It is 1967. Guitarist Tom Fogerty and drummer Doug Clifford feel that their band The Golliwogs should have a more Cajun-inspired boogie rock character. Together with their bandmates John Fogerty (singer and guitarist) and Stu Cook (bassist), the debut album Creedence Clearwater Revival was released in ’68, making the band name a fact. Among others, the hit ‘Suzie Q’ made the album a big success.
The band comes from the San Francisco area, but the psychedelic sounds typical of that region are not present in the music. John Fogerty, who carries the band, has the talent to give songs a natural Southern American character, with which the band scores hits like ‘Bad Moon Rising’, ‘Down On The Corner,’ ‘Who'll Stop the Rain’, and ‘Up Around The Bend’.
Democracy
Although things are going well with Creedence (various gold and platinum albums), there is unrest. Tom can no longer tolerate the heavy hand his brother John has. In his opinion, there is insufficient democracy and he leaves the band in 1971 to continue solo. Tom is not replaced and the three remaining members continue as Creedence Clearwater Revival. John allows Stu and Doug an equal share in writing and composing the songs. The result can be found on Mardi Gras, which never became a success.
End
Only five years after its formation, Creedence Clearwater Revival is finished. In 1972, the members quit and go their separate ways. John Fogerty is, as expected, also very strong as a solo artist and writes a number of hit songs. In the years after CCR, he wrote, among others, "Rockin' All Over the World", a song later successfully covered by Status Quo. Less successful for him was the accusation by Fantasy Records boss Saul Zaentz. According to Zaentz, John's solo hit ‘The Old Man Down the Road’ sounded too much like the Creedence song ‘Run Through The Jungle’, which was owned by the Fantasy label. John refused to withdraw his song and responded with the protest songs ‘Mr. Greed’ and ‘Zanz Kant Danz’. It was eventually settled in court where John was vindicated by the jury.
Lawsuit
John later found himself in court again when he sued his former bandmates Stu and Doug and the wife of his now deceased brother. He wanted to prevent Stu and Doug from continuing under the name Creedence Clearwater Revisited. In 1997, the case was dropped. Two years later, Fogerty lost the case on appeal.
Top 2000
Creedence Clearwater Revival has a large number of entries in the 22nd edition of the Top 2000 from 2020:
Sunday Morning Classic: Creedence Clearwater Revival
On 26 December 2021, CCR was our special Christmas Sunday Morning Classic with the album "Cosmo's Factory" from 1970.
Cosmo's Factory is the fifth studio album by Creedence Clearwater Revival, released by Fantasy Records in 1970. The name comes from the room where the band practised early in their career. John Fogerty insisted on practising (almost every day) and the room was often so full of smoke from the other band members that drummer Doug "Cosmo" Clifford started calling it 'the factory'. Famous songs from the album include "Who'll stop the rain" and "I heard it through the grapevine". Shortly after releasing their fourth studio album Willy and the Poor Boys in November 1969, Creedence Clearwater Revival began recording their next album, Cosmo's Factory.
The album contains four covers. The rhythm and blues song “Before you accuse me” is originally by Bo Diddley (from 1957). “Ooby Dooby” became known from Roy Orbison. “My baby left me” is a song by Elvis Presley and “I heard it through the grapevine” was a song by Marvin Gaye. All other songs were written by John Fogerty.
source: various websites, NPO and Wikipedia photo: Fantasy Records and Brennan Schnell from Canada
