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Making the best burgers they could

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I just listened to the 500 Songs episode about Creedence Clearwater Revival, and Andrew Hickey made the point that the band never fitted in to any of the “scenes” of the late sixties – they weren’t part of the San Francisco Dead/Airplane/Grape scene cos they weren’t psychedelic, nor were they political (except for Fortunate Son), nor were they folk/rock, or heavy rock, or bubblegum.

Basically they were a band that everyone liked, the way everyone likes a burger.

Andrew reads this quote –

“The formulation the band members themselves came up with was “Creedence is like burgers”. Other bands might be foie gras or caviar or some exotic cuisine, but everyone enjoys a good burger, and there are times when it’s just the thing to hit the spot. And their job was to make the very best burgers they could”

Any other band/cuisine match ups?

Did Anyone Enjoy A More Impressive 1969 Than John Fogerty?

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Creedence Clearwater Revival were a chart juggernaut in 1969: three US Top Ten albums, four hit singles (charting at No. 2, No. 2, No. 2, and No. 3) with three additional charting B-sides. John Fogerty wrote the songs, sang them and played lead guitar. He, and the band, never stopped touring and recording for the whole twelve months.

He made one misstep that year, refusing to allow their Woodstock performance to feature in the film or on the soundtrack. They came on late, in the rain, after The Grateful Dead had lulled everyone to sleep. Who’ll Stop The Rain? was written about their experience. They made up for it by appearing on Ed Sullivan’s famous show in December but their reputation would be regarded as even more legendary if they’d been in the film.

The band didn’t get their just rewards. Fogerty had signed up to a terrible record deal previously. A huge IRS tax bill was to follow and things started to fall apart the following year. By 1971, it was all over. The record company later sued him for plagiarising one of his own CCR songs when he went solo. However, in 1969 he was on top » Continue Reading.