CREEDENCE

While I picked up most of my love for music from my father, sometimes I learned from my friends as well. In the early 70s, Danny lived across the street from me and three doors. up. After school I would go over to his house and we would hang out and play music. I remember one day when I was over there and so was another neighborhood boy named Troy who lived at the end of the block. Usually, I brought a stack of my albums up to his house and we would spin them on his little turntable on his back patio, while talking school or sports or neighborhood girls.

Before that day, Danny never said anything when I showed up with my Partridge Family albums and we always gave them a spin. But on this particular day, Danny said, "Hey, I just got this new album. Let's put it on." When I agreed, he pulled out Cosmo's Factory by Creedence Clearwater Revival. How stupid, I thought, why would an eight year old spend his hard-earned birthday money on a record like that when he could have bought a perfectly good Partridge Family, Donny Osmond, or Bobby Sherman album? I knew the hit from the album was "Who'll Stop the Rain," and I liked the song all right for old people music. After all, I happened to know that my own DAD had that very same album and played it all the time. I mean, it sounded all right, I guess, if you liked that kind of music, but it would never give "I Can Feel Your Heartbeat" or "Doesn't Somebody (Want to be Wanted)" a run for it's money. But Troy seemed to like it, too, so I thought I'd better keep my mouth shut.

Needless to say, much, much later, I realized that Danny was light years ahead of his time. "Who'll Stop the Rain" is now one of my favorite songs of all time, and the reason I remember that day is because since then, I've always thought of CCR as one of the greatest rock and roll bands of the rock era--the stripped down sound, the raw edged sexuality, and, of course, the graceful mix of country, blues, and soul. Cosmo's Factory is a seminal rock and roll record that, I can safely say, beats the crap out of anything by the Partridge Family.