#2485 - John Fogerty

Key Takeaways

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  Fogerty used starvation to avoid military service

  “I had determined to lose a lot of weight. So I was really skinny by 1967, 68 I mean, I think it was 129 pounds. Then I was going to go to the, I think it was the Presidio and I had to meet with an Army doctor and my friends gave me a couple of joints, and I stuck them in... So if you want, yeah, man, he went on a starvation diet, a protest diet and then smoked a lot of weed.”

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  CCR hits are popular UFC walkout songs

  “You are like one of the main voices of Rock & Roll in America, if you really think about it. Your songs, I mean, you have so many gigantic hits. You know, when the UFC has a lot of walkout songs, you know, when fighters come out and walk out, a lot of guys walk out to your music. I don't even know if you are aware of it. But Fortunate Son is a big one. Bad Moon Rising, that's another big one people walk out to.”

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  Saul Zaentz sued Fogerty for self-plagiarism

  “I got sued for sounding like myself. I had made a new song called The Old Man Down the Road. It was on my album, it was my comeback on Center Field. I had finally gotten away from Fantasy Records, which is where Creedence was, and Saul Sands, who owned it. When you finally escape and get success over somewhere else, the former people tend to be jealous, I guess. He was suing me.”

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  The music business exploits artist catalogs

  “Most people had no idea how evil the music business can be. Unless they were told, they had no idea. They bought the albums, they loved the musicians, and they just liked the music. They didn't know what was going on behind the scenes. They didn't know how these people own your catalog, they own the music, they own the publishing, they try to just get as much money out of you as humanly possible, own your name, own your likeness.”

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  Fogerty won the right to his style

  “How unfair would it be that at some point, somebody takes ownership of your style and now say, you have to go back and invent some other style, be some other person. You know, it's just that would be really difficult. Imagine Dylan or Springsteen or all the other people that have their own style, having to reinvent and change to something else. Well, it's a blessing to the world, I think, that I prevailed.”

Episode Description

John Fogerty is a Grammy-winning solo musician, former leader of Creedence Clearwater Revival, and an inductee of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and the Songwriters Hall of Fame. His latest album is “Legacy: The Creedence Clearwater Revival Years.”www.concordrecords.com/collections/john-fogerty/products/legacy-the-creedence-clearwater-revival-years-liberty-2lp-vinylwww.youtube.com/johnfogertywww.johnfogerty.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices