The French composer George Bizet once described music as a “splendid art” but a “sad profession”. He was referring to the isolation a lot of musicians feel in pursuit of their craft and the fact that so many seem to meet tragic ends. While that still applies today, it’s worth remembering that there are also a lot of fun times that musicians have; if it were not for them, then very few people would make music in the first place. Cream can attest to this, as they had a lot of fun touring together even though they eventually fell apart.
One particularly fond memory is at the peak, quite literally and figuratively, as when the band were on tour, after taking a large helping of LSD, they decided to climb Ben Nevis. A lot of people see this as a particular challenge while sober, so the fact they did it while on drugs is in the grey area between brave and stupid. That being said, it is something they look back on and laugh at.
“We used to do mad things,” recalls Jack Bruce, “We played in a cinema in Inverness, and I said, ‘Okay, let’s climb Ben Nevis’. We might have had a little bit of acid that day…” The band were synonymous with the drug, as when they went on tour, they were no strangers to taking LSD on the road and on stage.
“We started running, and if you’ve ever run down Ben Nevis, you’ll know it’s not a good idea because you can’t stop,” laughs Bruce. The band didn’t stop running either, as even when the ground levelled out, they went straight uphill to get some food. “We ran down, kept getting faster and faster, so ran up into Fort William, into a cake shop. We started eating all these cakes.”
Eric Clapton recalls the moment they climbed Ben Nevis as well, not just because it was a fun event but because it occurred when they felt untouchable. The tour took place a little after they released their album Disraeli Gears, a record that defined them not only as a force to be reckoned with in the world of rock and blues but as a band who may well contribute to the development of music as a whole.
“That was around the time of Disraeli Gears; shortly after, we were touring Scotland, and I think that was the height of it for me,” said Clapton, “That was the peak of the mountain when we were so together and so tight and loved one another so much. We just never spent a minute apart from each other’s company.”
The band eventually broke up thanks to growing tension, as tends to be the case with many outfits that become successful. However, their music’s impact on the shape of rock cannot be ignored, and it’s worth remembering that though music can often be a sad profession, it is laced with good times.
Check out ‘Strange Brew’ by Cream below.
