John Mellencamp

John Mellencamp

On John Mellencamp, his fifteenth full-length album and first for Columbia Records, America’s troubadour-poet from Bloomington, Indiana, remains true to the signature elements of his sound and sensibility while exploring a breathtaking new range of universal and personal themes. For Mellencamp’s fans, who’ve bought more than 25 million of his records in the United States alone, the arrival of John Mellencamp is cause for celebration. Since 1982, Mellencamp’s audience has helped him earn an unbroken run of 36 RIAA gold, platinum, and multi-platinum awards; astounding by any standards. An unlikely rock star who never stopped being a rock fan himself, John Mellencamp continues to share his insight, confusion and compassionate understanding of the human condition.

Filled with trenchant observation, Biblical allegory, blue-collar narrative, and sagas of struggle, growth, and redemption, John Mellencamp is rooted in the bedrock of American music — with echoes of electro-acoustic jigs and reels intermingling with the earnest sturdy strum and sublime vocal expression of the balladeer. Mellencamp continues to experiment with the texture and feel of his music by expanding the instrument lineup of guitars, bass, drums, keyboards and violin that has been at the core of his sound for more than a decade. Here, Mellencamp has augmented his trademark instrumentation with tape loops and other contemporary touches (a process of experimentation first heard on his last studio release, 1996’s Mr. Happy-Go-Lucky) and employed instruments — including sitar, tabla, field organ, and others — that reach back centuries and span diverse cultures.

Along with the spirit of rough-hewn grace and freedom in his new music, Mellencamp has allowed himself a new depth and maturity, while retaining his sly wit and penetrating turn of phrase, in his lyrical concerns. The writing and recording of John Mellencamp was strongly influenced by a series of positive changes in the artist’s life: his happy marriage to his wife, Elaine, with whom he is raising two young sons; the rehabilitation — physical, emotional, and spiritual — from a heart attack that forced an abrupt end to a relentless rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle that lasted two decades; the deliberate softening of a grinding tour schedule that had kept him on the road 11 months a year for virtually his entire career; and the dissolution of a 20-odd year relationship with his former record company.

The thrill of a new beginning is etched into the grooves of John Mellencamp. Possessed by a powerful surge in creativity, Mellencamp penned more than 50 songs for possible inclusion on his new album. The dozen tracks that made the final cut each reflect an aspect of the album’s main theme: the search for an authentically moral path in life and the struggle to remain true to that path. The album opens, literally, in the Garden of Eden, where Cain and Abel are having a spirited argument — “We’re just yellin’ in the dark/We’re just pissin’ in the wind/From underneath the sheets we pray from/Better let a little bit of this goodness get in” — and a life without direction is indeed “Ol’ Skinny’s playground,” the song is “Fruit Trader” and everybody knows what kinda fruit was being traded in the Garden of Eden. Rock ‘n’ roll has always been the devil’s music and Lucifer makes a second appearance in “Where The World Began”: “Everyone is so fabulous, hey, we all got our gun/Old Snakey’s not a sinner, no, he just shows us how it’s done/When you separate the wretched from the damned/Standin’ in the darkness, baby, there I am.” Midway through the album, Mellencamp uses his own best symbol of young love and sets them down, years later, at the brink of apocalypse: “Diane and Jack went to the movies/They went to see Richard Pryor/Screamin’ on his knees for his lover/How could I have been wrong about you?/How could I have been so wrong about you?/Eden is burning/I can see it from my window/Better take it to the water/Eden is burning/Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.”

As the millennial winds howl, John Mellencamp finds comfort in the simple pleasures: “a church supper with grandma and granddad” (“Miss Missy”), the promise of love (“Summer of Love”), the delirium of Eros (“Break Me Off Some”), and the transmission of values to others (“Would you teach your children to tell the truth?/Would you take the high road if you could choose?/Do you believe you’re a victim of a great compromise?/Your life is now”; “Your Life Is Now,” the first single from John Mellencamp).

