Creedence Clearwater Revival

Unquestionably one of the greatest American rock bands ever, Creedence Clearwater Revival will best be remembered for their unique bayou sound that is often referred to as "garage band music."

Although their music evoked the raw, gospel-tinged sound of the rural South, Doug Clifford, Stu Cook, and brothers Tom and John Fogerty actually hailed from El Cerrito, California, a small town near Berkeley. Back in 1960, while in junior high school, the boys formed a band called "Tommy Fogerty & the Blue Velvets" and spent much of their time practicing in the Fogerty's garage. Four years later, they auditioned for Fantasy Records where John Fogerty had been a warehouse employee.

Unbeknownst to them, the "Blue Velvets" had their name changed by a label executive to the "Golliwogs" - a more English-sounding handle during those heady days of the British Invasion. As the Golliwogs, they recorded seven singles for Fantasy that went largely unheard by the general public. Finally, the label re-released the last of the Golliwog singles, "Porterville," under a new name of the band's own choosing: "Creedence Clearwater Revival". Creedence was taken from the name of a friend; Clearwater was lifted from a beer commercial; Revival was added to show that the band felt they now had new life.

After a couple of years on the central California club circuit, things began to happen very quickly. The 1967 release of the band's debut album, Creedence Clearwater Revival paralleled the flowering of the San Francisco music scene, but the Creedence phenomenon had little in common with the "San Francisco Sound."

With John Fogerty now firmly at the helm as guitarist, singer, songwriter and producer, Creedence took off with their neo-psychedelic reworking of Dale Hawkins' rockabilly classic "Suzie Q." From then on, the hits kept coming as the band churned out six albums of powerful, roots-oriented rock and roll between 1968 and 1970: "Creedence Clearwater Revival", "Bayou Country", "Green River", "Willie and the Poorboys", "Cosmo's Factory" and "Pendulum". Ten of Creedence's singles cracked the Top Ten during the period 1968-71.

Not everything went their way however. During the Woodstock concert in 1969, CCR didn't take the stage until three in the morning, following the Grateful Dead. After the show, they were so unhappy with their performance that they forbade the use of it in the Woodstock motion picture and anything promoting the movie. They didn't want their performance on the album, either, and Fantasy Records sealed the deal by not agreeing on royalties, which made sure they were not included on the album.

Although the group was not overtly political, several of their songs, particularly "Fortunate Son" and "Who'll Stop the Rain", eloquently expressed the counterculture's resistance to the Vietnam War and sympathy for those who were fighting in what now stand as anthems of those troubled times.

By 1970, CCR had undeniably become the number one American rock and roll attraction. The man responsible for their exalted position was John Fogerty. In addition to writing the band's material and producing their records, John sang with a powerful, raw-edged voice that was the Creedence sound. The same genius responsible for Creedence's tremendous popularity, however, also contributed to their eventual demise. Tensions arose among the other group members as they vied for greater say in band decisions which had, till then, been made exclusively by John. An agreement for more democratic decision-making was reached, but came too late for Tom Fogarty.

In February 1971, Tom, fed up with the dominance of his younger brother John, announced his departure from the band to work as a solo artist. The remaining group continued to work as a trio. The first single of reorganized CCR, "Sweet Hitchhiker" came out in July. The band's major tour of the U.S., Europe, Australia and Japan began in July and met with a reasonably good reception.

On their seventh and last studio album, "Mardi Gras", Stu Cook and Doug Clifford wrote two thirds of the album's songs. The disc reached #12 on the US album chart, mostly because of the band's reputation rather than the content. In October 1972, Creedence Clearwater Revival was officially disbanded.

Tom Fogerty continued his solo career without major commercial success. He initially participated in an informal group which included guitarist Jerry Garcia and organist Merle Saunders, before forming a new band,called "Ruby", around Randy Oda (guitar/keyboards), Anthony Davis (bass) and Bobby Cochran (drums). The group recorded three albums, the last of which was preceded by Tom's final solo set, "Deal It Out". Fogerty moved to Flagstaff, Arizona during the mid 80's. He died of AIDS on September 6th, 1990.

