In case you’re new to Medium Cool, BGinCHI is here once a week to offer a thread on culture, mainly film & books, with some TV thrown in. We’re here at 7 pm on Sunday nights.
We’ve got something special tonight!
Friend of Medium Cool John Lingan’s bio, The Story of Creedence Clearwater Revival: A Song for Everyone, comes out August 9th from Hachette.
John has graciously agreed to join us in the comments, so if you have a question for him, please fire away.
I had the pleasure of reading the draft and it’s terrific: a beautifully told story of the band’s origins, struggles, successes, and dissolution, as well as a gripping account of the cultural & social forces at play in their rise to stardom.
If you can, pre-order the book.
Once it’s out and you’ve had a chance to read, we’ll do this again.
WaterGirl
Let’s give a warm welcome to John Lingan. Thanks for joining us!
BGinCHI
@WaterGirl: John, if you’re here, raise your hand.
SiubhanDuinne
I’ve always enjoyed CCR without knowing a thing about the group or its constituent members. Looking forward to the discussion and to reading John’s book (which I’ve pre-ordered), come August.
BGinCHI
@SiubhanDuinne: I didn’t know anything before I read it, and I learned a lot.
I’m not much of a fan of 60s/70s FM radio rock, but the band’s story, and especially the context in which they made their career is really fascinating. And John’s a really good writer.
His first book is terrific, too (esp if you like Patsy Cline).
Steve in the ATL
@BGinCHI: while we are waiting for the author (and I love CCR!), what’s happening in Ukraine Village these days? Might be visiting Chicago soon and was contemplating slumming on the west side to show my support.
PJ
Creedence was, for my money, one of the greatest bands of the ’60s and one of the greatest American bands of all time. In the period of about two and a half years (I’m excluding Mardi Gras for obvious reasons), they created an amazing body of work – six great albums which also included a dozen or so incredible singles.
I know the broad strokes of their story, their falling apart, and the bitterness that lingers among the surviving members to this day. I’m hoping your book will shed some light on how they were able to create so much good stuff in such a short period of time. Here are my questions:
1) In my opinion, even though John Fogerty made some good records later, his songwriting never reached the heights of his work with Creedence. Do you agree with that assessment, and, if so, do you have any thoughts on why that was?
2) What was the most surprising thing that you discovered when doing your research?
WaterGirl
Our guest seems to be running late, how about if we have a music thread until he arrives?
BGinCHI
@Steve in the ATL: I don’t get down there very often, alas, but the California Clipper has reopened under new ownership. If you’ve never been to that bar, it’s a must.
Ubiquity of Ukrainian flags is the only other surety.
Division is packed with eating and drinking places, of course.
WaterGirl
Any favorite CCR songs? I would love to see some links in the comments.
debbie
Have You Ever Seen the Rain has always been my favorite CCR song. Also, live rather than studio.
WaterGirl
@debbie: is there a favorite version of that song on youtube?
BGinCHI
@WaterGirl:
John has little kids, so I hope all is well and we’ll see him here.
In the meantime, let’s talk about the music of that period, and anything CCR-related you can come up with.
I was floored that CCR were from CA, and the Bay Area, which I didn’t even know until I looked them up before I read John’s book. That Southern sound (or rural Midwest) really sounded believable to me.
John Lingan
Hi everyone! Tech issues resolved! So sorry to join late but grateful!
BGinCHI
@PJ: Good questions!
debbie
@WaterGirl:
It’s in the post now. ?
BGinCHI
@debbie:
Me too, but I admit that I always sing it “Have you ever seen Lorraine, falling down on a sunny day?” in my head.
Raven
Yeah, some folks inherit star-spangled eyes
They send you down to war
And when you ask ’em, “How much should we give?”
They only answer, “More, more, more”
debbie
@BGinCHI:
I’ve always been a moper. This was right up my alley, so to speak.
John Lingan
@PJ: Hi Pj!
I’m afraid you’re right about Fogerty. He had something special in his connection with the 3 other members (one his brother) that allowed him the freedom to create some incredible songs with his own unique sound. Hard to recreate that outside very specific circumstances.
For the most surprising thing, I was able to track down a man who went with Fogerty to Portland, OR, to play music in summer 1964. This was when JF was still playing with the Blue Velvets, the earlier iteration of CCR, but he only started to sing during that trip to the NW.
