John Mellencamp

John Mellencamp (born October 7, 1951) is an American rock/roots rock singer, songwriter, and guitarist, known for a long and successful recording and performing career highlighted by a series of 1980s hits, including "Jack and Diane", "Pink Houses" and others, and by his role in the Farm Aid charity event.

Early life

Mellencamp was born in Seymour, Indiana to Marilyn Lowe and Richard Lee Mellencamp.^[1] He was born with a mild form of spina bifida that was corrected with neurosurgery when he was three weeks old, had a troubled childhood marked by several brushes with the law. At the age of 14, he was the lead singer in the band Crepe Soul, a group that played rock and soul (James Brown, Sam and Dave) cover songs at colleges, bars, raceways parks and other social events around southern Indiana in the mid-1960s. After graduating from high school in 1970, Mellencamp eloped with his pregnant girlfriend and began performing with the band Snakepit Banana Barn the following year. He also played with a glam-rock band called Trash and another called the Mason Brothers before landing a record deal in 1975.

The John Cougar years

At age 24, Mellencamp, determined to break into the music business, traveled to New York City and signed on with agent Tony DeFries of MainMan Management (at the time well-known for representing David Bowie). DeFries insisted that Mellencamp's first album, Chestnut Street Incident, a collection of covers and derivative originals, be released under the stage name Johnny Cougar, a move Mellencamp claims was made without his knowledge and against his will. The album was a failure, and Mellencamp lost his contract with MCA Records.

He signed to the tiny Riva Records label and recorded 1978's A Biography. This was unreleased in the United States, but yielded a hit in Australia, "I Need a Lover". Riva Records added this track to his next album, John Cougar (1979) and it become a Top 40 single in November 1979. Rocker Pat Benatar recorded "I Need a Lover" and released the song as a single from her debut album In the Heat of the Night.

In 1980, Mellencamp returned with Nothin' Matters And What If It Did -- another scattershot effort that did manage to yield the Top 40 singles "This Time" and "Ain't Even Done With The Night," the latter of which was one of the most distinct songs Mellencamp had written to date. In 1982 Mellencamp released his breakthrough album, American Fool, (see 1982 in music). The hit singles "Hurts So Good" and "Jack and Diane" sent the album to the top of the charts, and a third single, "Hand To Hold On To," cracked the Top 20 and was a staple in his concerts throughout the 1980s.

The John Cougar Mellencamp years

With a major hit under his belt, Mellencamp insisted on changing his billing to John Cougar Mellencamp (compromising by keeping the stage name as well as his true last name) for the 1983 follow-up, Uh-Huh, which was another top-10 hit and spawned several hit singles, including the Americana of "Pink Houses," and the rocking "Crumblin' Down." Despite his popular success, Mellencamp fared less well with critics who tended to view him as a derivative heartland rocker in the mold of Bob Seger or as a poor man's Bruce Springsteen.

During the recording of Uh-Huh, Mellencamp's backing band settled on the lineup it would retain for the next several albums: Kenny Aronoff on drums and percussion, Larry Crane and Mike Wanchic on guitars, Toby Myers on bass and John Cascella on keyboards.

Mellencamp, now more established in the music industry, changed his billing for songwriting and production credits to simply John Mellencamp, although his official name on album covers and other releases was still John Cougar Mellencamp. He also made waves by refusing to allow alcohol or tobacco companies to sponsor his tours and was adamant in not selling his songs for commercial use, no matter how much money he was offered. However, since September 2006, Mellencamp's "Our Country" has been used to advertise Chevy trucks, replacing "Like A Rock" by Bob Seger (more on that below).

In 1985 Mellencamp released Scarecrow, which would be dubbed his first "serious" effort. The album's lyrics were socially aware, with several songs focusing on the plight of the American family farmer, and Mellencamp soon helped organize Farm Aid with Willie Nelson and Neil Young. "Lonely Ol' Night", "Small Town", and "R.O.C.K. in the U.S.A." all became Top 10 hits and "Rain On The Scarecrow" and "Rumbleseat" garnered considerable play on album-rock stations.

During this time Mellencamp was establishing himself as one of the top live acts in rock 'n roll. At a December 6, 1985 show at Madison Square Garden that was plagued with sound problems, Mellencamp promised to refund all ticketholders' money, even though less than half of those in attendance took him up on the offer after he delivered a passionate set of both his own songs and 60s classics once the technical problems were corrected. Prior to the Scarecrow Tour he added fiddle player Lisa Germano to his band to accent and deepen his overall sound. Germano would remain in Mellencamp's band until 1994.

