# Remembering When John Fogerty Rocketed Back to Pop Stardom in 1985

- URL: https://talkfuse.com/story/remembering-when-john-fogerty-rocketed-back-to-pop-stardom-in-1985/
- Published: 2026-11-15T11:00:00+00:00
- Updated: 2026-11-15T11:26:00+00:00
- Original publisher: American Songwriter
- Original article: https://americansongwriter.com/remembering-when-john-fogerty-rocketed-back-to-pop-stardom-in-1985/
- Topics: Space, Technology

## Key points

- *Centerfield* brought John Fogerty back to pop success in 1985.
- A fishing trip helped break his long spell of writer’s block.
- Fogerty won a lawsuit alleging he copied his own CCR work.

## Summary

John Fogerty returned to major chart success in 1985 with *Centerfield*, after years away from music and a difficult start to his solo career. The album’s success revived his pop profile, drawing in part on the gritty sound that had made Creedence Clearwater Revival famous.

After CCR broke up in 1972, contract problems and writer’s block left Fogerty releasing only two albums in the 1970s, with one Top 40 hit. A fishing trip sparked the song “I Saw It On The TV”, and a new deal with Warner Brothers helped him resume recording; Fogerty played every instrument on *Centerfield*. Its first single, “The Old Man Down The Road”, led to a plagiarism lawsuit from former label owner Saul Zaentz over its resemblance to CCR’s “Run Through The Jungle”; Fogerty won. His 1986 follow-up, *Eye Of The Zombie*, did not match the album’s success.

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