Creedence Clearwater Revival

A photo of the group taken in May 1971. From left to right: Tom Fogerty, Doug Clifford, Stu Cook, John Fogerty.

Creedence Clearwater Revival headlined at Woodstock at the height of their career. While the band did not play any explicitly political songs at the festival, they personified the hippie ethos.

The month following Woodstock, CCR released “Fortunate Son” which became an anthem of the movement against the war in Vietnam. The song criticizes the injustice of how the socially and politically privileged elite could avoid serving in Vietnam, while disenfranchised young men had no choice. Not only do the lyrics address economic and social inequality, they also point to the hypocrisy of what group of Americans were being criticized as draft-dodgers.