Bad Moon Rising – Creedence Clearwater Revival

February 21, 2024SongOf The Day

Creedence Clearwater Revival: Bad Moon Rising

The song of the day is “Bad Moon Rising” by Creedence Clearwater Revival. It was written by John Fogerty and released on April 4, 1969, on the band’s Green River album.

This song was released during the Vietnam war and encompassed the overall hopeless feeling John Fogerty felt.

Fun Facts:

Before they were Creedence Clearwater Revival, John & Tom Fogerty, Stu Cook and Doug Clifford were known as the Blue Velvets. They briefly changed their name to the Golliwogs before becoming CCR in 1967.
The band is from El Cerrito, California.
The band’s first single was “Susie Q” in 1968. This was the band’s only Top 40 single that was not written by John Fogerty. Rather, it came from Dale Hawkins.
Fogerty originally wrote the song after watching the post-apocalypse movie The Devil and Daniel Webster.
Despite their success, their songs never reached #1. While they did have five singles that hit the charts, they all stopped at #2, giving CCR the award for most #2 singles without ever topping the chart.
The song did make it to the #1 spot on the UK Singles Chart in September of 1969. It stayed there for three weeks.
“Bad Moon Rising” ranked at #364 on Rolling Stone’s l500 Greatest Songs of All Time.
CCR broke up in 1972 after four years together. After Tom left the group, John cited irreconcilable differences between him and Clifford and Cook. John has refused to perform with the two and even performed their induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame concert without them.