Philosophically, John Mellencamp’s center lies in “It All Comes True,” an elegant meditation on karmic law: “My life is a contradiction of sorrow and desire/I drag my heart across the ash to throw it on the fire/Maybe there’s a reason and could there be a plan/Or are we all just fools to think we’ll understand/And it all comes true/Yeah, it all comes through/Like a wheel around a wheel/It turns on you/And you think, what have I done?/What can I do?/What you believe about yourself/It all comes true.”

John Mellencamp was produced by the artist and recorded at his Belmont Mall Studio, located close to Mellencamp’s hometown of Bloomington, Indiana, where he still resides. The album was recorded with the artist’s core band: Dane Clark (drums, percussion), Toby Myers (bass, vocals), Miriam Sturm (violin, keyboards, vocals), Mike Wanchic (guitars, vocals), Andy York (guitars, Indian instruments, keyboards, vocals) and Moe Z. MD (keyboards, loops, vocals). Guests on the album include Izzy Stradlin — formerly of Guns ‘N’ Roses — on guitar and Stan Lynch — formerly one of Tom Petty’s Heartbreakers, on drums.

Historical Background:

John J. Mellencamp was born in Seymour, Indiana, on October 7, 1951, and joined his first band in the fifth grade. By 1965, he was performing R&B and rock music with one of his first bands, Crepe Soul, and, in 1966, got his first professional gigs playing frat parties for $30 a weekend with Snakepit Banana Barn before they kicked him out. Graduating from Seymour High School in 1970, Mellencamp moved to an apartment in the small town of Valonia; a year later, he formed a 60’s cover band, Trash, with guitarist Larry Crane. In 1975, after graduating from Vincennes University and being laid off by the phone company, Mellencamp set out for New York with his phone company severance packet and a demo-tape featuring his version of Paul Revere & the Raider’s “Kicks.” While in New York, Mellencamp hooked up with David Bowie’s management company, MainMan. A year later, Mellencamp recorded his first album, Chestnut Street Incident, which, without the singer’s knowledge, was released under the artist’s moniker “Johnny Cougar.” 1977 saw Mellencamp split with MainMan and return to Bloomington, Indiana, where he recorded a second album as “Johnny Cougar,” The Kid Inside; MainMan held onto the album until 1982 when it was released on the coat-tails of American Fool’s phenomenal success.

A third album, A Biography, was released in the United Kingdom in March 1978, and gave the world its first taste of “I Need A Lover,” a song that would eventually become a hit for both John Mellencamp and Pat Benatar. Mellencamp and his band, The Zone, performed “I Need A Lover” and “Small Paradise” on Dick Clark’s “American Bandstand” in 1979. John’s third U.S. album, John Cougar (which contained several tracks from A Biography) hit #64 on the American charts.

1980 saw John return to the studio to record Nothing Matters And What If It Did with legendary MG’s guitarist Steve Cropper producing; the album, featuring John Waters’ cult-movie actress Edith Massey on the cover, peaked at #37 on the U.S. charts. The first single, “Ain’t Even Done With The Night,” reached #17. Mellencamp’s next record, American Fool, became the largest-selling album of 1982. For four straight weeks in October, John Mellencamp had a #1 album and two Top 10 singles at the same time, becoming the first person since John Lennon to do so. “Jack & Diane” was the #1 single in the country and “Hurts So Good” spent twenty-eight weeks on the Hot 100. Mellencamp received three Grammy nominations for American Fool and took home the Best Rock Vocal Performance, Male trophy for “Hurt So Good.”

By 1983, MTV had helped make John Mellencamp a star and John Mellencamp had become a video music pioneer. His “Hand To Hold Onto” peaked at #9 in the U.S. and John recorded Uh-Huh, his new album in a whirlwind sixteen day marathon at The Shack, an Indiana recording studio. The “Crumblin’ Down” single hit #9 on the charts as did Uh-Huh, John’s second platinum album (and first to reattach “Mellencamp” to his name). “Pink Houses” reached #8 in February 1984 and “Authority Song” hit #15 in May. In July 1984, Susan Miles won MTV’s “Party House With Mellencamp” competition and painted her house pink; Mellencamp wrote a screenplay with acclaimed author Larry McMurtry, and produced Mitch Ryder’s comeback album, Never Kick A Sleeping Dog. In March 1985, he produced the track “Colored Lights,” for the Blasters’ Hard Line album.

