Zaentz not only owned Fantasy, he also owned everything Creedence Clearwater Revival recorded as well as the songs that John Fogerty wrote under the band’s original contract with the label.
The bad deal by Creedence Clearwater Revival would cost the band 10’s of millions of dollars in royalties, all of which went to Zaentz instead. When Fogerty released his solo records away from Zaentz, Zaentz sued him for plagiarizing claiming that John Fogerty the solo artist sounded too similar to John Fogerty the CCR singer. Zaentz went for $140 million in damages from Fogerty. He lost.
Fogerty sued for costs and won. He then wrote and released the songs Zanz Can’t Dance and Mr. Greed about his former label boss.
Zaentz then sued Fogerty for defamation over the lyrics to Zanz Can’t Dance (“Zanz can’t dance but he’ll steal your money”).
Zaentz also tried to claim damages for Fogerty’s hit song Old Man Down The Road claiming that it sounded too similar to his Creedence Clearwater Revival song Run Through The Jungle.
The defamation case was settled when Fogerty changed the title of Zanz Can’t Dance to Vanz Can’t Dance. Zaenz lost the Old Man Down The Road case.
Based on Facebook and Twitter posts on his official pages following the news of Zaentz’s death last night, Fogerty is hardly in a forgiving mood. Instead, he simply posted a link to the official ‘Vanz Can’t Dance’ video, complete with animated dancing pigs.
