Goodbye Mr. Baker: legendary Cream drummer passes at 80

Peter Edward Baker, better known as Ginger Baker, passed away on October 6, 2019 at age 80. 

The drummer, known most for his membership in late 60s psychedelic band Cream, had been suffering from health issues for a few years, battling heart problems, osteoarthritis and emphysema, among other things. “God is punishing me for my past wickedness by keeping me alive and in as much pain as He can,” he said of his health issues. One of classic rock’s biggest personas, Mr. Baker’s drumming set a better model than his off-stage antics.

One of Cream’s most distinctive features was the talent of the musicians involved, and Baker’s masterful blues drumming has served as inspiration for drummers across generations and genres, from Free’s Simon Kirke to Rush’s Neil Peart. Mixing hard, skillful blues into the new genre of psychedelic rock alongside Jimi Hendrix, the group set the stage for hard rock to arise in the 70s, as some would say bands like Led Zeppelin picked up where Cream left off. 

With Baker’s passing, the only living member of Cream is the legendary Eric Clapton. Clapton’s contributions to music are vast and extend far beyond his early days in the Yardbirds and Cream. Baker, on the other hand, was known mainly for his work in the trio, and his death provokes reflection on the legacy of Cream as they grow more and more a legend of the past. Ginger Baker’s passing brings along a few questions: How will Cream be remembered? How will their musical contributions be celebrated, and in our changing times how will their history be viewed?

These are big questions for music history as rock and roll’s earliest contributors pass on into historical myth and legend. While the artists of the 50s are set in stone as “architects” of rock and roll, the legacies of the bands of the 60s are much looser. Of course there are heroes from the early days like Roy Orbison and giants like the Beatles and the Beach Boys, but the 60s had more output, broader musical range, and technical advancements that greatly outstripped those of the previous decade. The musical communities of the 60s were also much more inclusive, as well as more competitive. The Surf Rock movement, Motown, British Invasion, and Folk Revival expanded the geography, opportunity, and overall scope of popular music. It was in this age of musical exploration that Cream opted to dig into rock and roll’s roots in blues, an influence to many other English and American groups of the period, and mix psychedelia to create arguably the best blues rock ever made. This larger amount of overall material, however, might be detrimental to the memory of certain groups, and Cream may prove to be an example.

Obviously, Cream was an incredibly influential group, but in the coming years, if not already, they are in danger of becoming the “Sunshine of Your Love” band, and little else in the popular consciousness. Thanks to commercial usage of certain pieces of music and forgetful, selective radio play, a certain process of rewriting musical history can be noticed: one that transforms a classic band that had plentiful hits or cult favorites into a band that is, effectively, a one-hit wonder in the present time. In today’s musical landscape, an older artist’s memory is increasingly in the hands of the publisher or in the artists’ themselves, if they are still relevant. Once an artist passes they can no longer represent themselves. Cream was named so because the trio thought of themselves as “the cream of the crop,” but the trio may not rise to the top of retrospective memory, instead becoming a footnote in Eric Clapton’s long, historic career.

Among certain fans there is growing reverence for the great bands of the 60s, and new material from the period is still being released. Aside from the avid music fan or the record collector, Cream and other groups may fade into the background. Apparently someone working on the recent Joker film was a Cream fan, as “White Room” plays as the film reaches its climax. We live in an even broader musical world than in the 60’s, and anyone can access music from anywhere, so while Cream may not be the band everyone knows from the period, there will always be that niche that only they occupy. Mr. Baker is remembered.

Article by Stanley Quiros