Betty
I wonder what the band’s reaction was to Tina Turner’s cover of Proud Mary. She definitely had a hit with it.
Raven
@Betty: I’m so sick of that fucking song
John Lingan
@WaterGirl:
For their radio hits, I don’t think 1970s rock gets better than “Up Around the Bend.” For deep cuts, I love “Bootleg.”
piratedan
welll… if we’re looking for discussion topics…
my top 5 CCR singles (personal preference division)
Green River
Run Thru the Jungle
Fortunate Son
Bad Moon Rising
Up Around The Bend
best album cut
Who’ll Stop The Rain
PJ
@WaterGirl:
Too many to mention.
But here’s an anecdote that I thought was funny. When I was 15, I started taking guitar lessons from a white guy who came of age in the Sixties but was very much a jazz player. One day he was showing me something and he started playing “Proud Mary”. I said, “Oh, yeah, I love Creedence.” He had no idea what I was talking about. He had never heard CCR’s version, and did not know who they were. For him it was just a standard he had to play for weddings and whatnot.
Raven
Whoa, thought it was a nightmare
Lord it was so true
They told me don’t go walking slow
The devil’s on the loose
Better run through the jungle
Better run through the jungle
Better run through the jungle
Whoa, don’t look back to see
Omnes Omnibus
@BGinCHI: I have a soft spot for Lodi. There is a Lodi just north of Madison and, as a kid, I assumed the song was about that town as I saw the signs for it on US51 on the road from Chicago to central WI.
John Lingan
@Betty: I can’t speak to the band’s reaction, though they certainly revered Ike Turner and other early rock ‘n rollers. Tina’s star had been rising since at least 1969 with rock fans, so I’m sure they knew and admired her.
I was surprised to learn that Tina didn’t really know (white) rock ‘n roll til she started opening for the Stones. When she heard “Proud Mary” she could hear its debt to Black sounds and that’s one reason she covered it.
Chris T.
I knew nothing about them, and then I discovered that they were from El Cerrito (a sort of bedroom-community suburb of Berkeley and the greater Bay Area), which is also where I lived for many a year. Moeser Lane goes kind of vertically up into the Berkeley/Richmond Hills there, built right after WW2 when the US attitude towards obstacles was “take ’em head on”. ?
(Still, Moeser is not as steep as Marin Ave going up from the fountain circle, and that’s much older.)
BGinCHI
@PJ: That’s the thing that just amazes about Fogerty. He was just able to write these riffs and hits one after the other. He doesn’t seem, in any other way, an exceptional individual. But his songwriting? Damn.
debbie
@Raven:
It feels like CCR did more Vietnam-adjacent music than others, but I could be very wrong.
WaterGirl
@debbie: Oh, thank you.
Steeplejack
I liked early, “dark” Creedence. They hit in my last year or two of high school. “Walk on the Water.”
Later it became impossible for me to think of dark Creedence after “Down on the Corner.” Ugh.
BGinCHI
@Omnes Omnibus:
Well, if you were stuck there, at least you could buy New Glarus.
Betty
@Raven: That raises the question about they are weirded out by it becoming a wedding reception standard.
PJ
@BGinCHI: I learned that when I saw the Minutemen, and in one of his spiels, Watt talked about how you should not take songs as the gospel truth about performers: “John Fogerty was not born on a bayou.”
John Lingan
@Chris T.: Not many people guessed they were suburban californian back in the 60s either, and like you say, some still don’t realize it. The discrepancy between their huge fame and their relative anonymity was one of the big reasons I became curious enough to write the book.
Chris T.
@piratedan:
Often misheard (“Mondegreened”) as There’s a Bathroom on the Right.
BGinCHI
@debbie:
John has some good coverage of that.
debbie
@WaterGirl:
I love the video clips. Actual kids were fans!
BGinCHI
@Steeplejack:
I don’t like that song either.
It’s cartoonish.
WaterGirl
@John Lingan: I just approved all your comments, so now your comment will show up immediately.
MagdaInBlack
@Omnes Omnibus: Every time my husband and I drove that route north to visit friends, he sang that song at that exit ?
Every time ?
PJ
@John Lingan:
Hi John, and thanks for doing this!
