Every once in a while I come across a reference to CCR in the context of “Hippies hated them” and “They weren’t really a part of the Movement.” Could someone explain this to me? Hard to get freakier than “Bad Moon Rising” or more radical than “Fortunate Son.” What am I missing here?
They were poor kids from across the bay, watching the whole scene unfold. They had a chip on their shoulder. That’s what Fortunate Son is about: Entitlement. They never got traction in the SF scene. They were a pop and a rock band, but were never trendy. They might have been the first 'younger siblings favorite" band, because of their hits and sound.
I believe at the time some rock types dismissed them as a pop band, selling bayou chooglin’ but not the real deal. More commercial than cool.
Truly great stuff. They stand out more as time goes by.
They wrote catchy, hooky three minute songs that didn’t lapse into endless indulgent jamming and 17 minute sitar solos. By the standards of the time, that made them suspect as sell-outs and lightweights.
Bruce Springsteen gave the induction speech when CCR went into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1993. It’s not a long speech, but here’s the key bit at the end: Bruce Springsteen Inducts Creedence Clearwater Revival - YouTube
“In the late sixties and early seventies, they weren’t the hippest band in the world, just the best.”
If the Boss thinks they were the best band of that era, I guess I’m OK with them.
“Fortunate Son” was an antiwar song. It wasn’t about resenting the effete hippies in San Francisco; it was about resenting David Eisenhower and the other well-heeled, draft-proof sons of the war’s biggest promoters and beneficiaries.
Sort of. I love their best songs, but I feel like their rhythm is a bit too perfectly metronomic. If you listen to an album on repeat for a bit, you start to get the subtle feel of gears grinding. I need to try and track down some of their live recordings to see if they played a little looser when not in the studio.
Too repetitious and their songs always sound pretty much the same. Even now, they leave me cold, I just find them to be mediocre, not as bad as the Union Gap, but similar.
I find this a bit ironic. I was not a child of the 60s so I didn’t grow up with them. And although I acknowledge their talent and pop sensibility I can’t stand them because I hate anything country music-ish and John Fogerty’s voice in particular is so godawfully TWANGY*!!*
That’s really what set them apart. Yes, they had some longer stuff. But Fogerty was a brilliant songwriter. He knew how to start a song, get into it, and get out before it went too long. There’s a lot to be said for that sort of lack of self-indulgence.
Except for maybe Effigy. Goddamn that’s a long song.
This is nonsense on all levels. The Beatles were writing catchy short songs at the time, as were the Rolling Stones. Or the Kinks, who were critical darlings at the time. Or Spirit, who drew critical raves. Or the Band.
The difference was that the other groups were doing things in addition to doing catchy songs. They tried different sounds, different moods, different musical ideas. Creedence was just content to keep on choogling.
They were popular, but ultimately minor. They’re just the Fletcher Knebel of rock.
And I’m sick of the stereotype that “long songs are indulgent.” It didn’t stop Beethoven, and I think the blacklash is just a sign of short attention spans. There are plenty of great songs longer than four minutes in the rock era, including things like most of Pink Floyd, and works by Frank Zappa, Soft Machine, “Hey Jude,” “You Can’t Always Get What You Want,” “How Many More Times,” “The Low Spark of High Heeled Boys” and many more. It’s just plain sloppy criticism.
Take my opinion with a grain of salt, I was not around during their heyday but am familiar with their music.
I don’t hate them, but find them to be pretty bland. I’m opposite of the OP, I have been surprised by the love people have for CCR.
They were not bad, but to me very forgettable.
I was around for their heyday. Saw them live several times. Always a great show. John could write some great rock songs, and he is not to be dismissed as a lightweight or minor talent.
That’s just silly, Chuck. That’s blaming them for not being someone else. It’s the equivalent of blaming the author for not writing the book you wanted to read instead of the book he wrote.
And long songs are not necessarily self-indulgent. Hell, I’m a RushFan, for heaven’s sake. But they started being songwriters - instead of musicians - when they learned they could strip it down and still deliver a great song instead of a great performance. Those are two very different things.
CCR delivered country-tingued roots rock. Comparing them to the British invasion bands is an apples and oranges thing. The best comparison you list is to The Band and there’s no doubt at all that CCR is much better remembered than The Band. There were both find bands but CCR wrote songs that connected better with the audience. That’s not a crime. Fogerty is in the pantheon of American songwriters up there with Cole Porter and Irving Berlin.
I used to hate Creedence, but it was really more jealousy than hate. Growing up in the late 60s I was a huge Beatles fan–they were the best band ever and no other group (especially from the East Bay!) would ever be better. But no, in San Jose people loved Creedence, talked about Creedence, Creedence was on the radio all the time and Creedence even simulcast a live show on KQED. It was a nightmare for a 10th-grade Beatles fanatic.
Luckily for me I had an epiphany in 11th grade and discovered there was a LOT more to rock ‘n’ roll than John Paul George and Ringo.
Also, I want to point out that to dinging CCR for just ‘choogling’ along contains another fallacy - great word though - in that CCR was a very short-term band. Their first hit - and the weakest one, Suzie Q - was released in 1968 and their last one - Looking Out My Back Door - in 1970. There wasn’t time for them to ever - even if they wanted to - get experimental.
Fortunate sons obv. including Cheney and GWB.
They were a terrific singles band, sadly for them at a time when the rock album was becoming seenas the pinnacle of creativity in popular music, and sadly and unfairly by the standards of the time it made CCR look like Tin Pan Alley throwbacks. In the longer term, though, it meant that a lot of their stuff lasted a lot better, after the 70s waned and the record buying public was no longer as enamoured of four side concept albums with five good songs on them. I played Cheap Thrills by Big Brother and the Holding Company again the other night, and while there’s a lot of great stuff on it - when Janis wails - there’s a lot of pompous indulgent stuffing as well, like when Janis wasn’t wailing.