“It was very much a management thing – ‘Find somebody to replace Clapton.’ Rory wouldn't have any of it”: When Rory Gallagher was asked to fill Eric Clapton's shoes in rock's pioneering power trio

Rory Gallagher (left) and Eric Clapton perform onstage.

Despite their enormous success and equally profound influence on the development of rock, Cream disintegrated barely two years into their existence.

That very success had taken a heavy toll on the trio, which teamed Eric Clapton up with the famously always-at-loggerheads rhythm section of bassist Jack Bruce and drummer Ginger Baker.