brown who was a friend of the band, lent his lyrical talents to the song (as he did with “I Feel Free” and “White Room” also). While Cream might be known as the kings of free-flowing jams, this heavy-riffing anthem has become a ubiquitous slice of pop culture. 

Watch them tear through a mind-melting nine-minute rendition, live in 1967 below. 

Cream | “Sunshine Of Your Love”

When it comes to Hendrix, it seems the admiration went both ways. When he first arrived in the U.K., he requested to jam with Cream at the London Polytechnic. As Hendrix biographer, Charles Cross notes: “No one had ever asked to jam with Cream before. Most would have been too intimidated by their reputation as the best band in Britain.”

Eric Clapton told Planet Rock: “He got up and blew everyone’s mind.” 

GET ERIC CLAPTON ALBUMS, HERE. 

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