Creedence Clearwater Revival were a San Francisco band of the 1960s that
had nothing to do with Human Be Ins, Timothy Leary, or the Summer of
Love. They were, for a time, the most popular band in the US but never
scored a number one hit. They were headliners at Woodstock but didn't
appear in the film or on the soundtrack LP. They shared a radical 'back
to basics' sensibility with The Band but were not embraced by the
emerging rock press with anywhere near the same enthusiasm. When the
punks were hunting dinosaur bands to extinction in 1977, Richard Hell
covered one of their songs on his debut album. In the 1980s, as their
songs became staples of 'classic rock' radio, they were revered by
underground bands like The Gun Club, The Minutemen and The Scientists.
As Butch said to Sundance, 'Who are those guys?' In this book, a
track-by-track analysis of all the band's recorded output, Tony Thompson
rolls up the sleeves on his plaid shirt and prepares to answer the big
questions. Who's Jody? What is 'chooglin'? Where is Green River? Why
can't the singer leave Lodi? Who was the fortunate son? Is the bathroom
on the right?