I remember the sweet sound of CCR hitting my eardrums ever since I was a child. Creedence Clearwater Revival produced plenty of hits that found their way on 45s, cassettes, and CDs through generations of Herseys. For a band that was only around for a few years in the late ‘60s, they sure left their mark.
Backstory of Creedence and Me
Paula’s 45s – CCR on Vinyl
I’ve mentioned my father’s record collection several times on this website. In short, he had a tremendous collection. On the other hand, I have never mentioned my mother’s collection. This is mostly because I only remember seeing these records one time.
My dad had this collection in our recreation room. My mother had her collection in the kitchen. We had a pretty large entertainment stand in the far corner of our kitchen. This is where we had our cassette player (with dubbing technology). I remember using this cassette player to make many ‘mix’ cassettes. We could speed up the dubbing and listen to the music play like chipmunks.
Along with the cassette player, there was a huge stash of cassettes. In one of the bottom drawers, there was a hodgepodge of small records. I recall my mom pulling them out one evening and showing me several albums.
I don’t remember any of the artists – with the exception of Creedence Clearwater Revival. This was in the mid-90s and by this time my mom listened to nearly 100% Christian music. I remember being shocked she actually had secular music. This was the first and last time I ever saw this collection.
Stevie Quackenbush and Hobo Music
Backyard wrestling was a huge part of teenage years and most high schoolers in the late 90s. The WWF and WCW were diving headfirst into pop culture and my friends and I couldn’t get enough. A rag-tag group of my friends and I decided we were going to have our own federation.
Of course, we needed entrance music if we were going to be legit. It was the early days of ripping CDs and we were going to make a soundtrack to make our lives easier. Instead of changing out CDs each time a new wrestler came to the “ring”, we could just skip to the right track. We had a wrestler friend – dubbed as Ill-Goth – who had a CD burner and was going to do the work for us.
Most of us had our music already picked out ahead of time. Napster was very prevalent and we sent him a list of must have songs. One of our newer wrestler recruits was still without a song.
Stevie Quackenbush was my lifelong neighbor and friend. He and his younger brother Gino moved next door when I was in elementary school. When I moved down the street, his family so happened to move next door again. He wanted to join our federation and we brought him in – as a Hobo character.
Not sure why he became a hobo, but it just fit. And what music should a hobo have? We didn’t know. We asked Ill-Goth and just so happened he had “Bad Moon Rising” on his computer. From that day on, we now have Hobo music.
Sam Goody Double CD
In the early 2000s, if you had a car and were in high school – you drove around for fun. Not all of my friends had cars, but we had enough to have options. I didn’t drive until senior year and most of my high school life was spent riding with my friend Erik.
Erik and I had very similar musical tastes. Even when we had differences in taste, they weren’t that far off. He seemed to like The White Stripes a bit more and I loved 80s New Wave. One genre we both loved was classic rock – and in this case Swamp Rock. CCR is swamp rock.
Not only did we drive around the city – for hours – we would drive to the mall each weekend. I distinctly remember one trip where Erik and I made our way to the mall and Sam Goodys (a Record store). Erik must have just got paid and he was eyeing up CCRs Greatest Hits cd. With a little bit of nudging, Erik spent his money and we rode back listening to sweet sounds of Fogerty.
This was the first time I heard most of their discography. This would be the album we listened to for months.
Creedence Clearwater Revival Now vs. CCR Rank In 2007
I’ve always enjoyed CCR. Ever since high school and that double album my friend Erik bought, I had a good understanding of their work. They produced hits and plenty of them.
My opinion didn’t change much. They might never be top ten but they will likely always be in the top 40.
Check out where they rank on my current list.
Creedence Clearwater Revival Metrics
By The Numbers
- Qualified Songs: 68
- Greatest Hits: 8
- Four Star: 27
- Three Star: 29
- Two Star: 4
- One Star: 0
Score
463.24%
A Deep Dive Into the Current Score
CCR might not have been a 5-star hit factory like The Beatles, but they didn’t produce to many stinkers. But then again, having nearly 10 five star songs is also nothing to complain about. I’m sure there will be artists down the line that wish to have half as many.
