Hot take:
One gets tired of them, in a way that you don't of John Mellencamp songs (came along slightly later, I know). In fact, if I ask which 70s male megastars still hold up (Tom Petty? Bruce Springsteen? Bob Seger?), Mellencamp is the only one.
There aren't too many songs that, after you've heard them a bazillion times, you're still up for one more. CCR hits are not those.
70s music that doesn't ever get old for me: First two sabbath albums Floyd until they went all experimental. Folksy john denver (as opposed to country)
When did they get more experimental then their debut album "the piper at the gates of dawn"?
I think their early stuff (Piper, Saucer) had a structure of sorts, but it was kinda out there and probably only Syd really understood it
Ummagumma was throwing stuff at the wall to see what stuck, and by Meddle they started actually developing a marketable formula (I'd say Atom Heart Mother is somewhere in the middle)
Then after Dark Side, they started their real structure and had piles of success until Waters was myopic enough to kick out the only person in the band that mattered
I think the Mellencamp lyrics have a universality that's lacking in most rock, which is largely teen-age and young adult themes. I'm thinking especially about "Little Pink Houses."
He's a Midwestern boy. What can I say?
I knew this would happen, but I was hopin' not today.
So many things we know will happen eventually, but please, NOT today!