Creedence Clearwater Revival Guitar Tabs

The band did not release an album in 1971 but did put out a Top 10 single, Sweet Hitch-Hiker, and toured both in the U.S. and in Europe. In spite of their continuing commercial success, relations between the remaining band members continued to deteriorate.

Cook and Clifford were hit with a bombshell by Fogerty later that year when he informed them that, for their next LP, the band would adhere to a new democratic formula, and each of the members would be responsible for a third of the record. Cook and Clifford, who had only wanted more of a voice in the business decisions, not the onus of having to write and sing on at least six songs between them, resisted this arrangement. However, Fogerty insisted that they either accept his terms, or he would quit the band, so they reluctantly agreed. The writing was on the wall for CCR's eventual demise during the recording sessions that followed, when John would refuse to contribute anything other than rhythm guitar playing to the songs written by Clifford and Cook. Fogerty's two bandmates felt that after years of them supporting every musical concept he wanted to pursue, it was a particularly cold slap in the face that he was all but abandoning them in the studio now.

The result of this is Mardi Gras, referred to as the worst record ever made by a major band. Just after the album's release, the group embarked on a spring tour which would ultimately be their last. Hecklers reportedly pelted the band with coins at their final concert, on May 22, in Denver. On October 16, Fantasy Records officially announced that Creedence Clearwater Revival had disbanded.