Everyone knows Cream. Whether you've heard the band played 10,000 times in your local Guitar Center, whether you've sung along to every song or whether you've seen movies, you know Cream. Especially if you're in a metal band! Cream is one of those heavy-not-heavy bands that really pushed along the ferocity of rock, which eventually formed into punk. Progenitors of the genre have always been cool about it, if not proud. The dudes from Black Sabbath, the dudes from Deep Purple… you get the picture.
So how does Cream drummer Ginger Baker feel? Dude ABSOLUTELY FUCKING HATES metal. Baker told Forbes in regards to being responsible for metal, specifically drummers-
"I've seen where Cream is sort of held responsible for the birth of heavy metal. Well, I would definitely go for aborting. I loathe and detest heavy metal. I think it is an abortion.
"A lot of these guys come up and say, 'Man, you were my influence, the way you thrashed the drums.' They don't seem to understand I was thrashing in order to hear what I was playing. It was anger, not enjoyment — and painful. I suffered on stage because of that volume crap. I didn't like it then, and like it even less now."
I guess it would have been too difficult for Baker to be like, "hey thanks" and then not crush people's dreams? He also has a negative opinion on the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame…
"That whole Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame thing — at least half the people in there don't have a place in any kind of hall of fame anywhere, in my opinion."
But he loves Led Zeppelin's John Bonham! No wait, no he doesn't. Fuck that guy too apparently.
"Years ago, John said, 'There are two drummers in rock and roll, Ginger Baker and me.' There's no way John was anywhere near what I am. He wasn't a musician.
"A lot of people don't realize I studied. I can write music. I used to write big band parts in 1960, '61. I felt that if I was a drummer, I needed to learn to read drum music. I was so good at sight reading, a guy in one of the big bands told me to get two books. I studied them at the same time. One was about the rules of basic harmony, the other how to break them all."
Anyone else getting the sense that Ginger Baker is Ginger Baker's favorite person?
