John Mellencamp
Encyclopedia
John Mellencamp, previously known by the stage names Johnny Cougar, John Cougar, and John Cougar Mellencamp, (born October 7, 1951) is an American rock singer-songwriter
, musician, painter
and occasional actor known for his catchy, populist brand of heartland rock
that eschews synthesizers and other artificial sounds in favor of acoustic instrumentation. He has sold over 40 million albums worldwide and has amassed 22 Top 40 hits in the United States. In addition, he holds the record for the most tracks by a solo artist to hit number-one on the Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks chart, with seven, and has been nominated for 13 Grammy Awards, winning one. His latest album, No Better Than This
, was released on August 17, 2010 to widespread critical acclaim.
Mellencamp is also one of the founding members of Farm Aid
, an organization that began in 1985 with a concert in Champaign, Illinois
to raise awareness about the loss of family farms and to raise funds to keep farm families on their land. The Farm Aid
concerts have remained an annual event over the past 26 years, and as of 2011 the organization has raised over $39 million to promote a strong and resilient family farm system of agriculture. The 2011 Farm Aid concert took place on August 13 at Livestrong Sporting Park
in Kansas City, Kansas
.
Mellencamp was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
on March 10, 2008 by Billy Joel
. His biggest musical influences are Bob Dylan
, Woody Guthrie
, Buddy Holly
and The Rolling Stones
. Said longtime Rolling Stone
contributor Anthony DeCurtis
: "Mellencamp has created an important body of work that has earned him both critical regard and an enormous audience. His songs document the joys and struggles of ordinary people seeking to make their way, and he has consistently brought the fresh air of common experience to the typically glamour-addled world of popular music."
. He is the son of Richard and Marilyn Mellencamp. Mellencamp was born with a mild form of spina bifida
that necessitated a lengthy stay in the hospital as a baby. He is descended from German immigrant Johann Herman Möhlenkamp, who came to the White Creek area of Bartholomew County, Indiana
, in 1855. He grew up in his hometown of Seymour, Indiana.
He formed his first band, Crepe Soul, at the age of 14 and later played in the local bands Trash, Snakepit Banana Barn and the Mason Brothers. He eloped with his pregnant girlfriend Priscilla at the age of 18 and became a father in December 1970, six months after he graduated from high school. His daughter Michelle became a mother at age 19, making John a grandfather at 38.
Mellencamp attended Vincennes University
, a two-year college in Vincennes, Indiana
, starting in 1972. During this time he experimented with drugs and alcohol, stating in a 1986 Rolling Stone interview, "When I was high on pot, it affected me so drastically that when I was in college there were times when I wouldn't get off the couch. I would lie there, listening to Roxy Music
, right next to the record player so I wouldn't have to get up to flip the record over. I'd listen to this record, that record. There would be four or five days like that when I would be completely gone."
Upon graduating from Vincennes University in 1974, Mellencamp played in a couple of local bands, including the aforementioned glitter-band
Trash, which was named after a New York Dolls
song, and he later got a job in Seymour installing telephones. At this time, Mellencamp, who had given up drugs and alcohol for good before graduating from Vincennes University, decided to pursue a career in music.
of MainMan Management. DeFries insisted that Mellencamp's first album, Chestnut Street Incident
, a collection of covers
and a handful of original songs, be released under the stage name Johnny Cougar, suggesting that the bumpy German name "Mellencamp" was too hard to market. Mellencamp reluctantly agreed, but the album was a complete failure, selling only 12,000 copies.
Mellencamp recorded The Kid Inside
, the follow-up to Chestnut Street Incident, in 1977, but DeFries eventually decided against releasing the album and Mellencamp was dropped from MCA records (DeFries finally released The Kid Inside
in early 1983, after Mellencamp broke through to stardom). Mellencamp drew interest from Rod Stewart
's manager, Billy Gaff, after parting ways with DeFries and was signed to the tiny Riva Records
label. At Gaff's request, Mellencamp moved to London, England for nearly a year to record, promote and tour behind 1978's A Biography
. The record wasn't released in the United States, but it yielded a hit in Australia with "I Need a Lover
". Riva Records added "I Need a Lover" to Mellencamp's next album released in the United States, 1979's John Cougar
, where the song became a No. 28 single in late 1979. Pat Benatar
recorded "I Need a Lover" on her debut album In the Heat of the Night.
