Creedence Clearwater Revival Have Been Quietly Crushing It In 2024
If you’re not a frequent reader of Rolling Stone or its website, you’re in luck, because that’s sort of what I get paid a sort of liveable wage to do. (Which is, frankly, my own fault because I just had to get a journalism degree.) A few days ago, contributing editor Rob Sheffield had a piece published titled “The Biggest Band in America in 2024 Is … Creedence Clearwater Revival.” With a title that surprising and eye-catching, even people who don’t like CCR would likely be inclined to read the article.
Here’s the fun twist, though: It’s apparent that seemingly everyone likes CCR. Sheffield brilliantly makes this argument by pointing to Chronicle, Creedence’s 20-track greatest hits album released in 1976, which is often hanging out on the Billboard 200 album chart. (As of publishing, the LP has spent 705 weeks on the chart.)
Sheffield notes that the low-key dominance of Chronicle “is riding high” on the chart and is often “somewhere in the thirties or forties.” He added that at the time he was writing the article, Chronicle was number 39, one spot ahead of pop star Ariana Grande’s album Eternal Sunshine.
Sheffield’s article, which you should read in its entirety, points to the undeniable fact that CCR’s songs are just so damn good, and they’re a band that has seemed to resonate without the typical mystique or drama of other classic rock giants. It was, is and always will be about the music. John Fogerty himself addressed the article in a video on Instagram. He says, in part, “I just think it’s fascinating and pretty wonderful. I feel great that my music is still revered like this. God bless you, fans, for hanging on to these songs and singing them, carrying them in your heart all these years. I’m excited! I think it’s really cool. Thank you for this wonderful gift.”
Perhaps that’s why Chronicle was always a mainstay whenever my entire family was in the car together growing up. In the wacky Venn diagram of my family’s collective musical taste, there was very little overlap between my mom, my dad, my brother and myself in music that we all liked.
If memory serves, there were three acts that we all could agree on. Rod Stewart was definitely one, and I distinctly recall Unplugged…and Seated getting played to death in the car. (That’s not necessarily a complaint because that live album still rules.) The second was Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band, because we were a family with Boomer parents living in suburban Detroit, and it might be against the law in the state of Michigan to not adore Seger. The third? You guessed it, Frank Stallone Creedence Clearwater Revival.
Even when I got my driver’s license, I played Chronicle in the car when it was just me. Of course, I do have minor trauma flashbacks because I remember listening to “Up Around the Bend” when I got into my first car accident. (“Come on the rising wind/We’re going up around the…” CRASH!)
Creedence Clearwater Revival’s music has, of course, been passed down through generations, but perhaps the enduring success of Chronicle shows that maybe some of that success could just be people finding good music and embracing it. It’s the sort of thing that gives you hope in this world full of gimmicks and the constant pressure on acts to “go viral.” Sometimes, just being good is just enough.
