AS HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS MY BUDDY AND I WERE WILD ABOUT CCR. WE WORE FLANNEL SHIRTS TO SCHOOL , WHICH WE PROUDLY REFERRED TO AS OUR "JOHN C. FOGERTY" SHIRTS. IT WAS SILLY BUT WE WERE KIDS AND ENTITLED TO OUR TEENAGE PASSIONS. IN THE SPRING OF '72 WE MADE IT TO LINCOLN, NEBRASKA FOR A CCR CONCERT AT PERSHING HALL AND THOUGHT WE WERE IN HEAVEN.

AS MAJOR FANS, IT WAS NATURAL THAT WE FORMED IMAGES OF WHAT THE MEMBERS OF THE BAND WERE LIKE. TO US, THEY WERE TALENTED, OF COURSE, BUT ALSO HONEST, GENUINE, AND LOYAL, TO EACH OTHER AND TO THEIR VISION. FOR THIS REASON, IT WAS VERY DISAPPOINTING TO SEE AN INTERVIEW WITH JCF ON TV A FEW YEARS AGO. HE SAID, IN SUBSTANCE, THAT THERE NEVER WAS A "CCR"; HE SUPPLIED ALL OF THE TALENT AND WAS THE ENTIRE BAND. BESIDES SOUNDING INSANELY EGOTISTICAL, SOMETHING I EXPERIENCED A FEW YEARS AFTER THE BREAK UP OF THE BAND LEADS ME TO BELIEVE THAT EVEN FOGERTY DID NOT FULLY UNDERSTAND THE SOUND OF HIS OWN BAND. I HEARD ON A RADIO STATION A VERSION OF THE OLD COUNTRY SONG "YOU LOAD 16 TONS", AND SAID TO MY ROOMMATE, THAT HAS TO BE CCR WITHOUT THE JCF VOCAL AND GUITAR. SURE ENOUGH, WHEN I BOUGHT THE RECORD AT THE LOCAL STORE, IT WAS MADE BY STU COOK AND DOUG CLIFFORD, YET IT HAD THE CCR SOUND.