The Truth About Creedence Clearwater Revival And Its Unexpected End

John Fogerty, Doug Clifford, and Stu Cook’s paths crossed when they attended Portola Junior High School in El Cerrito, California. They founded a band named The Blue Velvets, and John’s brother Tom also joined them for recording and jamming sessions. After changing names a few times, the band members came up with the name Creedence Clearwater Revival in 1968 and began working on their first record.

The band released their self-titled debut studio album on May 28, 1968, and the Fogerty brothers, Cook and Clifford, started to prove their extraordinary talent as instrumentalists more and more. The band received positive reviews for combining different genres such as roots rock, country rock, blue-eyed soul, swamp rock, blues rock, and Southern rock in their songs, but the real success and popularity came with their later work.

Creedence Clearwater Revival’s Most Successful Era

Credence Clearwater Revival shared their second studio album entitled ‘Bayou Country’ on January 5, 1969. It got critical acclaim and hit the charts worldwide by becoming very popular among rock music lovers. The record was regarded as one of the milestone works for rock music with its well-crafted sounds and lyrics. The success was followed by various highest-grossing tours, concerts, and four more popular albums, but it was golden on the outside, rotten on the inside.

The band’s frontman and primary songwriter, John Fogerty, declared himself as the man in charge of determining CCR’s musical style and journey. Therefore even though they were very famous and commercially successful in that era, the severe problems between the band members caused a crisis and a breakup. Let’s check out more details about a critical departure and what happened afterward.

Tom Fogerty’s Departure And The Disbanding Process

The CCR singer became more and more dominant in the band, which led to arguments and disagreements with the other band members. In 1971 his brother and rhythm guitarist, Tom Fogerty, announced that he was leaving the band because he couldn’t continue creating and performing like that. The band didn’t replace him, and CCR turned into a trio in that each member had the right to write, record, and sing the works.

After changing the way they worked, Creedence Clearwater Revival dropped its seventh and final studio album ‘Mardi Gras’ on April 11, 1972, and it seems that taking John Fogerty’s role in the band didn’t work. The critics drew attention to its inconsistent quality and lack of cohesion, and ‘Mardi Gras’ became a complete failure and disappointment for them. Shortly after their last tour, CCR announced their breakup in the same year.