From 1968 through 1972, Creedence Clearwater Revival was one of the world’s best-selling rock bands. In that time, CCR released nine Billboard top-ten singles and seven albums, five of which peaked in the top ten. The band formed first as the Blue Velvets in 1957 when John Fogerty, Doug Clifford, and Stu Cook were in junior high school. John’s older brother Tom joined a few years later. They played together until 1972, under the Visions and the Golliwogs before finally settling on Creedence Clearwater Revival in late 1967. The band survived everything except success. The paper explores what led to their breakup in 1972, future lawsuits, and the still ongoing antagonism between John Fogerty and the rest of the band, who have never reunited as friends and only played informally for two impromptu appearances—at a high school reunion and at Tom Fogerty’s wedding. The paper will discuss Fogerty’s autocratic control of CCR, their final album (Mardi Gras), Fogerty’s unyielding bitterness, the band’s relationship with Fantasy Records, the closeness of Cook and Clifford, the founding of Creedence Clearwater Revisited, and the debacle of the ceremony inducting CCR into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
About the presenterThomas M. Kitts
Thomas M. Kitts, Ph.D., is professor of English at St. John’s University. His books include John Fogerty: An American Son; Ray Davies: Not Like Everybody Else; The Theatrical Life of George Henry Boker; and Literature and Work. With Gary Burns of Northern Illinois University, he edits Popular Music and Society and Rock Music Studies. With Nick Baxter-Moore of Brock University, Canada, he edited the Routledge Companion to Popular Music and Humor.