Creedence Clearwater Revival’s Masterpiece Is Back On Vinyl For Its 50th Anniversary

Creedence Clearwater Revival went on rock radio sometime in the ‘60s, and basically never left. If you’ve listened to classic rock radio anytime since the format was invented, you’ve heard dozens of their songs, and Cosmo’s Factory is largely why. This album is wall-to-wall hits, which is why it topped the charts in at least six countries, and strangely, even charted as an R&B album thanks to the stellar cover of “I Heard It Through The Grapevine” included here.

But that’s not the only hit on this album: Cosmo’s Factory has “Run Through The Jungle” and “Who’ll Stop The Rain,” two songs that spoke to the Vietnam experience happening for many of the group’s hometown peers. While other bands spoke to the counterculture and were considered “cooler” than CCR ever was, Creedence made music for the Middle American teenagers forced into serving in Vietnam by the draft.

Those three songs would be enough to make the album a hit, but this one tacked on “Lookin’ Out My Back Door,” “Ramble Tamble,” “Up Around the Bend,” and “Long As I Can See The Light,” all deepcut staples of classic rock. The group would tour the world as conquering heroes in 1970 and 1971, and disband after 1972’s Mardi Gras, their impact on rock cemented in just one presidential term. Listen to all of Cosmo’s Factory below: