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omganesh t1_j46fh1k wrote

Reply to comment by Liesthroughisteeth in TIL Creedence Clearwater Revival was only active for four years (1968-1972), with seven studio albums. They still hold the record for most singles (nine) to reach the Top 10 on Billboard's Hot 100 without ever scoring a #1. by Torley_

I also grew up listening to them, and there was just something...off with CCR to me. A friend bought tickets to Forgery in the 80s, I went with him, and it still didn't pass a smell test, but I couldn't figure out what or why.

After watching the Netflix doc, everything fell into place and I was finally at peace with my gut instinct. They were fakes. They grew up in well-off families outside of San Francisco, but their songs made us think they were poor bluesmen "Born in the Bayou."

His affected persona shone through in his vocal phrasing and lyrics. I'm not saying I don't still listen to CCR. I'm just saying I couldn't put my finger on that internal nudge I got from them, and then last year I finally fingered it.

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typhoidtimmy t1_j46mxdh wrote

Dude, they never said they were. In fact, they thought it was hilarious people kept attaching this story being a bunch a bayou kids to them when they were out of Central California and the closest swamp to their home was the salt marshes outside San Francisco.

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Knull_Gorr t1_j475miv wrote

That dude probably doesn't listen to Johnny Cash because he was never in Folsom Prison.

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Exnixon t1_j47dmfl wrote

> It ain't me, it ain't me, I ain't no fortunate son

> Cleaned a lot of plates in Memphis Pumped a lot of 'pane down in New Orleans But I never saw the good side of the city 'Til I hitched a ride on a river boat queen

> It was down in Louisiana Just about a mile from Texarkana In them old cotton fields back home

Can't imagine why anyone would think they were southern good old boys from modest roots. What idiots!

I'll say this: when their contemporaries like ZZ Top sang songs about Texas whorehouses, or Lynyrd Skynyrd sang about Alabama, those guys weren't making it up.

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mtcwby t1_j47kcad wrote

I grew up in the 60s and 70s near where Fogarty grew up. A hell of of lot of kids from the area ended up in Vietnam if they didn't go to college for the deferment. My older best friend was drafted at 18 from the same area and was in Vietnam in 65'. Kid across the street from my wife's house served and came back pretty messed up. The bay area wasn't the tech rich place it is now. Lots of assembly line workers lived there.

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typhoidtimmy t1_j47ohhm wrote

Exactly…it was pretty blue collar up until the 90’s tech boom when homes went through the roof.

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typhoidtimmy t1_j47l0ap wrote

I am not saying the guys was an idiot for believing the Southern origins of CCR or anyone who thought that. I am simply saying the members of CCR enjoyed they were good enough to make people think they were born and bred Southern swamp rockers.

Fogarty himself said something to the effect of Since we were in the middle of the progressive psychedelic rock scene, we thought what would be the complete opposite and started playing stripped down raw rock. It resonated and the lyrics could shape around Southern standards and I liked blues like Howling Wolf and classics like Cole Porter, so I just ran with it.

When we saw how much people loved the idea, we went along because hell, we were selling records. We even named our second album Bayou Country to fuel it.

Heck, if you look at their first big hit Proud Mary, Fogarty wrote that it started as a song about a maid for rich people who basically calmly keeps their lives together by doing her job and going home. Stu Cook suggested making the maid become a person working on a Riverboat.

The point is, they liked good music, wrote good music, played good music. They found a niche and rolled with it and did very well so why fuck with it? And it tickled them they were good enough to make people think completely different origins for them.

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Randvek t1_j47lgfv wrote

Next you’ll tell me that Johnny Cash never shot a man just to watch him die or that Steve Miller couldn’t actually fly like an eagle. What a bunch of fakes! Does Cardi B even own leather pajamas?

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Exnixon t1_j47oudr wrote

I don't believe that he shot a man just to watch him die, but if I found out that he actually had a masters in sociology from NYU, yeah, that would be surprising.

Like if NWA made "Straight Outta Compton" after briefly visiting Compton while volunteering with their church group.

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fairlyoblivious t1_j4880ie wrote

Which Lynyrd Skynyrd do you mean? I mean which of the 27 members the band has had? All of them? Do you understand why that's kinda a silly statement to make?

You can't understand why John knew how to craft them lyrics because you've never been to "the salt marshes outside San Francisco" to realize that places where the band grew up like Lodi(which they wrote a song about as well) are farm towns more "southern" than most of the people in Texas live..

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omganesh t1_j47brr4 wrote

I'm sure you're right. It's just my personal gut feeling, it doesn't have meaning for anyone but me, probably.

That said, a bunch of white boys from the Bay Area don't get to claim they're not fortunate sons. Just saying.

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mtcwby t1_j47kkqs wrote

The bay area was a blue collar place back then. Fremont was a GM plant town. Lots of assembly line workers and remember the Raiders were all about being blue collar. Don't confuse it with the tech bay area now.

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typhoidtimmy t1_j47nfqe wrote

The lyrics of Fortunate Son are directly related to Fogerty’s own experiences with the draft and seeing a tons of common folk going to war.

In his autobiography he explained Julie Nixon was dating David Eisenhower. You’d hear about the son of this senator or this congressman who was given deferment or choice positions in the military away from fighting.

They seemed privileged and whether they liked it or not, they were symbols in the sense that they weren’t being touched by what their parents were pushing on the rest of us.

Mind you, John Fogarty was drafted into military service in 1966. He avoided going to Vietnam by going down to the Army Reserve recruiter who signed him up immediately and dated it before the draft notice. He still served out 3 years and apparently was terrified of being drummed into actually having to go to Vietnam until he was discharged in 68.

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382Whistles t1_j47ghba wrote

And "Green River" is Wyoming Utah & Colorado. "Lodi" is Cali.

Are you from the bayou? I guess that could make assumptions easy...

I met someone from around Chicago that thought "Lincoln Park" from Bob Seger's "Back In 72" was local to Chicago vs Bob's hometown of Detroit.

I've heard people thinking KISS was from Detroit because of "Detroit Rock City" too.

Somewhere, in city or town near you, as we speak, someone is attributing being a Jackson Mississippi native, to Kid Rock

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evasote t1_j47jfe5 wrote

Ironically the band “Linkin Park” named themselves that because there’s a Lincoln park in every city and they thought everyone in every city would think they were a local band

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OldeHickory t1_j47ht2a wrote

Eh fogerty was praised for how authentic he sounded because all he listened to was southern blues. I think you reversed confirmed your suspicions. They aren’t known for being fakes, they are known for successfully playing a mix of southern delta blues and rock and roll, and fogerty’s voice is tailor made for that kind of music.

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fairlyoblivious t1_j488qsb wrote

Places the members of CCR came from like Lodi, Stockton, El Cerrito are in almost every sense FAR more "southern like" than most of the actual south, they are farm towns where crops and cows live, and in El Cerrito's case, now a bunch of refineries, just like the south.

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