Australia boasts a particularly strong, ludicrously disproportionate affinity with Creedence Clearwater Revival. Per capita – our fair nation’s obsession with the band consistently shines through in chart positions, sales and radio airplay. It’s a fact many people forget that their 1970Cosmo’s Factory spent an astonishing 19 weeks atop the Australian Charts, parking itself at the head of the esteemed hit parade of albums from September 1970 to January 1971 (knocking off Simon & Garfunkel Bridge Over Troubled Waterand replaced by no less than Led Zeppelin III).

Through their studio albums and compilation albums – their cumulative sales record in Australia is probably close to peerless. Anthems like “Fortunate Son,” “Travelling Band,” “Proud Mary,” “Bad Moon Rising,” “Green River,” and “Down on the Corner” are staples of classic rock radio, pub jukeboxes and indeed iPod playlists. To the generation who grew up with the songs, they are intrinsically the soundtrack to their lives. To those who have discovered the unique gems after the fact, they are the sound of a time and place seemingly much more exciting, cutting edge and all-embracing than today.