Germano played a big role in Mellencamp's next LP, 1987's The Lonesome Jubilee, which was departure from his earlier material as it incorporated country and folk influences. It generated several more hit singles, "Paper in Fire," "Cherry Bomb" and "Check It Out," along with hit album tracks like "Hard Times For An Honest Man" and "The Real Life" and is often considered one of the best and most unusual albums of the 1980s.^{[citation needed]}

1989's Big Daddy was an ever quieter, mostly acoustic venture and was indeed the last album to contain the "Cougar" moniker. Big Daddy stands as one of Mellencamp's most popular albums, containing widely-regarded songs like "Jackie Brown," "Big Daddy of Them All" and "Void in My Heart."

John Mellencamp years

1991's Whenever We Wanted was the first album whose cover was billed to just John Mellencamp. It yielded the Top 40 hits "Get a Leg Up" and "Again Tonight," along with mainstream rock hits "Love and Happiness" and "Now More Than Ever," and marked Larry Crane's departure from the band, replaced by guitarist David Grissom. In January of 1992, Mellencamp launched the Whenever We Wanted world tour. It marked the first time he was on the road since the Lonesome Jubilee Tour ended in July of 1988.

By 1993's Human Wheels, Mellencamp's critical reception was largely positive and Dance Naked (1994) spawned his biggest hit in years, "Wild Night" (a cover of Van Morrison's song, in the form of a duet with Me'Shell NdegeOcello). The album saw Grissom replaced by guitarist Andy York -- still Mellencamp's guitarist to this day -- and contained two of Mellencamp's strongest protest songs in "L.U.V" and "Another Sunny Day 12/25."

After a mild 1994 heart attack, Mellencamp returned in 1996 with Mr. Happy Go Lucky, which blended heavier dance rhythms with his now signature folk-rock style with the aid of dance producer Junior Vasquez. "Key West Intermezzo (I Saw You First)" and "Just Another Day" were breezy and infectious and both garnered a good deal of airplay — the former becoming his last Top 40 single. Because of the use of dance and hip-hop elements in the rhythm of the album's songs, Mr. Happy Go Lucky broke new ground in much the same way The Lonesome Jubilee did nine years earlier.

Mellencamp left Mercury after Mr. Happy Go Lucky. Issued a day before his 47th birthday in 1998, his self-titled debut for Columbia Records included the singles "Your Life is Now" and "I'm Not Running Anymore," along with album tracks such as "Eden Is Burning," "Miss Missy," "It All Comes True" and "Chance Meeting At The Trantula." Hard-core fans have even enjoyed two unreleased songs Mellencamp wrote for his Columbia debut, the hard-rocking "Here Comes Angie" and one of his most intriguing songs about racism, "March Of The Forgotten Seven." The switch in labels coincided with the talented Dane Clark replacing the legendary Aronoff on drums.

In 1999 Mellencamp covered his own tunes as well as those by Bob Dylan and the Drifters (a wonderful take on "Under The Boardwalk," which was recorded in 1986 and originally released as the b-side to "R.O.C.K. In The USA") for his album Rough Harvest, one of two albums he owed Mercury Records to fulfill his contract (the other was The Best That I Could Do, a best-of collection). The originals Mellencamp cut for Rough Harvest were done in an acoustic folk fashion and cast new light on some of his strongest material.

The early 21st century found Mellencamp teaming up with artists such as Chuck D and India.Arie to deliver a more laid back record with Cuttin' Heads, spawning the radio hit "Peaceful World" -- a duet with India.Arie. Audiences would associate "Peaceful World" with the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 attacks, even though Mellencamp had written it two years beforehand. He performed "Peaceful World" at The Concert for New York City as well as the 2001 United States Grand Prix and it appeared in a more mournful, live acoustic version on the benefit album God Bless America. Cuttin' Heads garnered excellent reviews and continued Mellencamp's reputation as a serious social commentator who still has the ability to write catchy, light-hearted pop/rock songs. "Deep Blue Heart" is a gorgeous duet with country singer Trisha Yearwood, and "Just Like You" is a rocking, percussion-drenched romantic tune that showed Mellencamp's range as a songwriter. Mellencamp embarked on the Cuttin' Heads Tour in the summer of 2001, before the album was even released. He opened each show on this tour with a rippin' cover of the Rolling Stones' "Gimme Shelter."

Trouble No More followed in mid-2003 (see 2003 in music), a quickly-recorded collection of rootsy folks and blues covers by artists such as Robert Johnson, Son House, and Lucinda Williams. The album was also dedicated to Mellencamp's friend, Billboard editor-in-chief Timothy White, who died from a heart attack in 2002.

