Cream

Formed 1966

• Principal Members
• Ginger Baker
• Jack Bruce
• Eric Clapton

Biography

Cream was a 1960s British rock band, which consisted of guitarist Eric Clapton, bassist Jack Bruce and drummer Ginger Baker. Celebrated as one of the first great power trios and supergroups of rock, their sound was characterised by a melange of blues and psychedelia. Cream combined Clapton’s blues guitar playing with the airy voice and intense basslines of Jack Bruce and the jazz-influenced drumming of Ginger Baker.

Cream’s music included songs based on traditional blues such as ‘Crossroads’ and ‘Spoonful’, and modern blues such as ‘Born Under a Bad Sign’, as well as more eccentric songs such as ‘Strange Brew’, ‘Tales of Brave Ulysses’ and ‘Toad’. Cream’s biggest hits were ‘I Feel Free’, ‘Sunshine of Your Love’, ‘White Room’, ‘Crossroads’ and ‘Badge’.

John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers

Formed 1963

Biograp

John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers are a pioneering English blues band, led by singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist John Mayall, OBE. Mayall used the band name between 1963 and ‘67 then dropped it for some fifteen years, but in 1982 a ‘Return of the Bluesbreakers’ was announced and it has been kept since then. The name has become generic without a clear distinction which recordings are to be credited just to the leader or to leader and his band. The Bluesbreakers have included luminaries such as:

• Eric Clapton and Jack Bruce (both later in Cream),
• Peter Green, John McVie and Mick Fleetwood (later all in Fleetwood Mac),
• Mick Taylor (later in The Rolling Stones),
• Harvey Mandel, Walter Trout, Larry Taylor (later in Canned Heat),
• Don “Sugarcane” Harris, Randy Resnick, Aynsley Dunbar, Dick Heckstall-Smith, Andy Fraser (Free), Chris Mercer, Henry Lowther, Johnny Almond and Jon Mark (later of Mark-Almond).

Jimi Hendrix

Born 27th Nov, 1942
Died 18th Sep, 1970

Biography

Jimi Hendrix (27th November, 1942, Seattle, Washington – 18th September, 1970, London, England) was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. Hendrix is recognized as one of the greatest and most influential guitarists in rock music history.

The Yardbirds

Formed 1962

• Principal Members
• Jeff Beck
• Eric Clapton
• Chris Dreja
• Jim McCarty
• Jimmy Page
• Keith Relf
• Paul Samwell-Smith

What The World Is Waiting For (Indie 1980-2007)

The story of British indie, beginning with The Smiths, the archetypal indie group. The film follows The Stone Roses as the heirs to the indie crown, Suede’s dark sexuality and the media saturation of Brit-pop’s Blur v Oasis. What The World Is Waiting For explores how indie ultimately lost its once cherished intimacy and integrity in front of 250,000 fans at Oasis’s Knebworth spectacle in 1996 and how, by returning to its roots in clubs and bars (and even front rooms) with bands such as Franz Ferdinand, The Libertines and The Arctic Monkeys, indie became respectable again.

Left Of The Dial (Alternative Rock 1980-1994)

The rise of alternative rock in the USA. From its early underground days where bands like Black Flag drew inspiration from the DIY ethos of punk, Left Of The Dial traces the history of the network of fans, clubs and fanzines that sustained the scene and launched the careers of bands like R.E.M., The Pixies and Hüsker Dü. The film takes a fresh look at the explosion of the Seattle scene, culminating in the success of Nirvana’s ‘Nevermind’ and the tragic loss of Kurt Cobain, an artist whose triumph and tragedy continues to cast an inescapable shadow. (bbc.co.uk)

We Are The Champions (Stadium Rock 1965-1993)

We Are The Champions follows the development of some the biggest names in Rock, among them Queen, Bruce Springsteen, The Police and Dire Straits and shows how, through events such as Live Aid and the rise of MTV, rock achieved a global influence on culture and politics. The film concludes in the early 90s, as U2 effectively brought the era to a close by reinventing the big rock show so completely, that fifteen years later most major rock tours are still pale facsimiles.

Never Say Die (Heavy Metal 1970-1991)

The story of the longest surviving and certainly the loudest genre of rock, heavy metal. With no sign of disappearing, metal has been the most controversial and misunderstood of all rock genres. Emerging at the tail end of the hippy dream from the rust belt of industrial England, heavy metal would go on to secure the most loyal fan base of all. With Black Sabbath as the undisputed Godfathers, we follow their highs and lows, and, along the journey, meet Deep Purple, Judas Priest, Iron Maiden and Metallica.

Blank Generation (Punk 1973-1980)

A tale of two cities, London and New York and the birth of punk. Each city created a bastard child that marked the biggest and fundamental shift in popular music since Elvis walked into Sun Studios. Blank Generation unpicks the relationship between the bankrupt New York and the class and race-riven London of the mid-1970’s and explores the music of The Sex Pistols, The Clash, Ramones, Television, Patti Smith, The Damned and Buzzcocks. (bbc.co.uk)

White Light, White Heat (Art Rock 1966-1980)

The story of how artistic and conceptual expression permeated rock. From the pop-art multi-media experiments of Andy Warhol and the Velvet Underground to the sinister gentility of Peter Gabriel’s Genesis, White Light, White Heat traces how rock became a vehicle for artistic ideas and theatrical performance. We follow Pink Floyd from their beginnings with the fated art school genius of Syd Barrett through to the global success of ‘Dark Side of the Moon’ to the ultimate rock theatre show, ‘The Wall’. Along the way, the film explores the retro-futurism of Roxy Music and the protean world of David Bowie.
(bbc.co.uk)