Creedence Clearwater Revival
Creedence Clearwater Revival
Even though I have often recorded alone, I still feel the best music is made by musicians playing off each other.High School Mates
The chances of a rock 'n' roll group all of the same age and from the same high school is almost unheard of. The exception,
Creedence Clearwater Revival, is the lone exception to this rule.
Creedence Clearwater Revival would turn out to be one of the most revered rock 'n' roll groups of all time, shattering records and turning out a sound that would be unique to their time. The band was formed in the city of El Cerrito, California under their first name "The Blue Velvets" and played for many years under that name before they were to be referred to by fans across the globe as
Creedence Clearwater Revival. Although the band would not have a long time of endurement, they would go on to release some of the most popular songs that are still enjoyed by many people of the present.
Making the Rounds
The band would go on for quite a few years undergoing a few other names changes and playing to afford their lifestyle but never truly caught on during this time. Even though they were signed to Fantasy Records and had one hit that reached radio play, the group struggled to make headlines with their rock n' jazz sound. In the mid sixties, John Foggerty began singing lead vocals for the group, and after a few setback of a military nature the band formed under the name of Creedence Clearwater Revival. During 1968, after some members had done their military duty, the group renewed their vows to bring their sound to all across the nation and began playing regularly like a band on a mission.
The First Break
The band finally got their first break when the song
Suzy Q was released from the album self titled
Creedence Clearwater Revival. The song began to gain steam first in San Francisco and then across the plains to Chicago. Although it was not an overnight success, it got the ball rolling. It was able to bounce up to the number eleven position on the Top 40 National Charts. When the ball started rolling, the band gathered a lot of steam. After touring from their newfound success of
Suzy Q the band started to see more dates for live play across the nation.
Their success was apparent with the release of the album
Bayou Country in 1969 which became platinum later that year. Proud Mary was a number two hit on the national charts and went on to be covered by many up and coming artists for many years to come. A successful string of albums would follow over the next few years such as their third album Green River, also a song on the album, Green River again reached number two on the national rock n' roll charts. John Fogerty on lead vocals was said to have a haunting syle when wailing out the lyrics to these hit songs.
He would be most known after his eventual exit from the band. All the while these hit singles were climbing the charts, the band was constantly on tour. They would travel across the ocean where they would eventually gain the admiration of many Europeans as well as Australians. The band's fame would continue throughout the nineteen seventies and were one of the rock n' roll ensembles that performed at Woodstock, a festival that has been touted as the greatest rock n' roll festival of all time.
At the festival, John Fogerty has been said to be bitter that their play time ended up being three o'clock in the morning because of the Grateful Dead played far over their amount of allotted time. Over their course through 1969 they would end up releasing their fourth album called
Willy and the Poor Boys which featured the song
Down on the Corner and
Fortunate Son. These songs may be available as a free music download.
Shutting It Down
After releasing a few more albums and going through some internal problems, the band released their final album in April of 1972 called
Sweet Hitch-Hiker. The album did not receive the acclaim as many of the others. This decline was also apparently the down fall for the band as they finally called it quits in October of 1972 after they were plagued with internal conflicts and issues with their manager. The group would never reunite to release new material. There is a small following of the band Creedence Clearwater Revisited, however, it was not considered by many to have much of a draw to former
Creedence Clearwater Revival fans.
Did you know that...- ...the part of "Clearwater" refers to a part of the Olympia Beer label.
- ...John Fogerty would go on to pursue a solo career with varied degrees of success.