In 1980, Mellencamp returned with the Steve Cropper
-produced Nothin' Matters and What If It Did
, which yielded two Top 40 singles — "This Time" (No. 27) and "Ain't Even Done With the Night" (No. 17). "The singles were stupid little pop songs," he told Record Magazine in 1983. "I take no credit for that record. It wasn't like the title was made up — it wasn't supposed to be punky or cocky like some people thought. Toward the end, I didn't even go to the studio. Me and the guys in the band thought we were finished, anyway. It was the most expensive record I ever made. It cost $280,000, do you believe that? The worst thing was that I could have gone on making records like that for hundreds of years. Hell, as long as you sell a few records and the record company isn't putting lot of money into promotion, you're making money for 'em and that's all they care about. PolyGram loved Nothin' Matters. They thought I was going to turn into the next Neil Diamond
."
In 1982
, Mellencamp released his breakthrough album, American Fool
, which contained the singles "Hurts So Good
," an uptempo rock tune that spent four weeks at No. 2 and 16 weeks in the top 10, and "Jack & Diane," which was a No. 1 hit for four weeks. A third single, "Hand to Hold On To," made it to No. 19. "Hurts So Good" went on to win the Grammy Award for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance
at the 25th Grammys. "To be real honest, there's three good songs on that record, and the rest is just sort of filler," Mellencamp told Creem Magazine of American Fool in 1984. "It was too labored over, too thought about, and it wasn't organic enough. The record company thought it would bomb, but I think the reason it took off was – not that the songs were better than my others – but people liked the sound of it, the 'bam-bam-bam' drums. It was a different sound."
, a Top-10 album that spawned the Top 10 singles "Pink Houses
,"and "Crumblin' Down
" as well as the No. 14 hit "Authority Song," which he said is "our version of "I Fought the Law.'" 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. In 1988, Rolling Stone magazine called this version of Mellencamp's band "one of the most powerful and versatile live bands ever assembled." On the 1984 Uh-Huh Tour, Mellencamp opened his shows with cover versions of songs he admired growing up, including Elvis Presley
's "Heartbreak Hotel," the Animals' "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood," Lee Dorsey
's "Ya Ya" and the Left Banke's "Pretty Ballerina."
Since college, Mellencamp has, with the exception of his continuing devotion to nicotine, lived a drug and alcohol-free lifestyle. In 1984, when asked about his views on drugs, he told Bill Holdship of Creem
magazine, "If you want to stick needles in your arms, go ahead and fucking do it. You're the one that's going to pay the consequences. I don't think it's a good idea, and I sure don't advocate it, but I'm not going to judge people. Hell, if that was the case, you wouldn't like anyone in the music business because everyone's blowing cocaine."
In 1985, Mellencamp released Scarecrow
, which peaked at No. 2 in the fall of '85 and spawned five Top 40 singles: "Lonely Ol' Night
" (No. 6), "Small Town
" (No. 6), and "R.O.C.K. in the U.S.A. (A Salute to '60s Rock)
" (No. 2), "Rain on the Scarecrow" (No. 21) and "Rumbleseat" (No. 28). According to the February 1986 edition of Creem Magazine, Mellencamp wanted to incorporate the sound of classic '60s rock into Scarecrow, and he gave his band close to a hundred old singles to learn "almost mathematically verbatim" prior to recording album.
"Learning those songs did a lot of positive things," Mellencamp explained to Creem writer Bill Holdship. "We realized more than ever what a big melting pot of all different types of music the '60s were. Take an old Rascals song for example – there's everything from marching band beats to soul music to country sounds in one song. Learning those opened the band's vision to try new things on my songs. It wasn't let's go back and try to make this part fit into my song, but I wanted to capture the same feeling – the way those songs used to make you feel. After a while, we didn't even have to talk about it anymore. If you listen to the lead Larry [Crane] plays on 'Face The Nation', he never would have played that 'cause he didn't really know who the Animals were. He's young, and he grew up on Grand Funk Railroad. You hear it, and it's like 'where did that come from?' It had to be from hearing those old records."
Scarecrow was the first album Mellencamp recorded at his own recording studio "Belmont Mall," located in Belmont, Indiana
and built in 1984. Mellencamp sees Scarecrow as the start of the alternative country
genre: "I think I invented that whole 'No Depression' thing with the Scarecrow album, though I don’t get the credit," he told Classic Rock magazine in October 2008.
Shortly after finishing Scarecrow, Mellencamp helped organize the first Farm Aid
benefit concert with Willie Nelson
and Neil Young
in Champaign, Illinois
on September 22, 1985. The Farm Aid concerts remain an annual event and have raised over $39 million for struggling family farmers as of 2011.