John Lingan
@Steeplejack: “Walk on the Water” is a great song! And the only co-write between John and Tom Fogerty in the CCR catalogue, since it was a holdover from their earlier iteration as The Golliwogs from 1964-67 (then called “Walking on the Water.”)
laura
When we were wee, my mother bought the Willie and the Poor Boys for Christmas for my older brother. The entire family fell for this band. Both brothers grew up to become rock roadies and Roadie Brother the Elder was fortunate to have done a gig or two in LA for Fogerty, a dream come true.
Why wasn’t Stu Cliff’s dad sued into the ground by the band once they realized he gave everything away, and why weren’t they able to walk away from contractual obligations as minors once they were adults?
BGinCHI
@John Lingan:
JOHN!!!!!!
Omnes Omnibus
@BGinCHI: That’s the other side of Madison.
WaterGirl
@PJ: Ha!
BGinCHI
@laura: One of the real pleasures of the book is finding out the ins & outs of the business dealings of the period, and what musicians agreed to, and why, etc.
John Lingan
@debbie: Great piece on the band’s Vietnam ties: https://pitchfork.com/thepitch/how-creedence-clearwater-revival-became-the-soundtrack-to-every-vietnam-movie/
That article’s main point is that their whole career as a band (or as CCR) took place during Vietnam. But they also had military background (John Fogerty and Doug Clifford served in the reserves) and their bayou/jungle motifs were a natural fit for Vietnam imagery. Plus, after they broke up, Fantasy records would license their songs to any movie producer who paid enough, so they’ve been featured in EVERYTHING as we all know.
WaterGirl
@debbie: That is a great rendition.
piratedan
@Chris T.: it took me the better part of ten years to track down the lyrics to Green River, hard to believe its a bittersweet song of past remembrances…. But DAMN those guys could inhabit a riff.
John Lingan
@laura: Stu Cook’s dad was an attorney for a white shoe Berkeley firm but he wasn’t the band’s lawyer. He didn’t approve their contracts or participate in their business dealings.
Their notorious deal with Fantasy records was, alas, signed by the band as adults. The label’s own tax avoidance schemes and John Fogerty’s lack of management skills did the band no favors here.
Omnes Omnibus
@MagdaInBlack: It’s actually where it get on and off of 39 when heading to my parents’ place. I live on the west side of Madison and zipping up there on back roads is the fastest way to go.
Sure Lurkalot
I love Born on the Bayou, especially the opening and the cowbell. Fortunate Son is a unique war protest song in my mind because of its laser focus on hypocrisy.
Looking forward to the book. Congratulations…must be hard to write a book with young kids around…or not?
John Lingan
@PJ: Thanks, PJ. Been a Balloon Juice reader for a long time, couldn’t pass this up.
piratedan
@John Lingan: believe its a well known movie trope that the movie CAN’T be about Vietnam, UNLESS Fortunate Sun is in the soundtrack. :-)
John Lingan
@Sure Lurkalot: It’s hard to do anything with young kids around. :) We all figure it out. Thanks for the kind words.
John Lingan
@piratedan: It often feels that way!
PJ
A few more questions:
Were you able to get interviews with John, Doug, and Stu? If not, how did you approach the material?
More generally, what was your perspective on their story that you felt needed to be told?
laura
Having grown up in the Bay Area in the 1960s and 70’s am radio was such a big deal -KFRC played everybody and the Bay Area was en fuego with new music and music from farther afield, as well as KSAN smaller stations What a soundtrack for life! John, did you find that the radio stations played a key role in this band?
John Lingan
@SiubhanDuinne: Thank you for the preorder! It makes a huge difference to authors.
BGinCHI
Am I the only one who didn’t know CCR didn’t do encores?
When I read the book this really surprised me.
Steve in the ATL
@John Lingan: “Fight Fire” was a great song! And covered well by Southern Culture on the Skids
PJ
@WaterGirl: He didn’t even know the name of the song – he called it “Rolling on the River.” Just goes to show that if you create classic songs, they will have lives of their own that no one will connect with the songwriter.
John Lingan
@laura: The question I’ve waited for! CCR was a SF-area band but definitely had an outsider “East Bay” mentality, coming from El Cerrito, near Oakland. Their official coming out to the SF ballroom scene occurred in March 1968, when the staff of KMPX went on strike and the band played outside on a flatbed truck in support. They then played a benefit for the station at the Avalon ballroom, their first appearance their. Those striking DJs went on to form KSAN, one of the first free-form FM stations in the country.
