Read Fortunate Son by John Fogerty Book Review
John Fogerty, Fortunate Son & Survivor Of The Cutthroat Music Manufacture
The Story Of Creedence Clearwater Revival'south Leader
It's a justifiable sentiment, because if John Fogerty was not a control freak, Creedence Clearwater Revival (CCR) would never have become one of the most popular rock bands in the world.
Many CCR fans may be unaware, that Fogerty'south bandmates; bassist Stu Cook, drummer Doug "Cosmo" Clifford and Fogerty'due south older blood brother, rhythm guitarist Tom Fogerty, until CCR's final album, contributed nil to the band in terms of music, lyrics, production, mixing and arrangements of songs. Without John Fogerty, Creedence Clearwater Revival was zip, according to Fogerty.
While that may sound like a self-inflated opinion, it is probably more of an objective fact. Between 1968 to 1972, John Fogerty every bit lead vocaliser, sole songwriter, lead guitarist, arranger and producer, garnered over 20 striking singles and millions of album sales. CCR'due south commercial success during that time was rivaled by no one except the Beatles and possibly Led Zeppelin.
For all that success, John Fogerty was paid back with multiple lawsuits brought against him by his bandmates and the band'due south ain record company, Fantasy Records and its vindictive, unscrupulous owner Saul Zaentz. This resulted in a torturous 15 year period where Fogerty would not play any of the songs he had written and made into radio staples. These are songs that will stand up the test of time, including, Proud Mary, Up Around the Bend, Fortunate Son, Bad Moon Ascent, Green River, Born on the Bayou, Who'll Stop The Rain, and Downwards on the Corner. The riffs of many of these songs are uniquely Fogerty, recognizable afterwards only a few notes.
John Fogerty tells the story of four young kids from El Cerrito, a small town exterior of San Francisco, who just wanted to make music and become a tape bargain. The ring signed a contract that Fogerty believes may not accept e'er been looked at by a lawyer.
That contract tied John Fogerty to what amounted to an endless menstruation of indentured servitude. When the ring officially broke upward, the other members were released from their obligations, John Fogerty was not. In five years the band cranked out vii studio albums containing multiple hit singles and toured all over the world. Those albums made Saul Zaentz wealthy.
Fogerty explains how Zaentz, broke promise after promise to negotiate a meliorate deal and contract for the band. Fogerty's songs were owned by Fantasy and the band's earnings were moved into a shady offshore cyberbanking scheme that took all their money. Fogerty accepts some of the blame for these actions. What was unacceptable was Zaentz and Fogerty's former CCR bandmates suing Fogerty multiple times.
Arguably the most notorious and contentious lawsuit occurred in 1988 when Zaentz sued Fogerty for releasing a song called The Quondam Human being Is Downward The Route on his solo anthology Centerfield. Zaentz claimed plagiarism of a Creedence song Run Through The Jungle which of course was written past John Fogerty. In doing so Zaentz sued John Fogerty for stealing from John Fogerty!
As preposterous every bit this lawsuit may audio now, at the fourth dimension it would have been a huge defeat for all songwriters had Zaentz prevailed. Fortunately Fogerty won the case. What startled and hurt Fogerty the most was during testimony he discovered drummer Doug Clifford, was the one who brought up the similarities of the two songs to Zaentz and suggested Zaentz sue Fogerty.
It is credible John Fogerty did not have a ghost writer for this book as many celebrities practise. As great of a songwriter as Fogerty is, the volume is messy in its narrative and timeline. Many details of Fogerty's life are inexplicably omitted. He describes being i of five boys and doesn't name two of his brothers. Basic details such as the birth order are left out. Fogerty doesn't place himself in a family picture as if the reader is supposed to recognize the the adult Fogerty every bit a child. What became of Fogerty's commencement wife and their children? Time jumps back and forth within chapters. You re-read certain sections, saying "did I skip something?"
The savior of John Fogerty'south life is second wife Julie who co-writes later chapters of the volume with John. The two have at present been married for nearly thirty years and information technology is Julie who has put back the cleaved pieces to make John Fogerty whole again.
Disallowment the book's sloppy structure, the great information fully overwhelms the bad. John Fogerty is honest in describing his anguish and pain. His long battle with alcohol corruption is brutally self reflective with no excuses. The fallout with brother and bandmate Tom Fogerty also took a toll on John. Tom sided with Saul Zaentz in disputes with John. Tom in one case naively described Zaentz to John as his "best friend."
When Tom Fogerty died in 1990 from complications from AIDS, acquired from a blood transfusion, "best friend" Saul Zaentz did not attend his funeral.
Fortunate Son is a fascinating memoir from 1 of the most creative songwriters of all-time. Fogerty's love and respect of all types of music clearly come up through with mentions of songs, personalities and musicians, many little known, except to music afficianados. Fogerty's influences come up from a wide spectrum including Elvis Presley, Robert Johnson, Woody Guthrie, and Chet Atkins to Lightnin' Hopkins, Hoagy Carmichael and Brian Wilson.
Fogerty pays homage to those who artists who came earlier him and those who have arrived after him. Fogerty describes where CCR's songs emerged from, the procedure he used to create them, their instrumentalization and their mixing and production. If you lot are a musician the details will be interesting, if not, they may be likewise detailed. For fans who like to translate lyrics, Fogerty describes what many of his songs are most.
The emphasis on his songs is considering Stu Cook and Doug Clifford since 1993 accept toured as Creedence Clearwater Revisited without John. With the exception of the concluding original Creedence album, 1972's Mardi Gras, both Cook and Clifford never wrote whatever of the music or lyrics that made Creedence famous.
By 1972 Tom Fogerty had left the band. Melt and Clifford wanted democracy in the creative procedure. Over his ain doubts, Fogerty gave it to them. Each member of the ring contributed three songs which they wrote and sung themselves. The Cook and Clifford songs on Mardi Gras are banal. Ii of Fogerty's three contributions became hits, Sugariness Hitchhiker and Someday Never Comes. So much for artistic freedom, the anthology was panned past fans and critics akin.
It should be noted that John Fogerty shared all songwriting credits and the band'due south meager earnings after Zaentz took the majority of their coin from record sales and song publishing.
The magic behind Creedence was all John Fogerty, hence the command freak moniker that Fogerty agrees with. Interviewers who now enquire Cook and Clifford about classic CCR songs and how they were developed, is like request a person who is a flying attendant on a jet airliner how to build and fly one.
John Fogerty is the airplane pilot and builder of CCR. Fans who want to empathise the man should accept a look at Fortunate Son.
Source: https://stuffnobodycaresabout.com/2018/12/03/john-forgerty/
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