Prior to the 1985–86 Scarecrow Tour, during which he covered some of the same 1960s rock and soul songs he and his band rehearsed prior to the recording of Scarecrow, Mellencamp added fiddle player Lisa Germano
to his band. Germano would remain in Mellencamp's band until 1994, when she left to pursue a solo career.
Mellencamp's next LP, 1987's The Lonesome Jubilee
, included the singles "Paper in Fire
," (No. 9) "Cherry Bomb," (No. 8), "Check It Out," (No. 14) and "Rooty Toot Toot" (No. 61) along with the popular album tracks "Hard Times for an Honest Man" and "The Real Life," both of which garnered significant radio airplay even though they didn't achieve any chart position. "We were on the road for a long time after Scarecrow, so we were together a lot as a band," Mellencamp said in a 1987 Creem Magazine feature. "For the first time ever, we talked about the record before we started. We had a very distinct vision of what should be happening here. At one point, The Lonesome Jubilee
was supposed to be a double album, but at least 10 of the songs I'd written just didn't stick together with the idea and the sound we had in mind. So I just put those songs on a shelf, and cut it back down to a single record. Now, in the past, it was always 'Let's make it up as we go along' – and we did make some of The Lonesome Jubilee up as we went along. But we had a very clear idea of what we wanted it to sound like, even before it was written, right through to the day it was mastered."
As Frank DiGiacomo of Vanity Fair
wrote in 2007, "The Lonesome Jubilee was the album in which Mellencamp defined his now signature sound: a rousing, crystalline mix of acoustic and electric guitars, Appalachian fiddle, and gospel-style backing vocals, anchored by a crisp, bare-knuckle drumbeat and completed by his own velveteen rasp."
During the 1987-88 Lonesome Jubilee Tour, Mellencamp was joined onstage by surprise guest Bruce Springsteen
at the end of his May 26, 1988 gig in Irvine, California, for a duet of Bob Dylan
's "Like a Rolling Stone", which Mellencamp performed as the penultimate song during each show on that tour.
After the Lonesome Jubilee Tour, Mellencamp divorced his second wife, Vicki.
In 1989, Mellencamp released the personal album Big Daddy
, with the key tracks "Jackie Brown," "Big Daddy of Them All" and "Void in My Heart" accompanying the Top 15 single "Pop Singer." The album, which Mellencamp called at the time the most "earthy" record he'd ever made, is also the last to feature the "Cougar" moniker.
Mellencamp was heavily involved in painting at this time in his life and decided not to tour behind Big Daddy, stating: "What's the point?... This other step that people keep wanting me to take to become another level of recording artist - to be Madonna? To sell out? To bend over? To kiss somebody's ass? I ain't gonna do it." In his second painting exhibition, at the Churchman-Fehsenfeld Gallery in Indianapolis in 1990, Mellencamp's portraits were described as always having sad facial expressions and conveying "the same disillusionment found in his musical anthems about the nation's heartland and farm crisis."
, was the first with a cover billed to John Mellencamp—the Cougar was now gone forever. Whenever We Wanted yielded the Top 40 hits "Get a Leg Up" and "Again Tonight," but "Last Chance," "Love and Happiness" and "Now More Than Ever" all garnered significant airplay on rock radio. "It's very rock 'n' roll," Mellencamp said of Whenever We Wanted. "I just wanted to get back to the basics."
In 1993, he released Human Wheels
, and the title track peaked at No. 48 on the Billboard singles chart. "To me, this record is very urban," Mellencamp told Billboard magazine of Human Wheels in the summer of '93. "We had a lot of discussions about the rhythm and blues music of the day. We explored what a lot of these (current) bands are doing — these young black bands that are doing more than just sampling."
Mellencamp's 1994 Dance Naked
album included a cover of Van Morrison
's "Wild Night
" as a duet with Meshell Ndegeocello. "Wild Night" became Mellencamp's biggest hit in years, peaking at No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100
. The album also contained two protest songs in "L.U.V." and "Another Sunny Day 12/25", in addition to the title track, which hit No. 41 on the Hot 100 in the summer of 1994. "This is as naked a rock record as you're going to hear," Mellencamp said of Dance Naked
in a 1994 Billboard magazine interview. "All the vocals are first or second takes, and half the songs don't even have bass parts. Others have just one guitar, bass, and drums, which I haven't done since American Fool."
