Just watched the new CCR Doc & Concert on Netflix. Absolutely loved it!! They've always been one of my favorite bands!! The doc was great, as was the concert. Jeff Bridges narrates it. If you haven't seen it yet, please do so!!
This is humorous. John Fogerty stopped to fill up with Exxon high test and the pump as many do today has music in a speaker and it's one of John's songs.
https://youtube.com/shorts/QPU3B-4MOvE?feature=share
I had a good friend in the late 60's and 70's ( he passed away two years ago) who went nuts over this song. I would hear it anytime I was with him. He found someone who made a cassette dub of this CCR track and it was the only song on it.
Great documentary and concert footage! I enjoyed it immensely!
For me, the greatest thing about CCR is that they showed how musicians who are not necessarily virtuosos could be in a rock and roll band. I'm not knocking their skills or talent level at all. Rock and Roll music (true, real Rock and Roll) was never about complex playing. The heavy jammers and proggers that came soon after filled this opening. I can't really play Allman Brother's stuff (we can jam - kinda make it our own), but I can lay down some Creedence. Good, basic, ham and eggs playing. I digress.
While CCR was most certainly John Foggerty's band, I have always felt that he was dismissive of his co band members. For me, it was always about John's singing voice - certainly one of the greatest of all time in Rock and Roll. This is the element that makes CCR music hard to replicate. I can play the guitar stuff. Watching the performance, there was a lot of "cowboy chords" in their music. I think Stu Cook's bass lines were pretty good, too. The absence of pedals, stomp boxes and other effects made a good impression on me. The songwriting (lyrics) was pretty solid, too.
But as with a lot (most?) bands - Creedence Clearwater Revival was no "democracy". It was John's way or the highway.
That all of the living members showed up for the Hall of Fame induction ceremony - only to be shunned by and not allowed to perform - by John - certainly a very disappointing moment for the hard core fans. This, and that I have heard John openly dis other performers (some negative comments towards Paul McCartney's singing ... kinda chapped my a$$) left a bad taste in my mouth for a while. It really took a few years for me to revisit CCR to appreciate them as a band.
You captured my interest in CCR perfectly - Fogerty was such a turnoff that I've never revisited CCR after my friend who was a fan moved away. Less than zero interest when there so much other stuff to be heard. When he replaced the band by playing all the instruments himself for a few albums, I said never again. What a jerk! That Hall of Fame public snub was just childish & insulting to his former band & fellow inductees. I'm sure to anyone who can stand him, the documentary is as described & Jeff Bridges would be a good narrator.
@allmanfan21 Exactly. It was an induction of THE BAND - period. These guys were alive and well and present. Main songwriter/bandleader or not - this was a moment for THE BAND. Like you and Cyclone88 - I'll be forever soured over this.
I have seen Fogerty several times in concert over the past few years; he still can sing and still puts on a good show.
I wouldn't vilify him for his relationship with the band. When other members wanted to get their songs on the records he told them fine, but you sing them. They were a disaster. Was he a bit of an ass, sure. But I don't remember John & Paul jumping with joy when George wanted a bigger space on their records. Shit, publishing rights are where the recurring dividends are. Don't think either John or Paul would have volunteered to sing taxman.
Fogerty is still the only musician to plagarize himself
Apr 13, 2011
In 1993, former Creedence Clearwater Revival singer John Fogerty found himself at the center of a case being argued before the United States Supreme Court. The country’s highest court wasn’t debating whether Bayou Country or Green River was the superior CCR album. Instead, Fogerty was in the middle of an important, somewhat obscure corner of copyright law.
The seeds for Fogerty’s day in court traced back 23 years to 1970. That April, CCR released the Fogerty-penned “Run Through the Jungle” as a single that would eventually be certified gold by the RIAA. “Run Through the Jungle” is a solid tune, but it didn’t really grab headlines until 1985 when Fogerty released a solo track called “The Old Man Down the Road.”