A self-proclaimed advocate of American liberalism, Mellencamp participated in the Vote for Change tour in October of 2004 leading up to the 2004 U.S. Presidential election. That same month he released the two-disc career hits retrospective "Words and Music," which contained 35 of his radio singles (including all 22 of his Top 40 hits) along with two new tunes, the socially-conscious, R&B tinged single "Walk Tall" along with "Thank You" -- both produced by Babyface but written by Mellencamp. Throughout 2003 and early 2004, Mellencamp's music was frequently heard at campaign rallies for then-presidential candidate John Edwards. The two most frequently heard songs were "Your Life Is Now" and "Small Town," which was Edwards' official campaign song. Mellencamp was also a contributor to Edwards' campaign, contributing $2,000 to his effort in December 2003.

According to Newsmeat, Mellencamp is also a frequent contributor to the campaigns of fellow Seymour native Congressman Baron P. Hill (D-Indiana).

Mellencamp released Freedom's Road, his first album of original material since 2001's Cuttin' Heads, on January 23, 2007. "Our Country," the first single from the album, hit radio in the fall of 2006. The song was played as the opening song on Mellencamp's 2006 spring tour, and the band that opened for him on that tour, Little Big Town, was called on to record harmonies on the studio version "Our Country" as well as seven other songs on Freedom's Road. "Our Country" began being featured in Chevy Silverado TV commercials in late September of 2006, mostly during football games and big-time sporting events on major American televisions networks. Mellencamp hoped that including the song in the ads would bring it in front of a mass audience, since radio doesn't openly embrace new material from aging rock artists. Curiously, despite the American-specific lyrics in "Our Country," a version of the Chevy Silverado commercial also aired in Canada in 2006 and 2007, but with minor changes in video content, such as footage of hockey players replacing the American soldiers.

Mellencamp shot the video for "Our Country," which is a patriotic anthem along the lines of Woody Guthrie's "This Land Is Your Land," in Savannah, Ga. on September 17 and 18 of 2006. He also sang the song to open Game 2 of the 2006 World Series.

As for Freedom's Road, Mellencamp describes it as "a Woody Guthrie rock album." Guthrie is one of Mellencamp's heroes. Freedom's Road is steeped in 1960s garage rock, and Mellencamp and his band even recorded it in the rehearsal room (which is literally a garage) of his Belmont, Ind. recording studio, where he's made every album since 1985's Scarecrow. Mellencamp wrote and produced all 10 songs on Freedom's Road, and the record peaked at No. 5 on the Billboard 200 album chart by selling 56,000 copies in its first week on the market, marking his highest charting release since Scarecrow went to No. 2 in the fall of '85.

Notable tunes on Freedom's Road include "Jim Crow" -- a duet with legendary folk icon Joan Baez and another song about racism -- "Heaven Is A Lonely Place," the acoustically arranged "Rural Route," and the scorching opener "Someday," which will be the album's second single.

The song "Our Country" contains the essence of classic social commentary, drawing together in a country song the elements of patriotism, morality and freedom; as well as science, religion and issues of poverty:

Mellencamp plans to spend the summer of 2007 working on a Broadway musical with legendary horror author Stephen King. The two have been working on the project off and on since 2000 and are hoping to get it on stage before the end of '07. King wrote the story for the musical, titled The Ghost Brothers of Darkland County, and Mellencamp penned 17 new songs for the project. "It's a story of a family," Mellencamp told the San Antonio News Express. "It's about two brothers who hate each other and of the father who is trying to clean things up. I have 17 songs in it, and there's no dancing."

Mellencamp plans to launch the Freedom's Road Tour sometime this fall.

