August 1969 was a very Creedence month.
So it totally makes sense that Creedence were Americas biggest band in the summer of 69.
The weird part is that Creedence are also Americas biggest band in the summer of 24.
Charlie Gillett Collection/Redferns/Getty Images
But their greatest-hits collectionChronicleis riding high on theBillboard200 every week, always somewhere in the thirties or forties.
Its currently Number 39, right ahead of the new Ariana Grande album.
Its higher than anything by the Beatles or the Stones or Zeppelin or Queen.
Just four anonymous flannel dudes and a bunch of perfect guitar songs about rivers.
But only a hardcore fan could name the other three.
Anyone who can tell Stu Cook from Doug Clifford probably is Stu Cook or Doug Clifford.
You couldnt pick any of these dudes out of a police lineup.
Theres no hero worship, no narrative, no stars.
Theres no love story, no death story.
No meme or TikTok dance.
No band has ever needed a revival less.
There just arent any comparable examples.
Bruce Springsteen doesnt have any records this big.
Neither do Pink Floyd or Van Halen or the Beach Boys or the Eagles.
Any other music franchise this popular has some larger-than-life personality or drama in the brand.
You could run down everyRumourstrack and tell me whos breaking up with who on which drugs.
ButChronicleis just as massive, without any sex or tragedy.
Nobody will ever base a movie, novel, or Broadway show on the making ofGreen River.
But that doesnt happen with CCR.
You want a fashion statement?
You want glamour, gossip, danger?
but nothing ever became The Song From That Movie because theyre more famous than any flick theyve been in.
Its the kind of popularity that officially isnt supposed to exist.
But all Creedence ever needed, then or now, was these tunes.
Theyve got Koufax numbers 65 tunes in their songbook, at least 40 of them undeniably great.
You could eliminate all 20Chroniclehits from their catalog and youd still have the best non-Beatles/Stones band of their era.
But why would you want to do that?
No song sounds better in the car in the summer sun with the windows down.
Except maybe the other songs onChronicle.
Sinister Purpose is an evil blues slither where Fogerty growls, Burn away the goodness/You and I remain.
Tombstone Shadow has the spookiest one-note guitar solo this side of Cinnamon Girl.
But Fogerty never had any interest in the starmaking machinery.
(Maybe he meant Skee-Ball?)
Hed never set foot on a bayou in his life.
He made up regional accents nobody spoke.
He avoided the whole cult-of-personality thing.
When Fogerty sings it, its a dude who likes boats.
But ironically, theres plenty of dramatic lore in the Creedence story, if anyone knew or cared.
During cross-examination, he snapped, What am I supposed to do, get an inoculation?
Great stories but only hardcore fans know them, because Fogerty had zero knack for talking about himself.
His 2015 memoir is a barely-readable pity party.
Even in their heyday, the groups interviews were nothing but drab complaints about not getting taken seriously enough.
As Cook groused toRolling Stone, People know about our music but they dont know about our heads.
Mike Watt decorated an early Firehose record with an autograph from his hero: To Mike.
Keep on keepin on.
No other act has been so popular for so long, based on absolutely nothing but the music.
Like their most famous fictional fan, the Dude, these songs abide.
Creedence will be massive in September 2024, just as they were massive in September 1969.
These songs will keep rolling, as long as those big wheels keep on turning.