In 1972, John Fogerty began a solo project in which he recorded all the instruments and vocals under the pseudonym "Blue Ridge Rangers", with the material comprised of country and gospel. It provided two hit singles in 1973: remakes of Hank Williams' country "Jambalaya" and Otis Williams and the Charms' doowop hit, "Hearts of Stone".

Before the year was out, John had become upset about many aspects of his affiliation with Fantasy Records. He charged that the company hadn't promoted his solo album properly and had other objections about matters such as distribution and royalties. He demanded a release from his contract, but Fantasy had the rights for eight more albums from him. He refused to record new material and things remained unsolved until David Geffen and Asylum Records worked out a reported $1 million deal with Fantasy allowing Fogerty to record on Asylum with Fantasy retaining overseas rights while Asylum had US and Canadian rights. That did not void other legal battles, including one Fogerty and his old band mates eventually filed against their accounting firm, claiming it had not properly protected their investments.

Fogerty then went back into the studios and turned out a new solo album, "John Fogerty", that was a critically acclaimed work but a commercial failure. Among its tracks were such classic songs as "Rockin' All Over The World" and "Almost Saturday Night". However, the psychological trauma of continued legal skirmishing caught up with Fogerty and his efforts to assemble new material for a follow-up album were so far below his standards that Asylum cautioned against releasing them. The prospective third album,"Hoodoo", was never issued. Fogerty decided it would be best to wait until his legal problems were resolved before trying to pick up his career full-tilt again.

It turned out to be a long wait, a hiatus that took almost a decade. In 1984, Fogerty began working up tracks for his comeback album, issued by Warner Brothers at the beginning of 1985. The album proved a sensation with both critics and record buyers. It provided two hit singles, "Center Field" and "Rock and Roll Girl," while the album itself became a #1 chart hit in the US.

The LP also included the hard-driving rocker "Mr. Greed" and the experimental "Zantz Kan't Danz" which seemed to be personal attacks against Saul Zaentz, head of Fantasy Records. Zaentz responded with a $142 million lawsuit claiming he had been slandered in "Centerfield" and in the statements Fogerty had made in interviews. Fantasy also filed another suit claiming it was entitled to profits from the single "The Old Man Down The Road," stating the piece plagiarised a song Fogerty wrote for Creedence, "Run Through The Jungle". In 1995 Fogerty emerged victorious.

In September 1986, Fogerty launched a second Warner Brothers album, "Eye Of The Zombie", which failed to scale the heights of its predecessor. He also set out on his first US tour in 14 years, but refused to include any Creedence songs in the set list.

In the late 80's, Fogerty maintained a lower profile. The highlight of the era was his performance on the concert for Vietnam veterans in 1987, in which he did Creedence songs on stage for the first time since 1972.

In a clear, public showing of their animosity for each other, John Fogerty refused to play with Cook and Clifford when CCR was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1993. Instead, he chose to perform with the house band and his former band mates were left out of the live show completely.

Fogerty returned in 1997 with a release of his fifth solo album, the Grammy winning and critically acclaimed "Blue Moon Swamp". It was followed by a tour of the U.S. and Scandinavia, several appearances in the media and finally a live album.

The rhythm section of the group, Stu Cook and Doug Clifford, followed pursuits independently and together in The Don Harrison Band, Southern Pacific and The Sir Douglas Quintet. In 1995, they comprised a band called "Creedence Clearwater Revisited". With three additional musicians, Elliot Easton, Steve Gunner and John Tristao, they toured the world and performed the songs of Creedence Clearwater Revival over Fogerty's strenuous objections.