The group were also hugely inspired by the black R&B stations from Oakland and SF in the 1950s. That was their musical education.
John Lingan
@Steve in the ATL: Incredible tune. I need to track down the SCOTS version apparently.
BGinCHI
@John Lingan:
I’ll second this and remind everyone about the pre-order link at the top.
Steve in the ATL
@John Lingan: Spotify to the rescue!
John Lingan
Hi everybody! I just wanted to say thank you to the BJ/Medium Cool community. Been reading this for ages, back when it was just Cole spouting off (which I loved).
Thanks to everyone who preorders the book! It makes a huge difference for an author and publisher to see pre-publication interest.
I showed up a bit late so I will stay on a little late too in case anyone has pressing Q’s. Sincerest thanks!
Steve in the ATL
@Betty: one of my daughters became obsessed with the Ike and Tina version of “Proud Mary” when she was as about 8 years old. Used to belt it out in her room all the time. Ironic that pale, blonde girl preferred that version to the white boys’!
PJ
@John Lingan: Yet another question:
How calculated were the band about their career? They had made a number of singles as the Blue Velvets and the Golliwogs, none of which met with much success. Did they make any conscious decisions about what kind of songs to write or record in order to get hits? I imagine once the hits started, John was under a lot of pressure to keep producing more. The way they put out records, it seems like they just flowed like water, but was it difficult for him to write songs that he thought would be hits (as opposed to their longer album tracks)?
I have to split, but thanks again for doing this! (I’ll pre-order the book too.)
WaterGirl
@Steve in the ATL: Great story!
John Lingan
@PJ: “Calculation” didn’t enter into it, as it doesn’t for many creative people making a go of things in their teens. However, their foremost ambition was to make records and get played on the radio, so they were alert to what made a successful record. But in the early- to mid-60s, successful records ranged from jazz instrumentals to country tunes to Sinatra and girl groups. So they followed their own interests and the “Creedence” formation is when their deepest interests (blues, early rock ‘n roll, some country) came together naturally, along with John’s flourishing as a songwriter.
Betty
@Steve in the ATL: As John noted, artists never know who their music may influence. I am sure the band and Tina would be happy to know they helped give your little girl some joy.
BGinCHI
@PJ: I know John will answer this more fully, but I was really struck by how John Fogerty made himself produce so prodigiously by signing contracts that forced him to do so. It’s a really intriguing part of the book.
John Lingan
@Betty: The CCR story is one of the most poignant stories I know of white and Black artists taking/giving/sharing among each other. They idolized Black musicians, then their songs became material for Wilson Pickett, Tina, even Miriam Makeba.
Steeplejack
I have roused myself from WFB (working from bed) to get on the real computer and join this thread with full composing capacity. I’m still pissed about missing the Wes Anderson thread. I’m pro-Anderson and have strong opinions, but I will not be entertaining questions at this time.
Re Creedence: Almost everyone on this blog is old, so there aren’t any whippersnappers to lecture, but I do think some of us need to be reminded of how the world was before the ubiquity of the Internet. As I said above, Creedence hit when I was in high school—I went to a DOD high school on Okinawa from 1967 to ’69—and even then “hit” was a relative thing. FM radio was not yet a thing, at least for rock music, so it was AM radio or—what was passed around like contraband at school—LPs. AM radio was still straining to break out of the three-minute song barrier, and it was a big deal when a station would play the long version of “Light My Fire.” (“MacArthur Park” was the go-to when the DJ needed a long break. ?)
My point is not to rewrite history but to note that music, especially “pop music,” is very much “of its time” when it hits the listener. I loved all the genres of music that were hitting Top 40 radio, but I was also drawn to the new stuff that was emerging almost exclusively on “albums” (LPs). CCR had two albums in ’68 and one in early ’69, and they hit me hard—the “dark” Creedence I referred to earlier. Swamp rock. Lots of great songs.
And then that same year (’69) they sort of shat the bed with Willy and the Poor Boys. “Fortunate Son,” a great song, is about the only memorable thing there for me. They had good songs after that, and I still liked them, but the spell was broken.
Pausing here to take incoming and gather my thoughts.
John Lingan
@BGinCHI: It really does force one to wonder if he wanted to torture himself or just didn’t know another way.
