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Rock 100: Cream

Lenny Kaye, David Dalton, Cooper Square Books (reissue), 1999

CREAM WAS THE FIRST OF A NEW SPECIES – the high-voltage superblues group. By channeling their "amplified heat" through traditional blues, they created a clean, lean, sensual sound which fused their audiences together in a virtual cult of electricity, with Eric Clapton as its god. Clapton was the nucleus of the group with his genius for exploiting the technology of the electric guitar and his ability to sustain notes to the breaking point. Cream's audience became so addicted to their massive doses of current that at their final concert their devotees screamed "God save the Cream!"

Total word count of piece: 952

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