Cream’s Jack Bruce Received Death Threats
When legendary bass player Jack Bruce put the boot into Led Zeppelin at last year’s Classic Rock Awards, he completely underestimated how Zep fans would react.
Jonathan Barnes from East Anglian Daily Times is reporting:
Suffolk-based music legend Jack Bruce has revealed how he received death threats after daring to criticise rock giants Led Zeppelin.
The 66-year-old former Cream bassist made headlines across the world in May after describing the band who reunited for a one-off concert in 2007 as “crap”.
Speaking to the press at the 2008 Classic Rock Roll Of Honour, Bruce described Led Zeppelin reunion gig at London’s 02 Arena as “lame” and chided them: “You’re crap and you’ll never be anything else. Cream is 10 times the band Led Zeppelin is.”
Bruce picked up the Classic Album award for Cream’s Disraeli Gears at last year’s Classic Rock awards.
Read our original story here: http://www.classicrockmagazine.com/news/the_dirt/led_zeppelin_you_re_crap/
Bruce, who lives near the Suffolk-Essex border, said he could not believe the furore his comments caused.
“It was just a bit of fun and it was blown out of all proportion,” he said.
“Some Led Zeppelin fans were really angry at me and I had a few death threats – they’re not likely to find me out here though!
“People like me tend to forget that with YouTube and Twitter, you can’t say anything without it getting around the world.
“We always used to have a pop at other bands in the old days and that was all it was. It was like I had spoken out against the Queen or something. You obviously can’t say anything against Led Zeppelin.”
Bruce said Cream – made up by guitar legend Eric Clapton and drummer Ginger Baker – were originally lined up to play the Ahmet Ertegun memorial concert that ended up as Led Zeppelin’s comeback but had pulled out when the event became too commercial.
Looks like he`s half way there.
I was there that night listening to that drunken old twat.
He was serious.
Idiot!
x
Can you say ‘bitter’?
Jack Bruce is probably one of the best bass guitarists in the world, and a world class musician to boot! I love Cream!
Zep fans with death threats are idiots. Who cares what these old geezers say about each other? Mostly it´s for fun´s sake. They´ve got nothing better to do. But I agree, Zep are crap. They can´t do half what they used to be able to do.
[...] Original post by gbarton [...]
aha what a dick’ead.
Cream at the Fillmore in 1967 is the best live band I’ve ever experienced. I never heard Led Zeppelin live, but the best local group I know was from Lake Tahoe around 1970 that took inspiration from them.
A couple of years ago I started singing Stairway, and it’s about the best song I’ve ever learned. I chose it, though at my vocal coach’s suggestion I also worked D’Yer Mak’er and have been thrilled to hear that sung well by a young woman recently and I did back up vocals the first time she did it.
About a year ago I jammed Crossroads based on Cream’s version, and that finally opened up doing Cream songs for me. Three weeks ago when I did Sunshine of Your Love, it turned out to be my favorite song to perform (though a Stones song or two have potential to be my favorite too). I do this with occasional pick up bands, won’t do karaoke, and unfortunately I’ve yet to get a band that will do Stairway.
What’s important to me is what they created as bands and where each musician’s new music is going now.
Sniping about the two bands or about what Jack Bruce said is silly and so is band members sniping at each other. His bass is what really yanked me into Cream’s music. But when you learn a song by either group the sheer artistry of the contribution of each musician comes through, though I think it may be impossible for anyone today to match what Ginger Baker and John Bonham each contributed to these songs.