John Lingan
@Steeplejack: Appreciate this recollection and also must pause to acknowledge that I’ve never met anyone who felt “Willy” was some kind of breaking point for the band. Points for originality!
laura
@John Lingan: that was my and sibs musical education too and also Dad’s DEEP west coast cool jazz. If music wasn’t playing on the radio in the car, the kitchen the living room and all different stations it meant something really bad happened.
Can’t wait for your book!
BGinCHI
@John Lingan: Both, I think. Stubborn and in need of therapy, but music is probably the better for it (at least the movie soundtrack genre).
John Lingan
@laura: I’m so glad this rings true to you. The band members (and the books I’ve read) were very clear: radio was EVERYTHING.
So appreciate your enthusiasm for the book.
John Lingan
@laura: Had to look it up but their formative stations were KWBR, KRAK for country, and some KYA for contemporary stuff, “parents’ music.”
debbie
@Steeplejack:
There wasn’t much on my local radio station. Most of what or listened to came through friends.
citizen dave
I was only 8 to 10 during the CCR peak years, so loved them later in my fandom (Fuck the Eagles! Obligatory Lebowski reference). I recall freshman year in college, 1979-80, Fantasy packaged the 5 long CCR jams as an album, Keep on Choogling. I have the specific memory of listening to that on the radio with my college best friend (still to this day). Great jams. I don’t think we immediately knew that all five of the tunes had already been on their albums.
I always thought that, on the whole, no band consistently achieved great social commentary combined with popularity in their time. Though of course there have been many great anthems since (perhaps a topic idea for a slow week; Kent State anniversary coming up soon)
I guess the question/theory that always came up was that Fogerty’s disastrous contract with Fantasy warped his creative output thereafter.
Steeplejack
@John Lingan:
Christ, just look at the song list.
And I say that knowing that you are the expert on CCR. What I was trying to get at in my previous comment is that the experience of an artist’s work in total is different from going through it chronologically as it comes out. To me there is a big shift in Willy from the previous three albums.
John Lingan
@citizen dave: Love the idea of an LP devoted to the long jams. “Ramble Tamble,” “Grapevine,” and “Chooglin'” are as good as it gets man.
John Lingan
@Steeplejack: Not denying your experience whatsoever. Just pointing out it’s unique! And one of my real goals with this book was to put contemporary readers in the older era as-lived: day to day, without any of the endings decided beforehand. It can be easy to forget that with stuff we all think we know so well.
citizen dave
@John Lingan: If memory serves, Keep on Chooglin and Suzy Q are the other two on that collection. Suzy Q was an oft-played jam in my heavy classic rock listening days in Fort Wayne and Indy.
ETA reading back I’m one tune short. Unlike Steeplejack, I haven’t made the effort to get on the computer, so typing on my phone, which makes it hard to google and get back here.
Should also say big thanks for being here, and I’ll check out the book for sure!
John Lingan
Okay, I hope I answered everyone’s Creedence questions for the night. Thanks to Brad and Balloon Juice for hosting this, and I’d be happy to come back when the book’s out too. Thanks so much!
BGinCHI
@John Lingan: THANKS, JOHN!
This was fabulous, and we’ll do it again when the book is out.
Steeplejack
@John Lingan:
Radio was very important back then! For a lot of groups—and a lot of us listeners—it was the tip of the iceberg, the gateway to what lay beneath. Jefferson Airplane’s Surrealistic Pillow is one of my all-time favorite albums, but the only songs I heard on the radio were “Somebody to Love” and (less often) “White Rabbit” (eek—drugs!). But the rest of that album was a revelation. Same thing with other groups, like Quicksilver (Messenger Service), Vanilla Fudge, Fever Tree, even oddball stuff like the Moody Blues. Maybe you heard one or two songs on the radio, and then you explored the album(s). And, as I said, we passed them around at school all the time. High-quality audio equipment was dirt cheap then, and I remember many sessions of taping borrowed albums with my dad’s Teac reel-to-reel deck.
John Lingan
@citizen dave: Gotta keep it honest, “Suzie Q” bores me. Though they worked it up explicitly to fill time during their endless sets at an NCO club at one of the Bay Area’s many military installations. Needed to get that groovy SF vibe going somehow.
Steeplejack
@John Lingan:
I was just getting started! Guess I’ll hang on until the book comes out. I’m looking forward to it.
Steve in the ATL
@John Lingan: I concur. I prefer the snappy version by the early Stones.