CCR had very few skip worthy songs (and zero noise disasters). If you shuffled their entire discography, you will likely listen to a song that sounds pretty good.
Creedence Clearwater Revival Podcasts for Reference
Published 03/19/2019
The Story Behind Our Music – Addie Everson
Creedence Clearwater Revival
Can you get the entire story of CCR in 5-minutes? Yes, you can hear the story but you will miss out on all of those juicy details. It’s like SparkNotes for the band. This is a nice little sampler to see if you want to learn more.
Published 06/28/2018
The J Files Podcast
Creedence Clearwater Revival
The perfect mixture of interview, opinion, and song clips. The host talks with two Creedence fans about their favorite albums, songs, and memories about the band. They mix in several interview clips with John Fogerty and tell the story about the rise and fall of CCR
Published 04/17/2017
The Great Albums
Creedence Clearwater Revival – Willy and the Poor Boys
If you asked me what classic CCR album was the best, I would likely cheat and say the greatest hits. Obviously this is a cop-out and it was nice to hear a few musicians review an album song by song. It is always nice to hear some of the backstories of the songs and some of the nuances that my non-technical ear can’t pick up. I always enjoy The Great Album podcasts.
Published 02/14/2019
Behind the Song
Creedence Clearwater Revival “Born on the Bayou”
What’s better than a few musicians breaking down an entire album? You guessed it, breaking down one song. This was a fun little podcast breaking down the lyrics and influence for “Born on the Bayou”.
Published 12/03/2017
Political Beats
Philip Wegmann / Creedence Clearwater Revival
This isn’t my first time listening to Political Beats. Normally I would stray away from anything with political in the title, but they don’t talk politics. Well, they talk about CCR and how some of the songs were political – but no personal opinions on the right or left. They do a great job going album by album, highlighting the highs and lows.
Published 04/04/2017
The Hustle
Stu Cook of Creedence Clearwater Revival
Call me crazy, but before I heard John Fogerty’s Side is the story, I wanted to hear from the band. This podcast featured Stu Cook and he tells the story about CCR, the breakup, and putting together Creedence Clearwater Revisited.
Published 07/01/2019
Pod of Thunder
318 – Creedence Clearwater Revival “Hey Tonight”
If you just want to skip right to CCR talk, move on to around the 30-minute mark. The group dissects “Hey Tonight” and plays sections of the song at a time and discuss. After (and during) the song review, they touch base on the classic rock sound, deep cuts, and overall CCR goodness.
Published 01/03/2020
Ridiculous Rock Record Reviews
Episode 127 – Creedence Clearwater Revival Cosmo’s Factory
It’s wonderful finding additional podcasts that review different albums. I’m sure This can’t be done with many groups (having multiple great albums to review). The hosts do a great job going Song by song. They did their homework and do a great job susinctly giving their notes on each song.
Published 11/07/2019
The Bret Saunders Podcast
John Fogerty
If you want a quick 7-minute interview with Fogerty, you found it. They touch base on a concert movie John is promoting and Woodstock ‘69. John comes off as humble, even though many have painted a different picture. I guess I will need more than a few minutes to figure that out.
Published 11/15/2016
Rockabilly ‘N’ Blues Radio Hour
Rockabilly N Blues Radio Hour – 11-15-16
This was the interview I was looking for. John Fogerty talked for an hour (with full songs interplaced) about his book “Fortubate son”. They touched on his career with CCR and how he fell out and back in love with music. John doesn’t get into the politics with the group, but stays positive about his career.
