YouTube Gold: Creedence Clearwater Revival

And a classic song from their golden era

Rock music was in a bad space in the late 1960’s. San Francisco had infected it with psychedelia and it got increasingly silly and deranged. The Rolling Stones were dealing with a lot of issues, not least of all addiction. The Beatles were still making brilliant music, but increasingly, they were recording their individual songs, not always together, and of course went their own way in 1970, but it had been over for a while prior to the public announcement.

So it was a great time for a band to distinguish itself and that’s just what Creedence Clearwater Revival did.

Led by John Fogerty, CCR just played American strains of music with a rock and roll face and for a brief time, they were the most popular band in the world. Even the Beatles spoke admiringly of the band, with one - we think John Lennon - saying the band should be playing music more like that.

Among their hits was Fortunate Son, which was released in 1969. The band had immense talent and also a classic American work ethic as Fogerty insisted on hard work and discouraged drug use which was so common at the time.

Sadly, the band’s glory era didn't last long: the band had been together under different names for some time before changing their name to Creedence Clearwater Revival in 1967. They hit it big in 1969 and might have gone on for a decade or longer. However, infighting, leading to lawsuits, tore the band apart and they broke up in 1972.

Their music remains popular and their influence endures.