At 76-years-old, Bruce Springsteen is still inarguably among the coolest figures in American rock, but what exactly is coolness as a concept?

Since the earliest days of rock and roll, when Elvis Presley emerged with his greased-back quiff and outrageous hip-shaking dancemoves, coolness has been seen as a kind of measure of success – the cooler you are, in the eyes of the mainstream, the better your music is. Hence why Pat Boone and Cliff Richard are consigned to the forgotten shelves of charity shops while Little Richard and Chuck Berry are still beloved figures throughout the rock world.

Although he never went the whole hog, playing into the farcical image of coolness by donning James Dean-esque leather jackets and shades, Springsteen has always had an air of coolness surrounding him, perhaps owing to his rough-and-ready adolescent surroundings in the depths of New Jersey. Even ‘The Boss’ himself, however, has often been quick to point out that the fickle nature of coolness is no substitute for genuine musical greatness.

It was in the wake of the counterculture boom that Springsteen made his first marks on the music world, and despite its proposed message of cultural revolution and anti-war politics, the hippie age was packed full of bands and singers attempting to look far cooler than they actually were. Of course, there were the likes of Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison, and Janis Joplin, who were every bit as cool as they presented themselves as, but there were also a lot of artists playing dress-up.

Not only is that degree of posturing rather cringeworthy to look back on, but it risked leaving some of the era’s greatest musical contributions written as off being too uncool to pay attention to. This was something that Springsteen could never abide, and he made sure to set the record straight in 1993 when he inducted Creedence Clearwater Revival into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

“In their day, Creedence never got the respect they deserved,” he declared. “They committed the sin of being too popular when hipness was all.” Not only did the swamp rock progenitors’ mainstream success damage their reputation among the underground realm of hippiedom, but their refusal to drink or do drugs while performing was also out of step with the ‘cool’ way of doing things at the time.

Nevertheless, John Fogerty and the gang produced some of the greatest anthems of that entire movement, from the enduring anti-war message of ‘Fortunate Son’ to the compelling grooves of ‘Proud Mary’.

Cool or not, it would take a particularly egregious contrarian to denounce the genius of the band’s material. As Springsteen put it, “They played no-frills American music for the people. They weren’t the hippest band in the world; just the best.”

At the end of the day, CCR’s beloved discography will far outlast the memory of who wore the hippest clothes or took the most acid back in the heady days of Woodstock rebellion; they had something far more permanent to offer than chasing fashions.