{"id":593235,"date":"2026-05-19T21:51:10","date_gmt":"2026-05-19T21:51:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/593235\/"},"modified":"2026-05-19T21:51:10","modified_gmt":"2026-05-19T21:51:10","slug":"eric-clapton-reveals-the-pop-influence-behind-creams-sound","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/593235\/","title":{"rendered":"Eric Clapton reveals the pop influence behind Cream’s sound"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s well known that Eric Clapton was inspired to form Cream after seeing blues legend Buddy Guy<\/a> perform in London with a power trio.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s less widely known is that a very different influence helped shape the band\u2019s songwriting \u2014 one that came from across the Atlantic.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were forming Cream when Pet Sounds came out,\u201d Clapton recalled in a 1998 interview with Bob Mills. \u201cAnd actually, believe it or not, that became the prime influence for a lot of the songwriting.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\"Singer\n<\/p>\n

Brian Wilson directs a studio session for Pet Sounds in 1966. (Image credit: Michael Ochs Archives\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Released in 1966 by the Beach Boys and masterminded by Brian Wilson<\/a>, the album was about as far removed from British blues as a record could be. Built around layered harmonies and ornate pop arrangements, it fascinated Clapton and his future bandmates.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe couldn’t get it,\u201d he said with a laugh. \u201cBut we would listen to that album nonstop.\u201d<\/p>\n

Clapton\u2019s fascination with the Beach Boys actually began earlier. During a mid-\u201960s gig \u2014 while he was still playing with John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers \u2014 he heard one of the group\u2019s records playing over the venue\u2019s sound system. It nearly made him leave Mayall.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was playing a gig with John Mayall, I think, and there was a DJ playing records,\u201d Clapton recalled. \u201cAnd he played \u2018I Get Around.\u2019 I was like, \u2018It\u2019s over,\u2019 because my first reaction is always: \u2018I\u2019m quitting.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

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The moment came during a turbulent period in Clapton\u2019s early career. After an unhappy stint<\/a> with the Yardbirds, he briefly considered giving up music altogether before joining Mayall\u2019s Bluesbreakers<\/a> in 1965. His year with the band established him as Britain\u2019s leading blues guitarist and gave rise to the Gibson Les Paul Standard \u2014 Clapton\u2019s main electric guitar<\/a> at that point \u2014 as a blues staple.<\/p>\n

But even that situation wouldn\u2019t hold for long.<\/p>\n

After witnessing Guy perform with a power trio at London\u2019s Marquee Club, Clapton began imagining a new kind of band.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWhat that said to me was, \u2018This was possible,\u2019\u201d he recalled years later. \u201cIt seemed to be so free \u2014 you could go anywhere.\u201d<\/p>\n

Clapton soon teamed up with bassist Jack Bruce and drummer Ginger Baker, forming Cream in 1966. But while the trio\u2019s explosive blues improvisation became its signature, the band\u2019s musical ambitions stretched further.<\/p>\n

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\"Eric\n<\/p>\n

Clapton plays his psychedelic Gibson SG, bearing an original design by the Dutch artist collective The Fool, in 1967. (Image credit: Getty Images)<\/p>\n

According to Bruce, that broader direction sometimes clashed with Clapton\u2019s original idea.<\/p>\n

\u201cEric thought he was going to have this little blues trio and be like Buddy Guy,\u201d Bruce later said. \u201cWe had different ideas<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Those ideas pushed Cream toward a far more colorful and experimental sound than a straightforward blues outfit \u2014 something later noted by musicians such as Jethro Tull\u2019s Ian Anderson, who cited the band as an early precursor<\/a> to progressive rock.<\/p>\n

And if Cream\u2019s music occasionally sounded more kaleidoscopic than traditional blues might suggest, Clapton\u2019s own admission points to an unlikely source of inspiration: Brian Wilson\u2019s meticulously crafted pop.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s well known that Eric Clapton was inspired to form Cream after seeing blues legend Buddy Guy perform…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":593236,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[96,128,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-593235","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-entertainment","tag-music","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/593235","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=593235"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/593235\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/593236"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=593235"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=593235"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=593235"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}