“That's not easy to find in a corporate world, somebody who cares about music.”
- Michael Penn
It's John Fogerty's birthday (1945). I've already talked about him and the importance Creedence Clearwater Revival has had in my life. But, I wanted to mention an interesting part of Fogerty's story.
The list of bands and musicians that have been screwed by unscrupulous managers and record companies is longer than a John Bonham drum solo. In most cases, young, hungry musicians sign unfavorable contracts that turn over much or all of the rights to their songs to management. Long story short, this is what happened to Fogerty. Fogerty and CCR signed with Fantasy Records in 1964. Contractually, Fantasy owned the rights to all of CCR's songs. That meant that neither Fogerty or any other band member made a dime from the phenomenal string of hit songs they released between 1968 and 1972. It took Fogerty 40 years of court battles before he ever saw any royalty money.
Even crazier, in 1985, Fantasy Records and its president, Saul Zaentz, sued Fogerty for “self-plagerism.” The claim being that Fogerty had ripped off CCR's song Run Through the Jungle (which Fantasy owned the rights to) with his song Old Man Down from his solo album, Centerfield. Here's the absurdity: 15 years earlier, Run Through the Jungle had appeared on CCR's album Cosmo's Factory. It was written and preformed by John Fogerty. So, the claim in the suit was that John Fogerty had plagiarized…himself.
At the trial, Fogerty took the stand with his guitar. He played both songs to the jury to demonstrate that the similarities in the two existed because, low and behold, people tend to sound like themselves. And since they were both his songs, duh. The jury deliberated for less than two hours before returning a verdict in favor of Fogerty.
Here are some others that have had a bone to pick with the guys in the tasseled shoes. What should be added?