Art & Creativity Quote by John Fogerty

Fogerty’s line has the casual charm of a guy who’s survived his own canon and come out curious instead of calcified. The move is simple: he frames taste as something that loosens with age, then picks a deliberately “uncool” example - surf instrumentals - to prove it. Surf music is often filed under period kitsch, the soundtrack to beach movies and nostalgic radio. By singling it out, he’s not just widening the tent; he’s quietly rejecting the rockist reflex that equates seriousness with lyrics, grit, and adulthood.

The subtext is craft worship. “Anything that’s done well” is a musician’s creed dressed up as humility, and it doubles as an implicit critique of scenes that prize attitude over execution. Fogerty came up in an era when credibility was policed hard: authenticity, roots, the right kind of Americanness. Admitting affection for the Ventures - clean, virtuosic, wordless - is a small act of aesthetic disarmament. He’s granting legitimacy to a form that doesn’t sell the myth of the tortured storyteller, just the pleasure of precision.

The magazine shout-out matters, too. It’s a nod to listening as community: interviews, deep cuts, lineage. Fogerty isn’t only praising a band; he’s praising the idea that context can reopen your ears. Aging, here, isn’t retreat. It’s permission to like things without needing them to match your brand.