“The Old Man Down the Road” is a pretty nice song, too; it even cracked the top 10 on the singles charts. One person wasn’t a fan, though. Saul Zaentz, who owned CCR’s old label Fantasy Records, also owned the copyright to “Run Through the Jungle.” Zaentz felt that “The Old Man Down the Road” was simply “Run Through the Jungle” with different words. In other words, John Fogerty had plagiarized a John Fogerty song to which he didn’t own the copyright.
Zaentz felt he had a case, so he sued Forgerty in federal court for copyright infringement.
FANTASY HAD TOTALLY F**D HIM WITH HIS ORIGINAL PUBLISHING DEAL. TOOK FOGERTY A LOT OF YEARS TO PLAY HIS CREEDENCE STUFF AGAIN IN CONCERT
So yeah he's a selfish ass, but I don't think many bands worked like the Door where it was a true partnership requiring a 4/4 vote. And even then Krieger and Manazarek were livid at Densmore for turning down a multi-million offer from Ford to use Break on Through in a comercial
as Tessio said to Michael Corleone: "It was only business."
@rusty I will add though that with the Mardi Gras album, the only good songs are the ones that John sang on. He let them contribute some to that album because they apparently had complained about him doing on the singing, writing, etc. So, that does tell you who had the true talent when it came to singing and writing.
@emr If you sign the wrong papers you could end up in the French Foreign Legion! Also - with the exception of Cyclone88, you probably should never trust an entertainment industry lawyer! 😉
Self plagiarizing happens when some of your songs are essentially the same. I saw a great local band play a "Green River-Suzie Q-Old Man'" medley. Same tempo, chords and feel from start to finish. It was great.
But the Hall of Fame was an award to the entire BAND. Several bands have put their differences aside to assemble for the honor and then go back to not speaking again.
@allmanfan21 Like I said, John's VOICE was CCR. His solo stuff sounds like CCR. Anything he ever sings is going to sound like CCR. Anybody else singing CCR songs is not going to sound like CRR, either.
McCartney wouldn't show for the Beatles induction due to business issues. Kind of surprised Cream and Talking Heads got on the same stage for theirs. CCR really hated John's guts.
Suzie Q, btw, was not written by Fogerty
@emr Suzi Q was originally by Dale Hawkins in 1957.
Hawkins and bandmate Robert Chaisson wrote the song but in order to get a deal with a label interested in releasing it, Jewel Records, they had to put the owner of the record label and the wife of a local disc jockey on the song as writers too. So four people split the royality but only two of the four actually wrote it.
On Eat A Peach, Marshall Sehorn a record executive, gets a credit for One Way Out and Steve Alaimo gets a credit for Melissa and it was strictly a business deal. They didn't write anything.
Gregg Allman finally got Steve Alaimo to accept I think it was about 15,000.00 dollars to get him off Melissa. Steve loaned Gregg $500.00 when Gregg was broke and demanded a writing credits on two of Gregg's songs.
With CCR the record label owner (Fantasy Records) wanted ALL the royalty money on the songs in order for the band to get a release. They really messed up and Fogerty and the others got screwed. He told CCR they would make their money if the album makes them famous off her live shows.
The wife of a label owner who had recently died decided to sell out. She said it is a dirty sneaky business, especially for talented people trying to get started.
Elvis never wrote a song; but got credit on everything he put out during his prime
In Retrospect Robert Johnson got off cheap. He just left his soul at the Crossroads
Johnson's estate seemed to resemble a baton at a relay race, changing hands many times before reaching the finish. A whopping 62 years after his death, the legendary musician's estate has finally been probated. The Mississippi state courts recognized Claude Johnson as the sole legal heir of Robert L. Johnson.
And it's more tangled. Johnson's grandchildren were in court around Covid (2020) contesting the fee arrangement their father made w/his lawyer. The contingency fee gave the lawyer 40% of the royalties. They argued that contract should have ended w/their father's death. No idea what happened or even if copyright still exists after all this time.
@cyclone88 Yeah, but can they sue Satan for return of their grandfather's soul?
@cyclone88 Yeah, but they're all tied up with FPOTUS at the moment.
