Creedence Clearwater Revival

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Creedence Clearwater Revival
Left to right: Tom Fogerty, John Fogerty, Stu Cook, Doug Clifford
Background information
Origin El Cerrito, California
Genre(s) Rock
Swamp rock
Roots rock
Southern rock
Years active 1959–1972
Label(s) Fantasy Records
Website www.creedence
-online.net
Members
John Fogerty
Stu Cook
Doug Clifford
Former members
Tom Fogerty (deceased)

Creedence Clearwater Revival, commonly referred to by their initials CCR or simply Creedence, was an American swamp rock band, fronted by John Fogerty. Although it hailed from the Bay Area of California, the group clearly was heavily influenced by the swamp blues genre that came out of south Louisiana in the late 1950s and early to mid-1960s. CCR cultivated a Louisiana connection through its choice of song and album titles, such as "Born on the Bayou," Bayou Country, and Mardi Gras, as well as through the southern "good ol' boy" image projected by its members.

Contents

[edit] Members

[edit] History

[edit] The Early Years

The band started out as The Blue Velvets, formed by John Fogerty, Doug Clifford, and Stu Cook in El Cerrito, California in the late 1950s. They were an instrumental trio, however in 1959 they began backing Tom Fogerty, John's older brother, on fraternity house gigs and in the recording studio. In the middle of 1964, the band recorded two songs for Fantasy Records, a local label based in San Francisco at that time. They were attracted to the label because Fantasy had released a national hit by Vince Guaraldi, "Cast Your Fate To The Wind". Max Weiss, Fantasy's co-owner initially changed the group's name to The Visions, but when the record was released, in November 1964, Weiss re-named the group The Golliwogs, an apparent reference to a once-popular minstrel doll called a Golliwogg. Seven singles were released in the San Francisco Bay area, but none received national attention. (However, in 1975 Fantasy released Pre-Creedence, a compilation album of recordings by The Golliwogs).

[edit] CCR is Born

The year 1967 was a watershed for the band. For one thing, the group almost broke up when the draft board came for both John Fogerty and Doug Clifford. However, Fogerty was able to enlist in the Army Reserve instead of the regular Army, serving the first six months of the year in the military, and then returning annually for two weeks for the next several years, while Doug did a short spell in the Coast Guard Reserve. Neither had to serve in Vietnam, and both received medical discharges. The second major event of the year was when Saul Zaentz purchased Fantasy Records from Weiss. He offered the band the chance to record a full album, but only if they changed the group's name. Never having particularly liked the Golliwogs, the foursome readily agreed, and Zaentz enthusiastically agreed to their suggestion: Creedence Clearwater Revival.

They derived their name from several sources. First, Creedence was derived from a friend of a friend of Tom Fogerty's whose name was Credence Nuball (with three E's, not four). Next, a beer commercial gave them the idea of Clearwater. And finally, Revival referred to their personal recommitment to the band.

Determined to make this opportunity a success, the band devoted themselves exclusively to its music, the four members quitting their day jobs and rehearsing and playing area clubs incessantly. By the time they went into the studio to record their self-titled debut LP, they were an incredibly tight and disciplined musical unit.

The rootsy Creedence Clearwater Revival was somewhat out of step with the Top 40 music scene of 1968, which was then in the midst of Psychedelia and Bubblegum Pop. But the album struck a responsive note with the emerging underground pop culture press, which touted CCR as artists worth paying attention to. More importantly, AM radio programmers around the United States took note when a song from the LP, "Suzie Q", started receiving favorable airplay in both the band's native Bay Area, as well as in Chicago on WLS radio, where listeners used to the blues of Chess Records and the R&B of Vee-Jay Records doubtless heard similarities with CCR. "Suzie Q" went on to be the first single by the band to crack the Top 40, falling just shy of the Top 10 at #11. After some eight years of making music together, the group was an 'overnight success'.

[edit] Heyday

CCR in their commercial heyday
Enlarge
CCR in their commercial heyday

While undertaking a steady string of live dates around the country to capitalize on their breakthrough, CCR also was hard at work on their follow-up LP, Bayou Country. Released in January 1969, the record inaugurated a stream of hit albums and singles which continued right up until the band's demise several years later. "Proud Mary" was culled from the LP and released as a single, and it went to Number 2 on the national Billboard chart; it would also prove to be the group's most-covered song, with some 100 cover versions by other artists to date, including a hit version by Ike and Tina Turner.

