Writer: John Fogerty
Producer: John Fogerty
Recorded: Early 1970, Cosmos Factory
Released: January 1970 (single), July 1970 (album)
| Players: | John Fogerty – vocals, guitar Tom Fogerty – guitar Stu Cook – bass Doug Clifford – drums |
| Album: | Cosmo's Factory (Fantasy, 1970) |
The truckload of hits and seminal rock classics that emanated from Creedence Clearwater Revival overshadow the fact that the group's peak was barely two years long.
All told, CCR released a staggering eight gold singles and five full-length albums (four of which went platinum), most of which are now regarded as classics, between the years 1969 and 1971.
Cosmos Factory, arguably the group's finest album, contains a slew of CCR classics in addition to “Who'll Stop The Rain,” such as “Lookin' Out My Back Door,” “I Heard It Through The Grapevine,” “Travellin’ Band,” “Up Around The Bend,” “Run Through The Jungle,” and “Long As I Can See The Light.”
“Who'll Stop The Rain” was one of a few socially conscious songs concerning the Vietnam war that John Fogerty wrote.
The title, Cosmos Factory, was taken from the Berkley, California warehouse the band rehearsed and recorded in.
Although Creedence is noted for its rootsy swamp sound, it was San Francisco, not New Orleans, where the band was based after its initial formation in El Cerrito, California in 1959 as Tommy Fogerty & the Blue Velvets.
Creedence, with its reverence of rockabilly, blues, and rock bang-ups, was way out of step with virtually every other Bay Area group of the era. While hippies played with flowers and dropped acid, CCR stuck to crisp (and short) proletarian tunes with a rigid adherence to song structure and instant melody lines.