‘Bad Moon Rising’: How Creedence Clearwater Revival created an evergreen cinematic needle drop
When John Fogerty sat himself down to watch the 1941 supernatural film, The Devil and Daniel Webster, he probably wasn’t aware that the sudden wave of inspiration that hit him would go on to be a major hit for his band, Creedence Clearwater Revival, let alone that it would end up being one of the most frequently-used songs in cinema history itself.
The film, while relatively obscure in today’s society, gained plenty of accolades at the time of its release, most notably the Academy Award for Best Original Score, which was created by celebrated film composer Bernard Herrmann, and has been preserved by the Film and Television Archive at UCLA.
The song that it inspired, however, has taken on a life of its own within cinema, and its regular reappropriation is down to how easy it is to apply its lyrical content and jaunty rock riff to myriad situations.
When Fogerty conceived the track, the scene he pictured mirrored that of the source material, where a hurricane destroys a New Hampshire town after a man strikes a deal with the devil. The lyrics, which include lines such as “I hear hurricanes a-blowing, I know the end is coming soon,” are meant to evoke an imminent apocalypse, although the jovial nature of the melody it’s sung with seems at odds with the dark subject matter.
This makes the song itself unusual in its tone, but there’s an undeniable way in which it seems to notice impending danger, and laughs in the face of it. However, it’s not just this that makes the song so ripe for reuse in the context of film, because there are so many different ways in which the track can be interpreted that make it applicable to different scenarios, immediately lighting up any scene where it’s used as a needle drop.
Where has ‘Bad Moon Rising’ been used as a needle drop?
Perhaps the most famous instance of ‘Bad Moon Rising’ being used in a film is in the 1981 horror flick, An American Werewolf in London, during the scene where the protagonist, David, begins to transform into a werewolf under the light of the moon.
It may not have been the interpretation that Fogerty was initially expecting, but the association of full moons and lycanthropy is undeniable, and with the forewarning that CCR give on the song about this being a particularly ill-fated moon, it lends itself to this genre of film rather obviously.
Only two years later, it would feature in the fourth and final segment of The Twilight Zone: The Movie, in a remake of the episode, ‘Nightmare at 20,000 Feet’. While the premise of this part of the film focuses on overcoming a fear of flying through different tropes, such as gremlins appearing on the wings of the aircraft. While it isn’t as contextually appropriate as its use in An American Werewolf in London, the idea that the song speaks of bad omens still makes it fitting for the scene, and all the more tragic considering the film’s production has a black cloud hanging over it due to how it was notoriously almost shut down after a tragic helicopter crash on set that killed two child actors.
Since the 1980s, the song has appeared in several more films and TV shows of a similar nature, featuring in three episodes of Supernatural, the first entry into the Blade film series, and most recently, the opening scene of Final Destination: Bloodlines. It is interesting that all of the instances appear to be more closely linked with the supernatural, given how another interpretation of the song can be tied to the political outlook of the time, where the Vietnam War and the Civil Rights Movement in America were causing friction in the public.
With Fogerty and CCR being outwardly political in their lyrics, with songs like ‘Fortunate Son’ being far more explicit in their denouncing of US involvement in global conflict and handling of domestic issues, it’s understandable that ‘Bad Moon Rising’ may not be used as frequently in these settings when compared to other tracks that the band wrote. However, that doesn’t mean that it wouldn’t be ripe for selection in this situation, or anywhere foreshadowing of a terrible event needs to be conveyed in the soundtrack.
This leads to speculation about an upcoming usage of ‘Bad Moon Rising’, with it being announced as part of the soundtrack for the second series of the acclaimed Netflix drama, Wednesday. While it won’t be the original song featured in the show, with producers instead opting to have the show’s cast perform a cover of the track, its slated appearance in episode three feels as though it could provide a pivotal moment in the series, and could potentially lead to renewed interest in the song.
What could Wednesday do for ‘Bad Moon Rising’?
Given the hype that has surrounded the hit series since it first arrived on Netflix in 2022, any song featured prominently in the show’s soundtrack is bound to witness an upsurge in interest. However, in the case of ‘Bad Moon Rising’, it’s the only song to have been announced in the official soundtrack for part one of the series that is being performed by the show’s cast, which suggests that it might hold a reasonable amount of significance, and dare I say, play a part in either foreshadowing or transformation.
Of course, given how the show is a spin-off of The Addams Family, we’ve returned to the fantastical as a vehicle for the song. This is, by no means, a bad thing, but it shows how far the track has deviated from its initial intentions through its use in cinema. The prospect of it having an important feature in a show such as this is the sort of thing that drives the popularity of old songs through the roof, and given the relatively young and online audience that Wednesday has accumulated, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see Fogerty and CCR suddenly start cropping up in TikTok videos and Instagram reels.
Rather surprisingly, ‘Bad Moon Rising’ suffers from the ignominy of being one of five CCR songs to reach number two on the Billboard Hot 100, with the band failing to ever reach the dizzying heights of top spot throughout their career. It’s obviously no great shame considering the illustrious career that they had as a group, and that Fogerty had as a songwriter afterwards, but were it to prove a hit with fans of the series, there’s a significant chance that it could experience the same resurgence as Kate Bush’s ‘Running Up That Hill’ had after it featured in series four of Stranger Things.
The possibilities for its use in the show are endless, as are the possibilities for its use in other media and within popular culture. From being used as entrance music for WWE wrestlers to being adapted into a taunting football chant at the 2014 FIFA World Cup, the presence of ‘Bad Moon Rising’ has seemingly never waned, but the moment it appears in Wednesday could prove to be the catalyst that helps it eclipse all of its previous achievements.