CCR followed that up with a new 45 single in April 1969: "Bad Moon Rising" likewise went all the way up to the second rung on the charts (kept out of the top spot by "Get Back" from the Beatles), and was #1 in the UK. The song was included on their next album, Green River, which hit stores that August, and also included yet another song to crest at #2 on the charts (CCR is widely held to be the biggest act in rock to never earn a number one song in America, although they did hit the top spot in other countries around the world). "Green River" was the title track of the LP, and both single and album quickly went Gold. For good measure, the B-Side of the 45, "Commotion", also broke into the charts and peaked at #30. Another song on the album, "Lodi", became a popular staple on FM radio.

The band continued to tour heavily (including a performance at the Woodstock Music and Art Festival) while simultaneously recording material for their next album, Willy and the Poor Boys, released only three months after their last album. "Down on the Corner" and "Fortunate Son" were released as a double A-Sided single, and climbed to #3 on the charts by year's end.

In January 1970, CCR released yet another new double A-Side 45, "Travelin' Band"/"Who'll Stop the Rain". The latter was inspired by the band's appearance at Woodstock, which was famously rained upon much of the time. The former, as rollicking a rocker as the band had ever done, bore enough similarities to Little Richard's "Good Golly, Miss Molly" (which CCR had covered on their second LP) to warrant a lawsuit by the song's publisher that was eventually settled out of court. The single reached #2.

Returning to the studio that spring, the band recorded what some critics feel is their finest album, Cosmo's Factory. The title derived from the name that had been bestowed upon their various rehearsal facilities over the years, and came from Doug Clifford, whose longtime nickname was "Cosmo" due to his keen interest in all things cosmic. The album boasted the usual Top 40 hits, "Up Around the Bend" (#4) and "Lookin' Out My Back Door" (#2), plus several highly popular B-sides and non-singles tracks like "Run Through the Jungle", "Long As I Can See the Light", and their eleven-minute cover version of "I Heard it Through the Grapevine". The LP settled in at #1 on the Pop charts, and also impressively reached #11 on the Soul chart, which was almost unheard of for an all-white rock group.

[edit] The Decline And Fall

It was around this time that tensions began to grow. The incessant touring and heavy recording schedules were starting to take their toll on the band. Inarguably the band's leader, John Fogerty, gradually took total control of the group, determining what songs they would record, how the other three band members would play, and where they would tour. This arrangement began to grate on the other members of CCR, particularly Tom Fogerty, who had shared singer and songwriter duties with his younger brother prior to the band hitting the big time, but who was now relegated to the role of rhythm guitarist.

Other bones of contention included John's sudden decision in the midst of one of their tours to refuse to do encores again; his growing penchant for "instructing" his bandmates in how to play their instruments; and a series of business decisions made by John in the band's name, many of which he would come to bitterly regret, and often find himself in court attempting to undo.

The Cosmo's Factory sessions had seen the stirrings of tensions within the foursome, but there would be no open dissension between them until the recording of their next LP, Pendulum, which was released in time for Christmas in 1970. Now the other three members of the group, particularly Tom, wanted more of a say in both the musical and business decisions of the band, but John resisted, feeling that opening up every decision to a democratic process would lead to arguments, delays, bruised egos, and ultimately a diluting of the group's essence.

Pendulum was another success, spawning a Top 10 hit in "Have You Ever Seen the Rain?", which some listeners in retrospect took to be a comment from John Fogerty on the contentions within the band - but by now no amount of success could paper over the differences between John and Tom. In February 1971, with Pendulum still high on the charts, Tom Fogerty announced he was leaving Creedence Clearwater Revival, and he thereupon launched a largely unsuccessful solo career.

Opting not to replace Tom, CCR soldiered on as a trio. Although the band released no album in 1971, they did put out a single, "Sweet Hitch-Hiker" (#6) that summer, as well as toured both in the U.S. and in Europe. But in spite of their continuing commercial success, relations within the group itself continued to deteriorate.

