John Fogerty

They came out of the sky and disappeared almost as quickly as they came. In just four years Creedence Clearwater Revival had released seven albums, nine US top 10 singles and suddenly the Clearwater had evaporated and was no more. Everybody knew that CCR were just a band by name. In reality it was the creation, vision and talent of John Fogerty that had made the band (who could create a good, chewing rhythm, but quite honestly hardly anything else) what it was.

Somehow Fogerty fell off the radar. He had been the leader of what arguably was the world’s most popular band for a couple of years, but once the CCR-tag was removed from his albums he stopped attract the major audience. Not that his sales were poor (5 top 40 albums), but long gone were the days of chart domination. However, there were demons hiding in the background. Decade long fights with his record label, manager and old band members didn’t exactly help and ultimately causing Fogerty to slip into alcoholism and bitterness. His music projects were rejected and he spent more time in court than he did in the studio. When finally triumphing in court he settled down and it seemed like he would never return.

Blue Moon Swamp marked a powerful come back. He was sober, married and happy. The result? His best album in nearly 30 years. In Fogerty’s case the myth of the starving, suffering artist proved to be false, but maybe it took is toll later on as nothing he released since is anywhere close as good or engaging as Blue Moon Swamp or his work with CCR. Perhaps BMS was driven by a frenetic sense of revenge and a will to make up for what had been lost. A euphoric longing to finally do what he does best. 10 years later, two more studio albums (a couple of DVDs and one live album too and numerous tours) shows that Fogerty is far from thinking about retiring, even if the quality of his releases has dropped from classic status to pleasant easy listening. Still, it is great to have him back.

FOGERTY AND POLITICS

Fogerty has written several political songs and never been shy to stand up for his ideas. Especially anti-war songs has become his trademark. Some of them are:

Wrote A Song For Everyone
Fortunate Son
Have You Ever Seen The Rain
Who’ll Stop The Rain
Run Through The Jungle
Deja Vu (All Over Again)
I Can’t Take It No More

He also took part of the Vote For Change-tour along with artists such as Bruce Springsteen, R.E.M, Pearl Jam, My Morning Jacket, Bright Eyes, Sheryl Crow, Neil Young, Bonnie Raitt, Jackson Browne and John Mellancamp among others.

Where is the audience?

It seems like Fogerty’s biggest following can be found in America and Scandinavia. When touring Europe in the late 1990’s, Fogerty was forced to cancel several concerts because of poor sales. In Scandinavia everything was sold out and he had to arrange extra shows because of popular demand. When Tina Turner did her farewell tour in Europe, Fogerty was the opening act. Everywhere except in Scandinavia, where he undoubtedly appears to be the bigger star. Why is this? Scandinavians and Americans has a similar work ethic. If you work hard, you should be rewarded. The working class people in Scandinavia also shares many of the same problems as Americans. There are mortgages, sometimes lack of work splitting up relationships, a mistrust against governments and a feeling and desire of being and wanting to be much more than they are. The quiet working man has problems with conflicting emotions but has been brought up to not talk about them, because it’s a sign of weakness. Besides, they don’t know how to anyway. This is where Fogerty’s simple, but direct and honest lyrics strikes a chord. You don’t have to be educated or admire poetry to appreciate his words. They are simple and deals with things the people instantly relates too. When you add a chewing rhythm, a cool voice and a catchy melody... Well, it’s impossible to fail. It’s unpretentious music for unpretentious people. And in some ways, almost like an action movie. There are not any cheesy love scenes unless it’s absolutely needed. There’s politics, wars, working conditions and cars.
These are some of the reasons for Fogerty being able to reach people and unify them, despite being separated by the Atlantic. He has found something fundamental in the modern working man. And he is able to express it.

[NOTE: There are also other artists that can do this, Bruce Springsteen being the most obvious one.]

CCR MEMBERS TODAY

Tom Fogerty - John’s older brother and the first to leave CCR who continued as a trio. died at the age of 48 from having contracted HIV from blood transfusions. There are nine Tom Fogerty albums out there. None of them particularly exciting, although that chewing rhythm guitar from the CCR recordings appears from time to time. Also worth noting is that on his “Zephyr National”-album from 1974 features all members of CCR (including John).

Stu Cook - The bass player. Went on to play with Roky Erickson and The Southern Pacific. Later formed Creedence Clearwater Revisited together with Doug Clifford.

Doug Clifford - Continued to bang the drums in the Don Harrison Band and is now in CCRevisited.

REUNION?

None of the three surviving members of the original CCR line-up has ever opened for the possibility of a reunion. However, there is a video-clip of poor quality from a class reunion floating around the Internet. The band playing were labeled as The Blue Velvets, a name used by CCR before being famous. This video (9 mins long) has Clifford playing the drums and a certain John singing and playing guitar. So maybe there still is some hope for a reunion, but it remains highly doubtful. And by “highly doubtful” I really mean “no chance”. There has been too many name callings, fights and one stab in the back too many.