With guitarist Andy York now on board as Larry Crane's full-time replacement, Mellencamp launched his Dance Naked Tour in the summer of 1994, but a minor heart attack suffered after a show at Jones Beach in New York on August 8 of that year eventually forced him to cancel the last few weeks of the tour. "I was up to 80 cigarettes a day," Mellencamp told the Boston Herald in September 1996 about the habits that led to his heart malfunction two years prior. "We'd finish a show and I'd go out and have steak and french fries and eggs at 4 in the morning and then go to sleep with all that in my gut. It was just a terrible lifestyle."
He returned to the concert stage in early 1995 by playing a series of dates in small Midwestern clubs under the pseudonym Pearl Doggy.
In September 1996, the experimental album Mr. Happy Go Lucky
, which was produced by Junior Vasquez
, was released to critical acclaim. "It's been fascinating to me how urban records use rhythm and electronics, and it's terribly challenging to make that work in the context of a rock band," Mellencamp told Billboard magazine in 1996. "But we took it further than an urban record. The arrangements are more ambitious, with programs and loops going right along with real drums and guitars."
Mr. Happy Go Lucky spawned the No. 14 single "Key West Intermezzo (I Saw You First)" (Mellencamp's last Top 40 hit) and "Just Another Day," which peaked at No. 46.
, although he wound up making only three albums for the label.
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 standout album tracks such as "Eden Is Burning," "Miss Missy," "It All Comes True" and "Chance Meeting At The Tarantula." The switch in labels coincided with Dane Clark replacing Aronoff on drums. "On this record, we ended up quite a-bit away from where we started," Mellencamp told Guitar World Acoustic in 1998. "Initially, I wanted to make a record that barely had drums on it. Donovan made a record (in 1966), Sunshine Superman, and I wanted to start with that same kind of vibe—Eastern, very grand stories, fairy tales."
He released a book of his early paintings, titled Paintings and Reflections, in 1998.
In 1999, Mellencamp covered his own songs as well as those by Bob Dylan and the Drifters
for his album Rough Harvest
(recorded in 1997), 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 early 21st century found Mellencamp teaming up with artists such as Chuck D
and India.Arie
to deliver his second Columbia album, Cuttin' Heads
and the single "Peaceful World
." Cuttin' Heads also included a duet with Trisha Yearwood
on a love song called "Deep Blue Heart." "He played me this song," Yearwood told Country.com, "and he said, 'I kind of have an idea of like when Emmylou Harris
sang on Bob Dylan's record, just kind of harmony all the way through.'"
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 cover of the Rolling Stones' "Gimme Shelter
" and also played a solo acoustic version of the Cuttin' Heads track "Women Seem" at each show.
In 2003, he released Trouble No More
, a quickly-recorded collection of folk
and blues
covers originally done by artists such as Robert Johnson, Son House
, Lucinda Williams
and Hoagie Carmichael. The album was also dedicated to Mellencamp's friend, Billboard magazine editor-in-chief Timothy White, who died from a heart attack in 2002. In October 2002, Mellencamp performed the Robert Johnson song "Stones In My Passway" at two benefit concerts for White. Columbia Records executives, who were in attendance at the benefits shows, were so impressed with Mellencamp's live renditions of "Stones In My Passway" that they convinced him to record an album of vintage American songs, which ultimately became Trouble No More
. Mellencamp sang the gospel
song "Will The Circle Be Unbroken" at White's funeral on July 2, 2002. Trouble No More
spent several weeks at #1 on Billboard's Blues Album charts.
tour in October 2004 leading up to the 2004 U.S. Presidential election. That same month he released the two-disc career hits retrospective Words & Music: John Mellencamp's Greatest Hits
, which contained 35 of his radio singles (including all 22 of his Top 40 hits) along with two new tunes, "Walk Tall
" and "Thank You" — both produced by Babyface but written by Mellencamp.
In 2005, Mellencamp toured with Donovan
and John Fogerty
. The first leg of what was called the Words and Music Tour in the spring of '05 featured Donovan playing in the middle of Mellencamp's set. Mellencamp would play a handful of songs before introducing Donovan and then duetting with him on the 1966 hit "Sunshine Superman." Mellencamp would leave the stage as Donovan played seven or eight of his songs (backed by Mellencamp's band) and then return to finish off his own set after Donovan departed. On the second leg of the tour in the summer of '05, Fogerty co-headlined with Mellencamp at outdoor amphitheaters across the United States. Fogerty would join Mellencamp for duets on Fogerty's Creedence Clearwater Revival
hit "Green River" and Mellencamp's "Rain on the Scarecrow." During Mellencamp's 2006 tour at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Wilkes-Barre, PA, a giant screen displayed pictures of local landmarks while the band played "Small Town."