Raven
@John Lingan: Is it the case that they never improvised during their live shows?
Almost Retired
My older son (age 30) is a huge music fan, and appreciates a lot of the music of his parents’ youth. But I can never predict where he’s going. He hated X (sacrilege), but he loves older CCR.
I also learned as 22 year old on a road trip to Tahoe with friends that the citizens of Lodi have pretty much heard every stuck in Lodi-related joke or impromptu drunk-belted version of the chorus and are not amused.
Looking forward to reading the book.
Raven
Their version of “I put a spell on you” is pretty good but nothing compares to Screamin Jay Hawkins blastin it!
BGinCHI
@Raven: I think John’s out, but what I learned from reading the book is that they played so much together early on (at such early ages) and got to be such a tight band, they didn’t deviate much at all. And Fogerty (John) was really demanding.
piratedan
@John Lingan: I hate to concur, but I do, maybe because I was raised on the Fab Four as my background musical environment as a yout…
two and a half to four minutes to say/express what you need to or else you’re just being self indulgent.
Doesn’t mean that you can’t enjoy bands that are, just that was the precis, as it were, for how popular music WAS when I was simmering in it.
BGinCHI
@Almost Retired:
Hated X!!??
Taking deep breaths over here.
Raven
@BGinCHI: That’s my understanding. Folks really should watch “Who’ll Stop The Rain” with Nolte and Tuesday Weld. Killer flick.
Raven
Also,
Have You Ever Seen the Rain is a really good song.
eta they are driving a 66 Chevy Truck in the video!
Sure Lurkalot
Thanks BG! So many of us enjoyed this thread!
persistentillusion
@Steve in the ATL: My extremely pale niece did the same thing in the 80’s, so it may be a pale thing. );
dexwood
@Steeplejack: Way late to this thread. I get what you’re saying about Willy. I was, still am a CCR fan (will be 71 later this week). As much as I loved their music, “Lookin’ Out my Back Door” always had me reaching for the radio dial or getting up from my bong induced comfort to lift the needle on my turntable.
dexwood
@Raven: Great song. Crank it up.
James E Powell
@John Lingan:
I loved Creedence in high school so I also loved Willy & the Poor Boys.
The third of three albums released in one year!
What’s the story behind that?
Raven
@James E Powell: He be gone
Steeplejack
@Raven:
Great movie! But I have some issues. The novel’s title was Dog Soldiers, which would have been better for the movie, but The Dogs of War was coming out at the same time.
And the choice of whatever hillbilly song they used for the big nighttime shootout near the end was complete bullshit. In the novel it’s a very trippy scene, with strobe lights and lots of speakers—it screams for something acid-rocky. I attribute the choice to Karel Reisz’s cultural tone-deafness.
Wikipedia
But, damn, it really holds up. I think I saw it again on TCM a few years ago. Amazingly deep cast: even after Nick Nolte, Tuesday Weld and Michael Moriarty, you’ve got Anthony Zerbe, Richard Masur, Ray Sharkey, Gail Strickland and Charles Haid in small but memorable parts. Solid all the way down. That’s the movie that convinced me Nick Nolte really could act.
It’s streaming free on Tubi, if anyone’s interested.
Steve in the ATL
@persistentillusion: that phase ended only when she discovered Sam and Dave, then it was several months of “Soul Man”!
Patricia Kayden
@WaterGirl: https://youtu.be/JNrsJNtd_bc
Who’ll Stop the Rain,
Patricia Kayden
@BGinCHI: I thought they were from Virginia (the southern part). Wow.
BGinCHI
@Sure Lurkalot: Our pleasure. Thanks for being here!
Raven
@Patricia Kayden: Two different songs
TonyG
@PJ: It’s funny. I was in middle school/high school when CCR had all their hits (yep; I’m old) but they were not fashionable among the kids I hung out with because they didn’t do 20-minute guitar solos. They were damn good though, during the handful of years before they broke up.
Raven
@TonyG: The wanted Alvin Lee or Peter Green!
lollipopguild
@WaterGirl: Midnight Special. A great song and CCR’s version is one of the best I have Heard ever.
Steeplejack
@TonyG:
They had a few long guitar solos on the early albums. Not 20 minutes, though.
West of the Rockies
I’m a bit late to the thread, but I love the use of CCR in The Big Lebowski.