Controversy

• John was targeted by the PMRC for using the word shit in his 1983 song "Play Guitar."
• He received threats from the Ku Klux Klan after showing a bi-racial couple in his video to the song "Cherry Bomb."
• His 1987 song "Down And Out In Paradise" was a song about the problems of common Americans. Each verse starts out, "Dear Mr. President". The last verse is particularly effective. It is from the point of view of a fourth-grader who asks "When the bombs fall down will it hurt everyone in my family?"
• In 1989, John released a controversial single "Pop Singer," which contains the line "Never wanted to be no pop singer/Never wanted to write no pop songs".
• In an attack on the U.S. policy regarding poverty, John wrote the song "Jackie Brown," which told the story of a poor family and spoke of the title character's suicide. The lyrics include the line "Who gives a damn about Jackie Brown/Just another lazy man who couldn't take what was his/one hell of a life, Jackie Brown".
• His 1989 single "Country Gentleman" was an attack on former President Ronald Reagan as well as then current President George H.W. Bush. The chorus says, "He ain't-a gonna help no women/He ain't-a gonna help no children/He ain't-a gonna help no poor man/He just gonna help his good friends". A later verse says, "He picked our bones and threw 'em in his stew/Thank God he went back to California".
• His 1991 single "Love And Happiness" was a vicious attack on numerous U.S. policies. Lyrics include, "If you sell arms or you run dope/You've got respect and you've got hope".
• His 1991 single "Get A Leg Up" was banned from many stations because it contained the word goddamn as well as many graphic descriptions of sex.
• In 1992, he was asked to appear on MTV Unplugged. However, MTV would not allow him to play the concert with his guitar, which had "Fuck Fascism" carved into it. John got by the censors, by covering the letter c in the word fuck with a sticker that read "Censorship Is Un-American".
• His 1994 album Dance Naked was not sold at Wal-Mart because they considered the cover photo to be explicit.
• The song "L.U.V" from Dance Naked was targeted for containing the word "C.S.'s," which is an abbreviation for cocksuckers.
• His 1996 album Mr. Happy Go Lucky was sold with an alternate cover at several stores, because Christian groups found the original cover offensive.
• In 1997, Mellencamp charged fans $75 for tickets for a concert in Bloomington, Indiana. When fans complained that the prices were unaffordable for Bloomingtonians, Mellencamp told them if they didn't like it, "Don't come." [1]
• The lyrics to his 2001 anti-racism song "Cuttin' Heads" contain the word nigger six times.
• Columbia rejected his 2001 song "Peaceful World" as a single at first because they disagreed with the line "Racism lives in the U.S. today". It was eventually released as the first single from "Cuttin' Heads" and generated a good amount of radio airplay.
• His 2003 anti-war song, "To Washington," was banned by many stations for making various claims regarding the legitimacy of the 2000 U.S. presidential election, the policies of George W. Bush, and the reasons for Operation Iraqi Freedom. The song also contained the word goddamn.
• A line from his 2004 anti-war song "Walk Tall" was edited from the radio version. The line was: "Be careful of those that kill in Jesus's name/He don't believe in killin' at all." It was replaced with: "And I wish you all a long sight line/And the strength to walk tall."
• After dedicating a live rendition of "Walk Tall" to "those being ignored by the current administration" at a July 2006 concert in Lake Tahoe, Nevada, former Vice President Dan Quayle walked out of the venue.

Movie career

Mellencamp has had a brief career as an actor, appearing in four films: Falling from Grace (which he also directed) (1992), Madison (2001), After Image (2001), and Lone Star State of Mind (2002). John's older brother Joe Mellencamp appears in Falling From Grace as the bandleader during the country club scene.

Influence

Mellencamp's sound is cited as a major influence by fellow midwesterners Sheryl Crow, Garth Brooks, Joan Osborne, Big and Rich, Kid Rock and Aussie Keith Urban.

Personal life

Mellencamp lives in Bloomington, Indiana and has been married to former supermodel Elaine Irwin since September 5, 1992. Mellencamp has five children from his three marriages: Michelle (born 1970) from his first marriage; daughters Teddi Jo (1981) and Justice (1985) from his second wife; and sons Hud (1994) and Speck (1995) from his current marriage. He is known to be a rabid Indiana University basketball fan (he often attends games), and has been a staunch supporter of the university itself for a number of years, having contributed a significant amount of money to the University's cultural and educational programs. In 2000, he gave the IU commencement address, in which he advised graduates to "play it like you feel it!" and that "you'll be all right." Following the delivery of his address, Indiana University bestowed upon him an honorary doctorate of Musical Arts. A popular fixture in and around Bloomington, Mellencamp is often seen dining out in any of several of his favorite local restaurants, shopping at local farmer's markets and co-ops, and attending musical/artistic events in town. Despite his constant presence, however, Mellencamp is known among citizens for his desire for privacy and "a normal life," often expressing dismay at being approached for autographs or greetings while shopping, dining out, or relaxing with his family (though he is noted to be very cordial and appreciative to those fans who approach him at "appropriate" times.) Accordingly, "Mellencamp sightings" among Bloomington residents and IU students are a common, though usually anticlimactic, occurrence.

Discography

Albums

Singles

See also

• Best selling music artists
• List of artists who reached number one on the U.S. Mainstream Rock chart

Footnotes

Wikipedia information about John Mellencamp This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "John Mellencamp". It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer). Help contribute to Americola and edit this article.