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Creedence Clearwater Revival may never be endlessly talked about like Hendrix or the Beatles or the Stones but their music will probably outlive most of their 6
by CoolestBeans 4y ago
Creedence Clearwater Revival may never be endlessly talked about like Hendrix or the Beatles or the Stones but their music will probably outlive most of their 60s contemporaries.
First, everyone loves Creedence and their music crosses the political spectrum big time. Fogerty might be a liberal Democrat but his music hits big with conservatives. This is where the more conservative approach in lyric writing the article points out works in their favor. CCR never really wrote a drug song except for maybe "Lookin Out My Back Door" and that is hardly explicit. "Fortunate Son" isn't anti-war by being against the war, its anti-war by pointing out the injustice of the elite, the powerful, and the decision makers of America not having to put their own children on the line and deal with the consequences of their decision to go to war with Vietnam. The love for CCR is so widespread that Donald Trump used "Fortunate Son" in a campaign rally, unaware of the irony considering he got out of the draft.
Second, most of their songs are pretty easy to pick up and play. And because of the first point, they're all crowd pleasers. I'm in my mid-20s and when I picked up the guitar some of the first songs I learned once I got my chords down were "Have You Ever Seen The Rain" and "Bad Moon Rising". Why? Because everyone knows those songs and my dad get a kick out of it.
Maybe Creedence Clearwater Revival will never hit the philosophical or virtuoso depths of some of its contemporaries, but there is enough substance there to not just be a generic commercial pop song. Yet they are simple and universal enough to enmesh themselves into our American culture.
- dehrmann 4y ago> except for maybe "Lookin Out My Back Door" According to Wikipedia, > Fogerty, however, has stated in interviews that the song was actually written for his then three-year-old son, Josh.
- reaperducer 4y agoI can't hear that song without thinking of the alternate lyrics: Here comes Peter Cottontail Hopping' down the bunny trail Hippity-hop, Easter's on the way Bringing every girl and boy Baskets full of Easter joy Do do do lookin' out my back door
- jononomo 4y agoI'm unaware of any contemporary of Creedence Clearwater Revival that had greater philosophical or virtuoso depth.
- chrisdhoover 4y agoAware harder. CCR is part of a larger whole. A whole with depth and breadth. By the early 80’s The Minutemen recognized CCR and Bob Dylan in there political song writing, But there were other contemporaries of CCR as well with philosophical and virtuoso depth
- atombender 4y agoSeveral come to mind: Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, Leonard Cohen, Gordon Lightfoot, Ralph McTell. The list tends towards singer-songwriters, though. Bands? Maybe Procol Harum.
- nopenopenopeno 4y agoMaybe John Prine, but he did come along slightly later.
- jononomo 4y agoI had never heard of John Prine until he died of covid -- I think obscurity to that degree rules him out.
- onionisafruit 4y agoHe was far from obscure. Granted he never had the same success as CCR, but he was popular for decades.
- eagsalazar2 4y agoJim Morrison.
- billfruit 4y agoJerry Garcia and The Grateful Dead?
- dehrmann 4y ago> his music hits big with conservatives They definitely have a southern sound...despite being from the Bay Area.
- ideamotor 4y agoBingo. That’s the reason, not “conservative” lyrics lol.
- ideamotor 4y ago[flagged]
- cm2012 4y agoSmall c conservative, he means they didn't write obvious lyrics
- Geonode 4y agoWoo, the echo chamber.
- Kamq 4y ago> Pointing out the injustice of the elite is a left-wing value Hatred of the elites has increasingly become a thing on the right over the past decade or so. It seems to be increasing as corporations increasingly eschew conservative beliefs and engage in faux-progressive signaling to expand their customer base. Edit: I should probably point out that it's not the progressive views I'm accusing of being fake. I'm accusing corporations of cynically espousing progressive views without believing in them. Mostly because everything corporate marketing departments do is fake.
- torpid 4y agoHatred of the elites is just simply populism. Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump are populists, two sides of the same anti establishment coin. Populist sentiment is only growing.
- sidlls 4y agoThe “elite” that the right hates are liberals and intellectuals, or whatever other object they are directing their endless two-minutes-hate at at the time. It’s not really “the elite” as understood in the context of, say, Fortunate Son.
- Kamq 4y ago> The “elite” that the right hates are liberals and intellectuals In the context of being exempt from the draft, the biggest class of relevant people would have been those attending college. I don't think you can separate these that easily. > It’s not really “the elite” as understood in the context of, say, Fortunate Son. I mean, fair, but we're in the middle of a political transition that hasn't fully played out yet. I wouldn't rely on them being as separate as they are forever. They explicitly call out senators, and I don't know a single person on the right that likes traditional politicians these days. Hell, a little over a year ago a bunch of them were willing to call for the hanging of a politician nominally on their own side. Personally, I think the days of the business wing of the republican party are numbered. So far as I can tell, we seem to be headed for a political system with a socially progressive big business-friendly party and a socially conservative party that seriously distrusts institutions, especially those from New England/the west coast (not too dissimilar from the old southern-democrats).