Creedence Clearwater Revival

Creedence Clearwater Revival

Although generally bracketed with the post-psychedelic wave of San Franciscan groups, Creedence Clearwater Revival boasted one of the region's longest pedigrees. John Fogerty (b. 28 May 1945, Berkeley, California, USA; lead guitar/vocals), Tom Fogerty (b. 9 November 1941, Berkeley, California, USA, d. 6 September 1990, Scottsdale, Arizona, USA; rhythm guitar/vocals), Stu Cook (b. 25 April 1945, Oakland, California, USA; bass) and Doug Clifford (b. 24 April 1945, Palo Alto, California, USA; drums) began performing together in 1959 while attending high school. Initially known as the Blue Velvets, then Tommy Fogerty And The Blue Velvets, the quartet became a popular attraction in the Bay Area suburb of El Cerrito and as such completed a single, "Bonita", for the local independent Orchestra. In 1964 they auditioned for the more prestigious Fantasy Records, who signed them on the understanding that they change their name to the more topical Golliwogs to monopolize on the concurrent "British Invasion". Between 1965 and 1967, the re christened group recorded seven singles, ranging from the Beatles-influenced "Don't Tell Me No More Lies" to the compulsive "Fight Fire" and "Walk Upon The Water", two superb garage band classics. The quartet turned fully professional in December 1967 and in doing so became known as Creedence Clearwater Revival.

Their debut album reflected a musical crossroads. Revamped Golliwogs tracks and new John Fogerty originals slotted alongside several rock 'n' roll standards, including "Suzie-Q" and "I Put A Spell On You", the former reaching number 11 in the US charts. Bayou Country, issued within a matter of months, was a more substantial affair, establishing Fogerty as a perceptive composer, and the group as America's consummate purveyors of late 60s pop. "Proud Mary" reached the Top 10 in both the US and UK and in the process become the quartet's first gold disc. More importantly, it introduced the mixture of Southern Creole styles, R&B and rockabilly through which the best of the group's work was filtered. Green River consolidated the group's new-found status and contained two highly successful singles, "Green River" and "Bad Moon Rising", the latter of which topped the UK charts. The set confirmed Fogerty's increasingly fertile lyricism which ranged from personal melancholia ("Lodi") to a plea for mutual understanding ("Wrote A Song For Everyone"). This social perspective flourished on the "Fortunate Son", an acerbic attack on a privileged class sending others out to war, one of several highlights captured on Willie And The Poor Boys. By this point the group was indisputably America's leading attraction, marrying commercial success with critical approbation. "Down On The Corner", a euphoric tribute to popular music, became their fifth US Top 10 single and confirmed a transformation from gutsy bar band to international luminaries.

CCR reached a peak with Cosmo's Factory. It included three gold singles, "Travelin' Band", "Up Around The Bend" and "Looking Out My Back Door", as well as an elongated reading of the Tamla/Motown Records classic "I Heard It Through The Grapevine'. The album defined the consummate Creedence Clearwater Revival sound: tight, economical and reliant on an implicit mutual understanding, and deservedly became 1970"s best-selling set. However, relationships between the Fogerty brothers grew increasingly strained, reflected in the standard of the disappointing Pendulum. Although it featured their eighth gold single in "Have You Ever Seen The Rain", the set lacked the overall intensity of its immediate predecessors, a sparkle only occasionally rekindled in "Pagan Baby" and "Molina". Tom Fogerty left for a solo career in February 1971, but although the remaining members continued to work as a trio, the band had lost much of its impetus. Major tours of the USA, Europe, Australia and Japan did ensue, but a seventh collection, Mardi Gras, revealed an artistic impasse. Cook and Clifford were granted democratic rights, but their uninspired compositions only proved how much the group owed to John Fogerty's vision. Creedence Clearwater Revival was officially disbanded in July 1972. It was a dispiriting close to one of the era's most compulsive and successful groups, a combination rarely found.

The rhythm section followed low-key pursuits both independently and together, with Cook enjoying most success in the late 80s as a member of Southern Pacific. Their erstwhile leader began an erratic path dogged by legal and contractual disputes, although he deservedly re-emerged in 1985 with the American chart-topper Centrefield. Tom Fogerty left the music business in the early 80s to work in real estate, but died in 1990 from tuberculosis. In 1993 the band were inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame, although the animosity between Fogerty, Clifford and Cook was clearly evident. The dispute flared up again in 1998 when Clifford and Cook began touring as Creedence Clearwater Revisited, with former Cars guitarist Elliot Easton and vocalist John Tristano included in the line-up. A live album was issued as John Fogerty attempted to stop Clifford and Cook from using the Creedence name.