Mellencamp released Freedom's Road
, his first album of original material in over five years, on January 23, 2007. He intended for Freedom's Road
to have a 1960s rock sound while still remaining contemporary, and he feels that goal was achieved. "We wanted to make sure that it had the same feeling of some of the great songs from the '60s but also had the message of today and had the backbeat of today. I think we came up with a pretty timeless sounding album," Mellencamp told his online radio station in late 2006. "Our Country," the first single from Freedom's Road
, 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 of "Our Country," as well as seven other songs on Freedom's Road. Although Mellencamp had always been outspoken and adamant about not selling any of his songs to corporations to use in commercials, he changed his stance and let Chevrolet use "Our Country" in Chevy Silverado TV commercials that began airing in late September 2006.
"I agonized," Mellencamp told USA Today
's Edna Gundersen in 2007 over his decision to license "Our Country" to Chevrolet. "I still don't think we should have to do it, but record companies can't spend money to promote records anymore, unless you're U2
or Madonna
. I'm taking heat because no one's ever done this before. People have licensed songs that have already been hits, but nobody's licensed a brand-new song to a major company, and people don't know how to react."
Mellencamp sang "Our Country" to open Game 2 of the 2006 World Series
, and the song was nominated for a 2008 Grammy Award in the category Best Solo Rock Vocal Performance but lost out to Bruce Springsteen
's "Radio Nowhere." Freedom's Road peaked at No. 5 on the Billboard 200 album chart by selling 56,000 copies in its first week on the market.
. The album, which was released on July 15, 2008, was produced by acclaimed roots producer T-Bone Burnett
. The first song with video, "Jena," was introduced on Mellencamp's website in October 2007. In an interview with the Bloomington Herald-Times in March 2008, Mellencamp dubbed Life, Death, Love and Freedom
"The best record I've ever made." He signed with Starbucks
' Hear Music
label to distribute the album and said, "they think it's a fucking masterpiece." The album's first single was "My Sweet Love." A video for the song was filmed in Savannah, GA on June 9, 2008. Karen Fairchild of Little Big Town
is featured in the video. She harmonizes with Mellencamp on "My Sweet Love" and provides background vocals to three other songs on Life, Death, Love and Freedom, which became the ninth Top 10 album of Mellencamp's career when it debuted at No. 7 on the Billboard 200
the week of August 2, 2008. It sold 56,000 copies in its first week on the market. In its list of the 50 best albums of 2008, Rolling Stone magazine named Life, Death, Love and Freedom No. 5 overall and also dubbed "Troubled Land" No. 48 among the 100 best singles of the year.
Mellencamp made a guest appearance at Billy Joel
's July 16, 2008 concert at Shea Stadium
in New York. Mellencamp sang "Pink Houses" in front of a sold-out crowd of nearly 60,000 people.
On September 3, 2008, Mellencamp made available on his website a home-video recording of his solo acoustic cover of Bob Dylan's "The Times They Are A-Changin'
" as a sign that the 2008 Presidential Election is going to bring about change in America.
On September 23, 2008, Mellencamp filmed a concert at the Crump Theatre in Columbus, Indiana for a new A&E Biography series called "Homeward Bound." The show features performers returning to small venues they performed at during the early stages of their careers. Mellencamp had last played at the Crump Theatre on October 4, 1976. The program aired on December 11, 2008 and also featured an in-depth documentary tracing Mellencamp's roots.
For the first time since 1992, Mellencamp toured Australia and New Zealand with opening act Sheryl Crow
from November 15 – December 7, 2008. Crow joined Mellencamp on stage to duet on "My Sweet Love" during the last seven shows.
Mellencamp participated in a tribute concert for Pete Seeger
's 90th birthday on May 3, 2009 at Madison Square Garden
in New York City which raised funds for an environmental organization founded by Seeger to preserve and protect the Hudson River
. Mellencamp performed solo acoustic renditions of Seeger and Lee Hays' "If I Had a Hammer
" and his own "A Ride Back Home."
In the summer of 2009, Mellencamp embarked on a tour of minor league ballparks with Bob Dylan and Willie Nelson that ran from July 2–August 15.
