How did John Fogerty come up with the name Creedence Clearwater Revival?
The rock community has always had a history with perplexing names. The entire ethos behind creating a band named Butthole Surfers is already a bit strange, and it’s a wonder why anyone looking to create something original settled on names like King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard. For a band that played some of the most ordinary rock and roll of all time, though, Creedence Clearwater Revival is still one of the more baffling names in the entire rock canon.
Despite everyone unanimously rechristening the group CCR, John Fogerty didn’t even need the name recognition to be a superstar. Half of the band’s appeal was that they made music for everyone, and as long as people could sing along to a track like ‘Proud Mary’ or ‘Have You Ever Seen the Rain’, what was the real point of who was singing what?
In fact, that may have been a double-edged sword since most of the band could pass by unrecognised and yet still feel a bit jaded that they weren’t famous outside of having a guitar strapped on. Then again, when you have a name that strange, it doesn’t exactly invite people to learn more.
Despite having a name that sounds like it’s either a particularly dour music festival or some strange law firm, let’s take a closer look at why Fogerty settled on that name. What is Creedence Clearwater Revival, and what does that name say about the kind of music that they make?
So, how did John Fogerty choose the name Creedence Clearwater Revival?
When Fogerty first started, they weren’t exactly given a band name by choice. For the first few years they were together, the group were given the name The Golliwogs by their record company, which was never exactly going to have the same ring as The Beatles or The Rolling Stones. Once management shifted at the label, Fogerty said that their first order of business was not being named The Golliwogs anymore.
While flipping through channels on Christmas Eve, though, Fogerty found the perfect name pass by, saying, “It was showing scenes of an idyllic green forest. And the next commercial was in black and white. It was an anti-pollution commercial. It said, ‘Write to Clean Water Washington’. In my mind, I turned it over to Clearwater. Creedence was a name that came down a couple of times, so I flipped that over. But it’s not complete; we were trying to spark a revitalisation. So, Creedence Clearwater Revival”.
The name might have been a mouthful, but its amazing sound and the helpful use of abbreviation has kept people saying it for years on end. Then again, there might have been a greater message behind that pollution angle.
And what does the meaning of CCR say about the band’s music?
As much as CCR could have just been any other title, and they would have sold off the strength of Fogerty’s songs, there was a lot more going into that environmental message. If you just look at their album covers, you can tell that the environmental surroundings of the band were about something more than just a few badass words thrown together.
If anything, most of their greatest works tended to be defined by that kind of environmental angle. While it’s far from being on Captain Planet territory, Fogerty’s turns of phrase were always about living off the land rather than anything high-tech, usually singing about the pleasures of just being in the middle of the forest and making an honest living however you see fit.
Despite the friction between the band members over the years, that environmental angle was just as much a part of Fogerty’s lyric writing as it was about his philosophy on life. Not everyone was going to agree with everything that the hippie generation had to say, but everyone could relate to something like the rain or the sunshine, and by putting it right there in his music, Fogerty put together the kind of name that made them the band for everybody.