TonyG
@debbie: I always liked “Bad Moon Rising” and, of course, “Fortunate Son”.
kalakal
@Steeplejack: It is a great film. Weirdly I have a memory of seeing it on UK tv in the ’90s under the title Dog soldiers, I wonder if they changed the title there. They really made great use of the eponymous song
TonyG
@Raven: Yeah, they wanted Jimmy Page playing his guitar with a violin bow!
Raven
@TonyG: I was always partial to Kim Simmonds.
Steeplejack
@kalakal:
The Wikipedia article says that the title was changed right around the release date and that there were even some DVDs with the Dog Soldiers title.
The novel, by Robert Stone, is very good, by the way.
zhena gogolia
This is a weird thread to read when you’re halfway through your first viewing of This Is Spinal Tap. No drummers died in gardening accidents?
TonyG
@Steeplejack: That’s true. For example, Suzi-Q from their first album.
Wag
My parents had a record changer growing up, and during dinner dad would load a few albums on. The first CCR album was in heavy rotation, along with lots of Bob Dylan. Fond memories.
Another fond CCR adjacent memory is seeing Bruce Springsteen at red rocks amphitheater Summer of 1981. He played a tonight Bill. The first night it was pouring rain, and his first son when he came out was Who’ll Stop the Rain. We were soaked, but joyous! The rain stopped soon after, and he played for three hours.
Raven
@TonyG: There are very few other “examples” of that.
Old Dan and Little Ann
Super late to the party. I love CCR. I came across a live Born on the Bayou clip when YouTube 1st came out. I’ve watched that video more than any other I’m sure. Everyone is jamming. If the drummer wasn’t stoned I’ll eat a hat.
NotoriousJRT
@WaterGirl: Fortunate Son
Steve in the ATL
@zhena gogolia:
Weird—your comment from 1984 just showed up tonight!
They Call Me Blue
@Chris T.:
I’m glad it wasn’t just me!
TonyG
@Raven: That’s right. Savoy Brown! Back in the Stone Age.
zhena gogolia
@Steve in the ATL: I know. Somehow I’ve avoided it.
They Call Me Blue
Creedence was such a staple of my youth, looking forward to getting this book. I was an avid newspaper reader and I can still remember lying on the floor in my (parents’) house and reading an article that they’d broken up and being bummed about it. Late ’72 so I would have been 13 at that time.
For me, “Born on the Bayou” is the ultimate Creedence song…absolutely love that one. Bought the original release of “The Concert’ when it was released as “The Royal Albert Hall Concert” in 1980 before it was discovered it was actually recorded at the significantly less storied Oakland-Alameda Coliseum.
debbie
@zhena gogolia:
Loved Spinal Tap. Best of Show is also good,with most of the same cast.
Steeplejack
@zhena gogolia:
When you’re ready to really spread your wings, I highly recommend Wes Anderson’s The Grand Budapest Hotel. I think you would like it.
James E Powell
@TonyG:
We’re similar in age and in that experience. I loved Creedence. I was just learning to play guitar and when we all got together to jam I wanted to play Creedence. My friends mocked me for it because CCR was considered too commercial. They had hits. Normal people liked them.
James E Powell
@Raven:
In the crowd I ran with in high school, Savoy Brown was more popular than Led Zeppelin. Every guitar player kid in my high school could do I’m Tired, Louisiana Blues, Ring in His Nose, etc.
zhena gogolia
@debbie: That one I’ve seen. And Waiting for Guffman.
zhena gogolia
@Steeplejack: That would be my first.
Steeplejack
@zhena gogolia:
I know. I think you would like it, or The Royal Tenenbaums. The greatest J.D. Salinger movie ever made.
Ogliberal
@zhena gogolia: Corky: https://youtu.be/De6AkndwRpM
Raven
@James E Powell: You’ve already paid your admission, you may as well tear down the walls. . . .!!!
TonyG
@Raven: True. Their cover of “Heard it Through the Grapevine” was maybe the only other one of their songs with long solos.
TonyG
@James E Powell: That’s right. The fact that their songs were short and were actual AM-radio hits was considered to be un-cool by a certain crowd. I listened to them again several years after CCR broke up and realized how good they had been.
TonyG
@West of the Rockies: “Oh, uh, yeah, uh… a tape deck, some Creedence tapes, and there was a, uh… uh, my briefcase.” His loss of the Creedence tapes was the real tragedy in that movie.