Cook and Clifford were hit with a bombshell by Fogerty later that year when he informed them that, for their next LP, the band would adhere to a new democratic formula, and each of the members would be responsible for a third of the record. Stu and Doug, who had only wanted more of a voice in the business decisions, not the onus of having to write and sing on at least six songs between them, resisted this arrangement. However, John insisted that they either accept his terms, or he would quit the band, so they reluctantly agreed. Many have speculated that Fogerty did this in anticipation of poor sales, in order to prove to brother Tom (and the rest of the world) that his songwriting and singing had always been the real commercial engine behind the band's success.

The writing was on the wall for CCR's finish during the recording sessions that followed, when John would refuse to contribute anything other than rhythm guitar playing to the songs written by Clifford and Cook. Fogerty's two bandmates felt that after years of them supporting every musical concept he wanted to pursue, it was a particularly cold slap in the face that he was all-but-abandoning them in the studio now.

The album, released in the springtime of 1972 as Mardi Gras, did indeed receive poor reviews and suffer comparatively weak sales, with the tracks by Cook and Clifford often cited as the primary reason. John's earlier single, "Sweet Hitch-Hiker", was included on the album but his other offering, "Someday Never Comes", failed to break into the US Top 20, the worst showing of any CCR A-Side 45 since 1968, indicating perhaps that John Fogerty's own hitmaking prowess was waning.

By this point, John was not only at odds with his bandmates, but he had also come to see the group's relationship with Fantasy Records as onerous, feeling that label owner Zaentz had reneged on promises made to better compensate CCR. Stu Cook (who has a degree in business) claimed that because of poor judgment on their part, CCR had to abide by the worst record deal of any major American recording artist.

The Mardi Gras Spring Tour, which ended in May, would prove to be their last. On October 16, 1972, Fantasy Records officially announced that Creedence Clearwater Revival had disbanded.

[edit] After CCR

In 1973, John launched a solo career with a collection of country and gospel songs on which he played all of the instruments, under the nom de plume Blue Ridge Rangers. The album was a minor hit, the relative commercial failure of which Fogerty blamed on lack of support from Fantasy Records, with which he was in virtual open warfare. Although still owing Fantasy eight more records under his old Creedence contract, John refused to work for the label any longer, and both sides reached an impasse that was only resolved when David Geffen of Asylum Records agreed to buy Fogerty's contract from Fantasy for $1,000,000. However, the purchase only applied to Fogerty's releases in the USA and Canada. Fantasy still controlled his distribution for the rest of the world.

1974 saw the release of the only record released after the breakup to feature the four original band members (or John Fogerty with any of the others, for that matter), the Tom Fogerty solo album, Zephyr National. Though there may not be an instance where all four are on the same recording, a few of the songs sounds very much like vintage CCR, particularly the aptly titled "Joyful Resurrection". All four appear on the back cover of the original release of the album.

Asylum released John Fogerty in 1975 (Fogerty himself refers to the album as "Shep," after the name of his dog who is featured on the jacket cover with him). The LP scored a Top 40 hit with "Rockin' All Over the World", later a British hit single for Status Quo, and sold modestly well, but fell far short of the commercial heights scaled by CCR. When a follow-up album entitled Hoodoo was politely rejected by the record label, Fogerty entered into a nine year period away from the music industry (later agreeing with the company's assessment that Hoodoo wasn't very good, John instructed them to burn the tapes; whether the label complied or not is undetermined).

Reemerging in 1985 with Centerfield, Fogerty had himself a huge hit in an era where artists who were strongly influenced by CCR, including Bruce Springsteen, John Mellencamp, and Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, were among rock's biggest stars, and he seemed poised to again be a major force in rock and roll. But the 1986 follow-up record, Eye of the Zombie, was a critical and commercial disappointment, and he was stung by complaints over his steadfast refusal to play any of his Creedence songs in concert(because had he played them live, he would have had to pay performance royalties to Zaentz, who held the copyrights). He also found himself embroiled in new lawsuits with Zaentz, one over the song "Zanz Kant Danz", which the Fantasy Records mogul took to be an attack on him and another in which, rather ridiculously, he was taken to court for plagiarizing himself; according to Zaentz, Centerfield's "The Old Man Down the Road" was a bald rewrite of CCR's "Run Through the Jungle", and Fantasy, not John Fogerty, owned the rights to "Run Through the Jungle". Although Fogerty lost the defamation case (and subsequently re-recorded the song as "Vanz Kant Danz"), he won the plagiarism case; the judge ruled that it was impossible for artists to plagiarize themselves regardless of who held the legal rights to their music. Once again, Fogerty retreated from music for another decade. He returned to the business in the late 1990s, touring frequently (and now playing a great many CCR tunes live), releasing occasional albums, and even winning a Grammy Award.