While he was on tour, Mellencamp recorded a new album, titled No Better Than This
, that was again produced by T-Bone Burnett
. The tracks for the album were recorded at historic locations, such as the First African Baptist Church in Savannah, Georgia
as well as at the Sun Studio
in Memphis
and the Sheraton Gunter Hotel
in San Antonio, where blues pioneer Robert Johnson recorded "Sweet Home Chicago" and "Crossroad Blues". Mellencamp recorded the album using a 1955 Ampex
portable recording machine and only one microphone, requiring all the musicians to gather together around the mic. The album was recorded in mono. Mellencamp wrote over 30 songs for the record (only 13 made the final cut), and he wrote one song specifically for Room 414 at the Gunter Hotel. "It's called 'Right Behind Me'. I wrote it just for this room." Mellencamp told the San Antonio Express-News. "I could have done this in my studio. But I want to do it this way, and if I can't do what I want at this point, I'm not going to do it. If it's not fun, I'm not going to do it. I'm through digging a ditch." No Better Than This
was released on August 17, 2010 and peaked at No. 10 on the Billboard 200
, becoming the 10th Top 10 album of his career. No Better Than This
is the first mono-only release to make the top 10 since James Brown
's Pure Dynamite! Live At The Royal, which peaked at #10 in April 1964.
On December 6, 2009, Mellencamp performed "Born in the U.S.A.
" as a tribute to Bruce Springsteen, who was one of the honorees at the 2009 Kennedy Center Honors
. "I was very proud and humbled to have been able to play 'Born in the U.S.A.' in a different fashion that I think was true to the feelings that Bruce had when he wrote it," Mellencamp said. He performed "Down By The River" on January 29, 2010 in Los Angeles in tribute to Neil Young
, who was honored at the 20th annual MusiCares Person of the Year gala. Mellencamp sang the hymn "Keep Your Eyes on the Prize
" at "In Performance at the White House: A Celebration of Music from the Civil Rights Movement" on February 9, 2010.
A career-spanning box set of album tracks and demos titled On the Rural Route 7609
was released on June 15, 2010, nine weeks before No Better Than This
hit stores. "If you didn’t get deeper into the original albums and know these songs, it will be like discovering new material," Mellencamp said about On the Rural Route 7609
.
Mellencamp, who co-headlined 11 shows in the summer of 2010 with Bob Dylan
, launched the No Better Than This
theater tour on October 29, 2010 in his hometown of Bloomington, Indiana
. On this tour, which ran through the fall of 2011 and covered the entire United States
, Mellencamp opened each concert with a showing of a Kurt Markus documentary about the making of No Better Than This called "It's About You" before hitting the stage to play three different sets: a stripped-down acoustic set with his band, a solo acoustic set, and a fully electrified rock set. "It'll be like Alan Freed
, like the old Moondog shows," Mellencamp told Billboard magazine prior to the tour. "When you went to see his shows, there was a movie, like 'The Girl Can't Help It' or something, and then three or four bands played. I'm gonna come out and play with upright bass and cocktail [drum] kits and a lot of acoustic instruments. I'll play for, like, 40 minutes that way. Then the band will leave and it'll just be me with an acoustic guitar for 40 minutes, and then there'll be 40 minutes of rock 'n' roll. You'll get three different types of John Mellencamp, and you'll get a movie." Mellencamp played for over two hours and included 24 songs in his setlist on the tour. He brought the No Better Than This
tour to Europe in the summer of 2011, opening in Copenhagen
on June 24. One reviewer called the opening gig of the European leg of the tour "maybe the best rock-performance ever in Denmark." The No Better Than This
tour returned to the U.S. for one final round of shows from Oct. 25-Nov. 19, 2011.
author Stephen King
, entitled Ghost Brothers of Darkland County
, since 2000. The Alliance Theatre in Atlanta, GA announced on March 30, 2011 that the musical will debut in the spring of 2012 and will be directed by Alliance artistic director Susan V. Booth. Mellencamp's official website reported that a CD/book package of Ghost Brothers of Darkland County will be released in advance of the stage production. Production on the CD/book package began on June 15, 2009, when T Bone Burnett, who is serving as the project's musical producer, began laying down tracks in Los Angeles
, California
for the songs Mellencamp wrote for the musical. The recording will be available in a book package containing the full text, two discs featuring the entire production of the spoken word script and songs performed by the cast, and a third CD of the songs only. Mellencamp said the soundtrack includes Rosanne Cash
, Sheryl Crow
, Elvis Costello
, Taj Mahal and Neko Case
among others singing the songs he wrote.
