Creedence Clearwater Revival, Stu Cook talks to Noise11.com 

Creedence was the 2nd highest paid performers at 15K. Hendrix got 30K. Woodstock was nothing but a festival of D list folk singers until CCR signed on. The concert list then took off from there. They were promised prime slot, Sat night at 9, but the preceding act, the Dead, were 1)late 2) spent hours tuning their instruments because they were so stoned and 3) when they finally got on, they played way longer than agreed to. So CCR ended up playing at 3AM.

Ken settle, that is a pretty good & accurate reply you made! John Fogerty was/ is always trying to protect the integrity of the music they all, made! However, some people who help make it, not so much! This has been 1 of the big complication with any meaningful reconciliation with band, members!

Tom did not start the band! John, Doug and Stu started the Blue Velvets and Tom used them from time to time as a backing band. When another local band (Spider Webb and the Insects) scored a recording contract and their singer quit they asked Tom to step in.... He dropped the Blue Velvets like a hot rock and went and recorded a single with the "Insects" . The single sank without trace and the band imploded...so Tom goes back to the Blue Velvets and says "we should start a band and I'll be the leader." Because Tom was 4 years older than the other guys,( they were like 15 -16 and Tom was 19 or 20)they kind of looked up to him so they went along with it. For more than 8 years Tom was the "leader" Writing the majority of the lyrics and John writing the music. John has since described those songs as "Trite" and "a lot of earnestness about nothing" They ended up contracted to Fantasy records who had never had any dealings with rock bands. Fantasy changed their name to the Golliwogs without telling them,..they recorded a bunch of singles that went nowhere and just when the other guys are ready to give it away John tells them that he has started writing songs on his own and asks them to give it one more year trying things his way. Although John had taken over as the lead singer some time earlier Tom's "leadership" as it was, ended there. They changed their name to CCR and within a year things start happening for them in a big way. Problem was that once they had a little success Tom ,Stu and Doug wanted to go back to the way they did things before ,instead of John calling the shots. No! Why would we do that? We did that for 8 years and got nowhere. You cant really blame John for thinking that way, but that was the beginning of the end. As a line in Stu's song "take it like a friend" says "It was over before it started". P.S In all the interviews I've heard or read with Stu he always seems to have something negative to say about John's decisions or achievements with CCR or his career since, but he never seems so open to talking about his own shortcomings ...Like his failed audition with The Rolling Stones when Bill Wyman left . He did ,back in the day say something to the effect that "I knew i wasn't what they were looking for but I wasn't going to pass up the chance to Jam with the Stones. Yeah ,he wasn't what they were looking for....I can just imagine Jagger and Richards saying to each other "Have seen some of the things he has said and done to Fogerty over the years....Do we really want a spiteful ingrate like that in our band"

The fact of the matter is that he and Doug and Tom were a fantastic rhythm section.

yup,sad,john is doing well for years and stu and doug are homeless i heard!!!lol

@@markusrose9667 and?that worked out well for them for the last 30 years!!lol

@@markusrose9667 they were ok, but nothing that any solid session musician could've done.

Stu and Doug grew up and put flesh on John's great writing. Yes, John was the creative center of it all, and a brilliant guitar player, but these guys were there as it developed. They played a major role in it. John's backing musicians (some serious talent there too) since have shown that Stu and Doug were not just a couple of competent hacks who could've been replaced by anyone. They were the ones who came in everyday and worked at this stuff. John's backing bands since he reappeared do not create the sound and feeling of CCR the way these two do. Give them some credit.

@@Nedley1 lol,yeah ok!!!

@@Nedley1 They had 40 years. In Revisited to do there own new material. They road Johns coat tails. Right to the end. Finally gave Revisited a listen to. Very bad cover band

John was the lead singer the star of the show. The voice that led them to stardom. Stu was the cause of all the legal issues around John and Fantasy.

@@Nedley1 any session musician could've done what Stu and Doug did. Have you listened to Mardi Gras!? It's fucking garbage. John WAS Creedence. HE was the writer of ALL the songs that mattered. Stu was the driving force that tore the band apart.