Published 10/15/2015
92Y Talks
John Fogerty
As I go down the rabbit hole of John Fogerty interviews, this was one of the best. What was recorded in front of a live audience, John talks about his entire life and career (as best as one can in one hour). He touches in his start with music and how he decided to start playing CCR songs again. He even finishes with a couple songs on acoustic.
Published 04/03/2019 (Tape from 1998)
Dave’s Old Interview Tapes
0204 John Fogerty with in-studio guest Jennie DeVoe
Jennie DeVoe was the guest on this episode. This my first time listening to this podcast series and was surprised it wasn’t just Johns interview. It was Dave and Jennie talking about segments in the tape, with some audio spliced in. If you are looking for an interview with John, this doesn’t flow the best. If you want commentary about music and more about Jennie, give it a try.
Published 05/14/2019
Rockin’ the Suburbs
600 – ’80s Classic Rock – Moody Blues, John Fogerty, Tina Turner
This was a cool little listen showcasing the progression of music from the 60s to the 80s. They start with The Moody Blues, but end up getting right into John Fogerty and CCR. Only about 10-minutes talk about CCR, but still a pretty unique look at music through the years.
Creedence Clearwater Revival Videos for Reference
Creedence Clearwater Revival: The Golden Era – (YouTube) This hour-long documentary can be purchased through Amazon Prime Video. It’s a bit tough to say if it was a nicely done fan-made documentary or a budget doc from a small studio. After listening to dozens of CCR based podcasts, it was nice to see actual footage of the band. It didn’t take long into the film to start talking about the drama (4-minutes in they talk about the Hall of Fame issues with John and the band.) The documentary covers the entire career – good and bad.
Inside Creedence Clearwater Revival – (YouTube) We have another documentary that starts at the beginning. This documentary seems more official. Right from the start, we get interviews with Stu Cook (bass player in CCR). Early on you get how they came up with their name. There is also plenty of clips from performances. I would say this is the best documentary for CCR – that I was able to find/watch.
VH1 Legends: John Fogerty – (YouTube) I could have waited until I reviewed John Fogerty for this video, but we can probably agree that this qualifies for CCR. If you love late 90s VH1 documentaries, this will get you excited. The video is even uploaded at standard 4:3 on YouTube. Learn all about John Fogerty from growing up, breaking up with CCR, and doing his own solo thing.
Larry King Show – John Fogerty – (YouTube) This video brought me back. Watching Larry King interview John on the CNN set – all of those lightbulbs in the shape of the world. John talks about walking away from music and coming back. This 1999 interview is less than 5-minutes and worth a watch for nostalgias sake. I mean – when else do you have an excuse to watch Larry King Live.
The Battle of Creedence Clearwater Revival Albums
CCR only had a few albums – but they made them count. Nearly every album had a great song. My opinions aligned with the critics and their last album was also their worst.
| Album | Score |
| Cosmo’s Factory | 190.91% |
| Willy and the Poor Boys | 180.00% |
| Green River | 111.11% |
| Pendulum | 100.00% |
| Bayou Country | 85.71% |
| Creedence Clearwater Revival | 75.00% |
| Mardi Gras | 50.00% |
The Greatest Hit from Creedence Clearwater Revival
We can have a good old fashion 8-song tournament for the CCR boys.
Previous Greatest Hit and Tournament Outcome
“Have You Ever Seen the Rain”
Although I have fond memories of “Fortunate Son”, “Bad Moon Rising”, and “Susie Q” – I love a sappy song about rain. No, not “Who’ll Stop the Rain”. The other rain song. This, of course, is a song about the breaking up of the band and there wouldn’t be many more hits like this one.
Overview
CCR has a unique sound and tends to sit in a genre all of their own. I can’t say I’m always in the mood for every CCR song, but you won’t see me skipping many if they come up in shuffle. CCR is a solid classic rock band that I suggest everyone give a listen.
Amendments
June 13, 2020
“Susie Q” is a jam song and tends to be a little long. Maybe a greatest hits cut would lower the skips – but for now we will keep the full version.