In November 2010, Mellencamp told the Chicago Tribune
: "T Bone and I and Stephen King are working on a musical. All the music has been recorded. We had Kris Kristofferson, Neko Case, Elvis Costello, Taj Mahal, all singing different characters’ roles. I wrote all the songs, 17 songs. (T Bone) produced. It sounds like the “Sgt. Pepper” of Americana to me. Forget about the play, just the songs, the way these people sing them. I’m sitting there listening to it and thinking, “Did Rosanne Cash just kill that song or what!” The play is called “Ghost Brothers of Darkland County,” about two brothers who hate each other. If you could imagine Tennessee Williams meets Stephen King. They’re recording the dialogue now and we’re putting out a record of the entire show before it comes out. Right now, Elvis Costello, Meg Ryan, Kris Kristofferson and Matthew McConaughey are doing table readings like an old radio play. So you’ll get all the dialogue, all the sound effects, and all the songs sung by different people so you can follow the story. The CD will come out ahead of time. So many people are involved, it’s taken a long time. But we don’t have to worry about money or record companies – it’s our own money we’re putting into it, so we said, let’s just make something beautiful."
Ryan D'Agostino of Esquire
stated in a review of a New York rehearsal of Ghost Brothers of Darkland County in the fall of 2007, "Musicals aren't usually a guy thing. This one, though, is not only tolerable, it's good. It may be the first-ever musical written by men for men. There's no orchestra, just two twangy acoustic guitars, an accordion, and a fiddle. The songs are both haunting and all-American."
The Alliance describes the show as a "Southern Gothic musical fraught with mystery, tragedy and ghosts of the past."
The official description of Ghost Brothers of Darkland County from the Alliance Theatre website:
(2001, narration only), After Image (2001), and Lone Star State of Mind (2002). His older brother, Joe Mellencamp, appears in Falling from Grace as the bandleader during the country club scene.
In 1980, Mellencamp turned down the lead role in the movie The Idolmaker
because, as he told the Toledo Blade in 1983, "I was afraid that if I made too much money, I'd have no motivation to make records anymore."
Mellencamp told VH1 that he was originally offered the Brad Pitt
role in Thelma and Louise
: "You know they used to want me to be an actor all the time and I used to get more movie role offers. That's when I was – believe it or not, I used to not be as ugly as I am now. And they gave me this script called Thelma & Louise and they said, 'The guy wrote the part with you in mind, John, you really gotta do this part.' And I read the script and I thought, 'Yeah, I get it but I don't want to take my shirt off.' So Brad Pitt took his shirt off and look what happened to Brad Pitt. I was that close."
In April 2007, Mellencamp was a "guest critic" on At the Movies, filling in for Roger Ebert
.
on the shores of Lake Monroe
http://virtualglobetrotting.com/map/john-mellencamps-house/view/?service=0. He married former supermodel
Elaine Irwin Mellencamp
on September 5, 1992, but on December 30, 2010, Mellencamp announced that he and Irwin had separated after 18 years of marriage. Their divorce became official on Aug. 12, 2011, with the couple negotiating "an amicable settlement of all issues involving property and maintenance rights, the custody and support of their children, and all other issues," according the settlement agreement. Mellencamp has five children from his three marriages: Michelle from his first marriage to Priscilla Esterline (1970–81); daughters Teddi Jo and Justice from his second marriage to Victoria Granucci (1981–89); and sons Hud and Speck from his marriage to Irwin. He has since gone public with his relationship with actress Meg Ryan
.
In 2000, he gave the Indiana University 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.
, who, like Mellencamp, was born and raised in Seymour, Indiana. Green was a gifted lyricist and contributed lyrics to numerous Mellencamp radio hits, including “Human Wheels,” “Minutes to Memories,” “Hurts So Good,” “Crumblin’ Down,” “Rain on the Scarecrow,” "Your Life is Now" and “Key West Intermezzo,” in addition to songs recorded by Barbra Streisand
, Hall & Oates
, Jude Cole
, Vanessa Williams
, Ricky Skaggs
, Sue Medley
and The Oak Ridge Boys
among others. Mellencamp and Green's final collaboration was "Yours Forever," a song that was included on the soundtrack to the 2000 movie The Perfect Storm
. Mellencamp and Green had a falling out in the early 2000s, and Green ultimately moved from Bloomington, Indiana
to Taos, New Mexico
in 2001. "Like when you're married, when you're friends with somebody for a long time, the more things build up the more things can go wrong," Mellencamp said in the liner notes to his 2010 box set On the Rural Route 7609
. "There were personal problems, cross-pollinated with professional issues. George has written some great lyrics and we've written some great songs together, but I just couldn't do it any more."