Best friends since high school, band members Doug Clifford and Stu Cook continued to work together following the demise of CCR, both as session players, as well as members of the Don Harrison Band. They also founded Factory Productions, a mobile recording service in the Bay Area. Clifford recorded a solo record in 1972, largely to help fulfill CCR's contractual obligations to Fantasy. Following a relatively lengthy period of musical inactivity, the duo formed a band in 1995 with other musicians called Creedence Clearwater Revisited. Still active, they tour globally, performing the original band's classics. An injunction by John Fogerty against the band using that name forced them to temporarily tour under the title Cosmo's Factory, but the courts later ruled in Cook and Clifford's favor.

In 1990, Tom Fogerty died of AIDS, which he contracted from a blood transfusion. Sadly, John and Tom never fully reconciled the estrangement that followed their bitter falling out in CCR; although John did visit his brother several times during Tom's final illness in an attempt to make peace, it was perhaps too little, too late(John would later recall that Tom's final words to him during their last conversation were "Saul Zaentz is my best friend.")

CCR was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1993 on the first ballot. At the induction, Tom Fogerty's widow, Tricia, brought the urn containing his ashes for a CCR reunion. Tom's son Jeff, a professional musician, was also on hand to take his father's place as rhythm guitarist for the traditional post-awards jam, but John would not perform with fellow bandmates Stu and Doug, instead having them barred from the stage while he played with an all-star band that included Springsteen and Robbie Robertson. Cook and Clifford and their families walked out of the ceremony in protest.

The success of Creedence Clearwater Revival made Fantasy Records and Saul Zaentz a great deal of money. Zaentz used his wealth to become a film producer, and he made a number of hits, including Best Picture Oscar winners One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Amadeus, and The English Patient. In 2004 he sold Fantasy to Concord Records, and as a goodwill gesture Concord has sought to make good on the unfulfilled verbal promises made to CCR nearly forty years ago, paying the band a higher royalty rate on their sales. John Fogerty also signed a new recording contract with Concord/Fantasy.

Over the years, the public's interest in CCR remained strong, and their catalog of records continued to sell well worldwide. However, they resisted all suggestions that they reunite. There were a pair of "unofficial" reunion performances by the band, however: All four members jammed together at Tom Fogerty's wedding in December of 1980, and John, Stu and Doug performed at their 20th high school reunion in '83 (at which they referred to themselves not as CCR, but rather as the Blue Velvets, which had been the name of their garage band in school). But with the new round of lawsuits between John and Saul Zaentz in the 1980s and 90s, animosities between Fogerty and his fellow bandmates were reignited. Today, John Fogerty says he has no intention of ever working with Stu Cook and Doug Clifford again.

Creedence Clearwater Revival was somewhat unfashionable during the time they were active, because they concentrated on tightly-focused, well-crafted short songs rather than long, loose album cuts. Unlike many other popular artists of the day, they eschewed drug use, and did not loudly announce their political beliefs (although they were all against the war in Vietnam, and they contributed substantially monetarily to the American Indian Movement). However within a few years of their breakup their legacy became secure as one of the great American rock bands, and they heavily influenced the entire genres of heartland rock, country rock, and even later elements of alternative rock.

Decades after they last recorded together, CCR's music remains in heavy rotation on oldies and classic rock radio stations. Fogerty's songs are considered classics of the rock form: the near-perfect epitome of the fabled two-and-a-half minute 45 RPM and have been covered by multiple artists; "Fortunate Son" in particular has emerged as a political anthem both against war as well as in opposition to class privilege. Creedence songs frequently appear in both films and on television, and indeed CCR continues to find new fans among people who weren't even born until after the band split up. Their musical legacy, in short, will far outlast the lawsuits, arguments and animosities.