John Mellencamp, along with Willie Nelson and Neil Young, was instrumental in organizing the first Farm Aid concert, held September 22, 1985, in Champaign, Illinois. During the show, Mellencamp asked the audience to write their congressmen demanding action to help American farmers, the beneficiaries of the show. There have been eleven day-long Farm Aid concerts through 1996, with all artists appearing and performing at their own expense. NARAS awarded John Mellencamp its President’s Merit Award for his work on Farm Aid.

At the end of 1985, Mellencamp recorded Scarecrow in his newly-built studio. Dedicated to his grandfather, Speck, Scarecrow reached the #2 slot on the U.S. charts while the album’s single, “Small Town,” hit #6.

In September 1986, Mellencamp and his band began work on The Lonesome Jubilee in his Belmont Mall studio; the album peaks at #6 while “Paper In Fire,” hit #9 in October 1987. The Lonesome Jubilee was a Top 10 album for twenty-seven weeks and Mellencamp and his band went on a nine-month, ten-country tour that reached more than one and a half million fans. That same year, he contributed “I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus” to the charity album, A Very Special Christmas.

The fall of 1988 found John Mellencamp contributing his version of “Do Re Mi” to Folkways: A Vision Shared, a Woody Guthrie/Leadbelly tribute album. He produced James McMurtry’s debut album Too Long In The Wasteland and directed a video for Bob Dylan’s “Political World.” That year also saw him beginning to paint in earnest.

He released the platinum Big Daddy in 1989 and, in 1990, began to film his screen debut in the film “Falling From Grace” (the eventual title of the screenplay he’d written with Larry McMurtry); he recorded the soundtrack album with John Prine, Dwight Yoakam, Joe Ely, and James McMurtry (Larry’s son).

In 1991, John Mellencamp was the recipient of the Nordhoff-Robbins Silver Clef Award for his involvement with music therapy for handicapped and autistic children. Now more than ever, he realized the profound effects that music could have on the human spirit.

Whenever We Wanted was released in 1992 and quickly followed up with a marathon seven-month world tour. The album spawned the hit single, “Get A Leg Up.” John finished out the year with a smokin’ “MTV Unplugged” performance and the theatrical release of “Falling From Grace.” He returned to the studio in 1993 to record Human Wheels which turned platinum in November. His next album, Dance Naked, was released in summer 1994 and kicked out the massively successful cover of Van Morrison’ “Wild Night,” a duet between John and Me’shell Ndege’ocello. The Summer 94 Mellencamp tour got off to a rousing start until it was discovered during a mid-tour physical that John had suffered a mild heart attack. A handful of remaining dates were canceled and John returned to Bloomington for some well-deserved rest and recuperation

When it came time record Mr. Happy Go Lucky, John Mellencamp, thee ver-restless ever-evolving artist, brought in renowned dance-mixer Junior Vasquez as producer. “Here’s Junior Vasquez being part of a rock band!,” exclaimed Mellencamp at the time. “It’s all about, ‘let’s go someplace else.’ It’s great to put people together who have the capability and the vision to do something different when you challenge them to.” Like so many of its predecessors, Mr. Happy Go Lucky went gold and platinum within weeks of its release.

John Mellencamp’s first retrospective album, The Best That I Could Do: 1978-1988 was released on November 18, 1997, was certified gold in December 1997 and platinum in 1998.

Ever since the release of American Fool in 1982, John Mellencamp has maintained a consistent hold on the charts while his fans have remained loyally steadfast. In addition to his 36 gold, platinum, and multi-platinum awards from 1982-97, Mellencamp has been nominated for 11 Grammys (in 1982, ’84, ’85, ’86, ’87, ’88, ’91, ’94, ’96, and ’97). John’s unflagging hold on the charts is equally impressive. In the past two decades, beginning with the chart entry of John Cougar in August 1979, Mellencamp has racked up 10 Top 10 singles, 29 Top 40 singles, 7 Top 10 albums, and 11 Top 40 albums.

John Mellencamp continues to pursue his avocation as a painter. Mellencamp: Painting And Reflections, a book showcasing 75 of his works, will be released by the prestigious publishing house HarperCollins in November.


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