Is John Fogerty, famous as he is, underrated?

Tom Waits favorite too,"Bad poop rising"

 

This is quite true, but whenever I encounter the words “overrated” or “underrated” I ask myself where this mysterious “rating” or “ranking” list can be studied to find out which rank or position currently is assigned to the artist being discussed. And who assigns the new status “overrated” or “underrated”, relative to which “zero” position indicating the proper or true “rating”?

I think this is a somehow ridiculous attempt to classify or find out the true “value” of an artist’s output. How can it be measured, weighted, counted, ranked, rated?

Werner.

 

Isn't Creedence pretty much ignored by the kids today? I remember a "Rolling Stone" article 10-12 years ago talking about what 60s groups were popular with today's youth. Groups like the Beatles, Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath did well. But CCR was at the bottom. Like the computer geek in "Live Free or Die Hard" says, listening to "Fortunate Son" is like having a pinecone shoved up my rear.

And refusing to allow Cook and Clifford on stage for the HOF ceremony is real classless.

 

I think John Fogerty is underrated in the sense that most people don't know he was the creative talent behind Creedence Clearwater Revival. In other words, I think most people know CCR but don't know John Fogerty or if they know Fogerty because of Centerfield, they don't make the connection between him and CCR. Fogerty hasn't had a sustained, highly successful solo career, so he has flown under the radar for many over the years.

Comparisons among talented, accomplished songwriters generally don't make a lot of sense since they are so different, and it comes down to preference. All I can say is that I listen to CCR more than The Beatles or Dylan, though I like The Beatles and Dylan. I just like CCR more.

 

I think CCR is an incredibly underrated band, so many classic songs and that classic swamp sound ''Born On The Bayou, Green River, Run Through The Jungle'' that no one will ever duplicate. I think Fogerty both as a guitarist and vocalist is underrated, but as songwriter he's not quite in the same league as Dylan or Lennon/McCartney and his solo material just isn't very memorable or compelling. I own every CCR album, but i've never felt compelled to buy any of his solo ones including his new one, even though i own a couple ''Blue Ridge Rangers, Revival''

 

Yeah, it's been a while since 1970. And kids used to dig these guys back then. I wonder if what's shown in this video was going on all over the US at the time.

 

And overused.

 

I don't understand the need to put Lennon & McCartney on such a high pedestal. Fogerty has written many now classic tunes that are so part of the American landscape that he is easily their equal.

 

Love CCR and John and I believe he's right where he ought to be.

 

Is that really a bad thing, though? Music was their job, the rest really didn't matter, and it doesn't appear they let fame go to their heads much. Think of all the stories you hear of other rockstars when they're away from the stage: most of them are pretty negative.

 

CCR is unique to me in that I hated their music long before I knew who they were. I always cringed at their songs whenever I heard them, even when I watched 60s counterculture or Vietnam War documentaries in school. Then one day a friend suggested I check out CCR. I checked their albums out from the library and it all made sense. All these songs that I always heard and hated with a passion from those 60s counterculture or Vietnam documentaries were CCR's! I don't have a word to describe their songs except that they are extremely cringeworthy to me.

As far as over/underratedness goes, here's food for thought:

http://chrisqueen.net/2011/10/03/music-monday-overrated-bands-a-quasi-cranky-rant/

 

I could go on and on about John's unreleased album Hoodoo...the best thing he did outside of CCR.

 

Why not - a lad from California did write about being born on the bayou! Don't get me wrong, I love CCR's music but for many years I assumed they were from the deep south. I don't think being born somewhere different necessarily means you can't write about places.

 

He has written a lot of good songs - but I don't see putting him "easily" in the same conversation as Lennon/McCartney.

Mostly because the diversity of songs isn't there. They can sound similar and also his solo output is lacking.

 

Just my opinion, but McCartney's and Lennon's solo material is lacking in comparison to what they did together with The Beatles. They seemed to have a chemistry and to feed off each other.

I don't put Fogerty in the same conversation with Lennon and McCartney because they are so different.

 

I think he has plenty of fame and adoration for his work. I don't think he broke new ground in the way that the Beatles or Dylan did therefore he doesn't deserve to be as highly praised. The guy did write some great tunes and make some great albums but he was just refining what was started by a bunch of Bo Diddly, Chuck Berry and bunch of bluesmen.

 

Where's Dick Clark when you really need him? Fogerty produced some classic material. The band broke up, as bands do, the music didn't go away. The band's fracture resulted in predictable legal nightmares. Those nightmares ran counter to everything CCR was supposed to represent in the first place. Underrated? No. But the members of what was once "America's Greatest Rock & Roll Band"* entered into one long, ceaseless squabble. CCR is the classic example of pop eating itself.

* A 4-piece unit in heavy top 40 rotation with some sort of political credibility and the sort of sociological subtext a journalism major can get into

 

The best of Fogerty's songs, in my opinion, are full of metaphors, slang and diction that would only have been written by an American . "Born on the Bayou" is a great example. You can do the research to learn about the Fourth of July, Cajun Queens, Hoodoo and old hound dogs barkin, but listen to that first line - "when I was just a little boy, standin' to my Daddy's knee". As someone raised in America, it comes naturally to refer to himself as a little boy, or to his father as "Daddy" - any other choices might have been OK, but wouldn't have been as perfect. [note: it's funny that you used the term "a lad from California" in your message. If Fogerty had written "when I was just a lad . . . " it would not have been as natural. I assume you are not American). "Fortunate Son" has vivid images of the taxman showing up and the house looking like a rummage sale - that's uniquely American as well (ask any Brit whether they would refer to a messy room as a rummage sale).

And, of course, only someone who grew up loving baseball could have written a song as perfect as "Centerfield".

I'm not saying it's impossible to write convincingly about another place, but to do it in the correct voice is very, very difficult. Great novelists have done it, but it can't be very easy to get right.

 

While I see your point and agree with it (for what it's worth, my favorite song about the American Civil War was written by Steve Tilston, who is from...Liverpool!), I also don't think Lennon and/or McCartney could have written any of CCR's best songs. Not because they're from Liverpool, but simply because those songs are so far removed from their style. It's not even an apples and oranges comparison, more of an apples and blueberry muffins comparison. I certainly do believe there are British songwriters out there who are capable of writing the kinds of songs Fogerty wrote. But John and Paul were not among them.

 

I had occasion to watch the film version of Jesus Christ Superstar (for a religious ed class I was teaching) recently, and I was amazed by Fogerty's singing in the title role. Almost always on pitch, and an exercise in virtuoso vocalism. (He'd have ended up in opera had he taken a different career path.)

It made me wonder how many pop/rock singers of his era could match him for sheer vocal chops.

 

Huh??? Fogerty did NOT do the vocals for Jesus Christ Superstar... Arnie

 

I agree. I think Fogarty, Lennon and McCartney are all absurdly overrated.

 

Thanks. I was wondering for a minute if there was some wonderful version of JCS I'd been missing out on all these years!

 

That was Ted Neely.

 

No.