[edit] Trivia

  • CCR have had many of their songs appear in movies and video games. Some include "Who'll Stop the Rain" in Who'll Stop the Rain; "Fortunate Son" in the movies Forrest Gump, Dear America - Letters Home from Vietnam and in the video game Battlefield: Vietnam. The video game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas featured the song "Green River" on the Classic Rock radio station K-DST. Other movies include Remember the Titans with "Up Around the Bend"; The Longest Yard with "Have You Ever Seen the Rain"; The Big Lebowski with "Lookin' Out My Back Door" and "Run Through the Jungle," (also featured on HBO's Entourage) and The Big Chill; An American Werewolf in London and Blade with "Bad Moon Rising," and Twilight Zone: The Movie with "The Midnight Special". "Born On The Bayou" was featured in The Waterboy and Born on the Fourth of July. "I Put A Spell on You" was featured in the movie Hocus Pocus. CCR's "Susie Q" is featured in Francis Ford Coppola's Apocalypse Now, during the scene in which the Playboy bunnies perform for a crowd of military personnel in Vietnam.
  • The band took its name from Credence Nuball, a friend of Tom Fogerty, "clearwater", a reference to the band's concern for the ecology (from a beer commercial of the day), and "revival", which spoke to the four members' re-commitment to their band.
  • The band is often considered the most successful band to never have a #1 single in the USA. They did have five No. 2 singles there, more than any other act. "Bad Moon Rising" hit #1 in the UK.
  • Although not included in the film nor its soundtracks because Fogerty felt their performance was sub-par, CCR did perform at the original Woodstock Music Festival. Several CCR tracks from the event were included in the commemorative box set years later. They performed 11 numbers, including "Susie Q". The band complained that they had to perform at 3:00 in the morning because the previous artist, the Grateful Dead, jammed far past their scheduled set, and by the time CCR took the stage, many in the audience had gone to sleep. Their hit song "Who'll Stop the Rain" has lyrics which reflect their appearance at Woodstock.
  • In The Simpsons episode "Mr. Spritz Goes to Washington", Homer sings a portion of "Bad Moon Rising," after hearing Marge ask someone to perform CPR.
  • In Nick Hornby's book "A Long Way Down" CCR is quoted as being a disease which one of the main characters is dying of, in fact he is not dying just too ashamed to admit his reasons for committing suicide.He uses CCR as they are one of his favourite bands.
  • In the book The Shining by Stephen King, there is a portion of the lyrics to "Bad Moon Rising".
  • Fantasy Records in 1980 released a concert LP from the band entitled Live From Royal Albert Hall. Unfortunately, it was soon thereafter determined that the performance was recorded not in London, England as the LP name claimed, but rather in Oakland, California. Subsequent pressings of the album have been retitled simply The Concert.
  • In the film The Big Lebowski, the main character, Jeff "The Dude" Lebowski, lists the band as his favorite band.
  • On the CD pressing of Chronicle (1986), "Creedence" is misspelled "Credence".

[edit] Hit singles

Release date Title Chart Positions
US Charts UK Singles Chart
9/68 "Suzie Q. (Part One)" #11 -
11/68 "I Put a Spell on You" #58 -
1/69 "Proud Mary" #2 #8
5/69 "Bad Moon Rising/" #2 #1
5/69 "Lodi" #52 -
8/69 "Green River/" #2 #19
8/69 "Commotion" #30 -
10/69 "Down on the Corner/" #3 #31
10/69 "Fortunate Son" #14 -
1/70 "Travelin' Band/" #2 #8
1/70 "Who'll Stop the Rain" flip -
4/70 "Up Around the Bend/" #4 #3
4/70 "Run Through the Jungle" flip -
8/70 "Lookin' Out My Back Door/" #2 -
8/70 "Long As I Can See the Light" flip #20
1/71 "Have You Ever Seen the Rain/" #8 #36
1/71 "Hey Tonight" flip -
7/71 "Sweet Hitch-Hiker" #6 #36
5/72 "Someday Never Comes" #25 -

(ALSO: A 1976 re-release of "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" reached #43 in the U.S., while a 1992 re-release of "Bad Moon Rising" reached #71 in the U.K.)

[edit] Discography

[edit] Samples

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ a b c Listed in Rolling Stone''s The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time
  2. ^ Disc 1 contains recordings by The Blue Velvets and The Golliwogs; discs 2-6 are CCR recordings

[edit] External links

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