Brothers At Arms – John and Tom Fogerty

We all know the great album Brothers in Arms from Dire Straits, but sometimes those brothers are “at arms” rather than in them. In this part of the mini-series Randy, from mostlymusiccovers.com, talks about the “Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em” Siblings of the Fogerty brothers from Creedence Clearwater Revival.

“Proud Mary” written by John Fogerty was CCR’s first big hit single peaking at #2.

Tom was the elder of the two brothers, he was born in 1941 (1990) and John was born in 1945, now age 78. They were born in Berkley but grew up in El Cerrito, California. Tom signed a record contract in 1959 but had little success in terms of recording a hit. John and his band would eventually provide backing to Tom and this led to the creation of the Golliwogs where John and Tom shared lead vocals. By the time Credence Clearwater Revival (CCR) had formed in 1967, John had stepped to the forefront as lead singer, guitar player, and principal songwriter.

That is Tom on the left and John on the right.

CCR would go on to what is now regarded as legendary success. Between 1968 and 1970 they released six albums, two of them charting #1. They still hold the record for having five songs reach #2 without ever having a #1 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Tom left the band early in 1971 to pursue a solo career. CCR would release just one more album Mardi Gras in 1972 but had recorded two of the songs before Tom left. There is no evidence that things got physical but they argued a lot and the tension was high.

Tom’s departure leads us further into the discussion about the feud between him and John was more than just that. As with any break-up, there are two sides to every story, and with this one, there are at least 5 sides, the most notorious falling out suffice to say is with John and their former boss at Fantasy Records, Saul Zaentz. I won’t get too much into that story today and most will be familiar with Zaentz taking control of the CCR music and also controlling the copyright and the infamous lawsuits. I discussed this in a post back in 2018.

John admittedly was so bitter he stopped playing music for almost 10 years. Some years after the nasty split up of CCR, Fogerty recorded two songs aimed squarely at Zaentz, “Zanz Kant Danz” and “Mr. Greed”. John would eventually emerge victorious over the lawsuits brought by Zaentz and his own subsequent countersuit.

For Tom’s part, he clearly sided with Zaentz. Early on Tom was named in the lawsuit against John and at one time referred to Zaentz as his “best friend”. The band, including Tom and Zaentz had their money invested and got a tip to pull out, they didn’t tell John and he lost almost everything. At the heart of the trouble was that Tom left CCR as he felt John had taken control of the band. This I think, is a fair statement. John wrote most all of the lyrics and the music. Certainly for all their big hits. He had the best and most distinctive voice, and at lead guitar was the best musician.

As a band member, Tom in all honesty could not, and did not do better. At their height, they were one of the most successful Rock bands and history has certainly born that out. An estimated 50 million in record sales in about five years is nothing to sneeze at. John as a solo artist has almost doubled that number.

“Have You Ever Seen the Rain”, words and music by John Fogerty and the last hit single before the departure of Tom from the band.

Now I am not saying John is blameless for the falling out, I am sure he might have handled things better, but his ego I think would get in the way. But there may have been little he could have done. Tom’s actions in many ways seem born of jealousy. He decided to leave CCR. I understand his reasoning, he felt he had some good songs and he wanted to sing lead on them, John felt that the band was doing just fine with the way things were, and he wasn’t wrong. Despite the success John brought to CCR, it seems after the breakup it was John that got the cold shoulder from everyone.

Once the band split a year or so later the acrimonious relationship(s) only got worse, with John at the center and Tom and the others all playing a part.

As mentioned, Tom would embark on a solo career with his first album charting at #78 which is the best he would do. I did hear Tom in an interview say that had he been able to do things over, he would not have left the band. John did contribute some guitar tracks on Tom’s Zephyr National (1974). John also attended Tom’s wedding in 1980 and a high school reunion in 1984, and at both they jammed a bit.

John released Blue Ridge Rangers (1973) which charted at #47 and then in 1975 his album John Fogerty had the hit single “Rockin’ All Over the World” that peaked at #27. The weight of the various lawsuits and his admitted bitterness over the feud with Tom and the others led him to withdraw from the business. He was actually barred from playing any CCR songs for several years.

Over the years that followed John made some attempts to reconcile, motivated more for their mother’s benefit. Tom would receive an HIV-contaminated blood transfusion after back surgery and the ensuing complications would lead to his eventual death in 1990. Truly tragic.

The brothers never did reconcile and for John’s part, he says he has forgiven Tom.

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Author: Badfinger (Max)

Power Pop fan, Baseball, Beatles, Alternative music, old movies, and tv show fan. Also anything to do with pop culture in the 60s and 70s... I'm also a songwriter, bass and guitar player. Not the slightest bit interested in politics at all.

31 thoughts on “Brothers At Arms – John and Tom Fogerty”

  1. Bitterness by the bucketload. No one comes out blameless, but John not being able to play his own compositions and being sued by Tom’s friend for self-plagiarism? I think I’d feel a bit stinky over that too.

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  4. I can empathize with Tom. It must have been difficult to have been eclipsed by his younger brother. John was clearly the “talent” in CCR, however, and I think Tom and his best friend did him dirty.

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    1. Sorry for the late response! Yea I thought the rest of the band did him dirty. I know the ego can really get to you…but he was in the #1 band in America…I mean just see it through.

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  5. Great stuff! I’m the big brother who’s 3 years younger than I am (he’ll be 57 next month) & we work hard to keep our relationship positive. That’s a sad story about the Fogerty’s although it’s understandable & unfortunately common.

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  7. The warring brothers that set the standard for all sparring siblings to come! I only learned through you, in a prior post, that Tom liked Zaentz, that had to be a bit of a can of gas on the fire. Still, it’s all been said- John was the real talent but also a bit of a dictator. Solo records suit his style better though I don’t think his solos ever eclipsed CCR

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  9. Merl Saunders had invited Tom Fogarty to hear him and Bill Vitt and Jerry Garcia, and within a week he was up on the stage with them.  In 1971, he decided that that was the kind of music that he wanted to be involved in.

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  10. Some families are fated to dysfunctional trajectories and some of those families involve musicians. Sounds like a lot of grief to go around in this family. I’m glad they their music before they split that we continue to enjoy.

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      1. I’ll answer this one…it’s a strange day Lisa! I’m sitting back watching other people reply on both posts! I kinda like this! lol.

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    1. I totally agree with that…the bigger you get the more attention you will get and it would have helped him. Now…saying that…John could have listened to a song or two by him…he actually had a few that were good.

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  12. It’s a sad background story related to one of my longtime favorite bands, CCR. I also love John Fogerty. Music is a cut throat business, which oftentimes breeds egos, greed and jealousy. I find it truly heart-breaking John and Tom weren’t able to reconcile.

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  13. Without being an expert (far from it) CCR seemed to be John’s vehicle, a hugely talented songwriter, singer and guitarist, and the other guys’, including his bro Tom, adequate musicians wanting more accolades. I know a lot of bad decisions were made business-wise and musically (Mardi Gras anyone?) but they were not well advised. Great article Max. Enjoyed it.,

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  14. Pingback: Brothers At Arms – Angus and Malcolm Young – PowerPop… An Eclectic Collection of Pop Culture

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