On August 28, 2011, Green passed away in Albuquerque, New Mexico
at the age of 59 after losing a battle with a rapidly-progressing form of lung cancer. “I’ve known George since we were in the same Sunday school class. We had a lot of fun together when we were kids. Later on, we wrote some really good songs together,” Mellencamp told the Bloomington Herald Times shortly after Green's death. “George was a dreamer, and I was sorry to hear of his passing.”
through his music in the 1980s and wrote some scathing lyrics about Reagan in his 1989 song "Country Gentleman:" "He ain't-a gonna help no children/He aint-a gonna help no women/I ain't gonna help either. I'm just gonna help my new rich friends."
In 2003, Mellencamp became one of the first entertainers to speak out against the Iraqi War when he released the song "To Washington," which was also critical of the 2000 U.S. Presidential elections
. "When the song first came out I was in the car one day and we were driving to the airport and I had my kids with me and a radio station was playing 'To Washington' and having callers call in." Mellencamp said. "Some guy comes on and says, 'I don't know who I hate the most, John Mellencamp or Osama bin Laden
.'"
In an "Open Letter to America" on his website, Mellencamp stated:
On his 2007 album Freedom's Road
, Mellencamp included a hidden track called "Rodeo Clown," which was a direct reference to George W. Bush
("The bloody red eyes of the rodeo clown").
In April 2007, Mellencamp performed for wounded troops at the Walter Reed Medical Center. His original intent was to duet on the Freedom's Road
track "Jim Crow" with singer and activist Joan Baez
. However, Army officials barred Baez from performing. He told Rolling Stone magazine: "They didn’t give me a reason why she couldn't come. We asked why and they said, 'She can't fit here, period.' Joan Baez is a 66-year-old woman and the sweetest gal in the world."
According to a February 8, 2008, Associated Press
report, Mellencamp's camp asked that the campaign for presidential candidate Sen. John McCain
stop using his songs, including "Our Country" and "Pink Houses
," during their campaign events. McCain's campaign responded by pulling the songs from their playlist. Mellencamp's publicist, Bob Merlis, noted to the Associated Press that "if [McCain is] such a true conservative, why [is he] playing songs that have a very populist pro-labor message written by a guy who would find no argument if you characterized him as an ardent leftist?" Merlis also noted that the same songs had been used, with Mellencamp's approval, by John Edwards's campaign
; in response, the McCain campaign ceased using the songs.
Mellencamp performed "Small Town" at a Barack Obama
rally in Evansville, Indiana
on April 22, the night of the 2008 Pennsylvania primary
. Mellencamp also performed "Our Country" at a rally for Hillary Clinton in Indianapolis
, Indiana, on May 3, 2008, although he never came out in support of either Obama or Clinton during the primaries. "Neither candidate is as liberal as he would prefer, but he's happy to contribute what he can," Merlis said.
On January 18, 2009, Mellencamp performed "Pink Houses" at the Obama inaugural celebration
at the Lincoln Memorial.
In 2010, Mellencamp's music was used by the National Organization for Marriage
at events opposing same-sex marriage
. In response, Mellencamp instructed Merlis to pen a letter to NOM stating "that Mr. Mellencamp’s views on same sex marriage and equal rights for people of all sexual orientations are at odds with NOM's stated agenda" and requesting that NOM "find music from a source more in harmony with your views than Mr. Mellencamp in the future."
(Best Male Rock Performer for "Hurts So Good" in 1982) and been nominated for 12 others. He has also been bestowed with the Nordoff-Robbins Silver Clef Special Music Industry Humanitarian Award (1991), the Billboard Century Award (2001), the Woody Guthrie Award (2003), and the ASCAP Foundation Champion Award (2007). On October 6, 2008, Mellencamp won the prestigious Classic Songwriter Award at the 2008 Q Awards
in London, England. Mellencamp was nominated for induction into the Songwriters Hall of Fame
in 2009 and 2010 but was not elected either time. On September 9, 2010, Mellencamp received the Americana
Lifetime Achievement Award in Nashville.
Mellencamp was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
's Class of 2008. The induction ceremony took place in New York City on March 10, 2008, and Mellencamp was inducted by good friend Billy Joel
, who asked Mellencamp to induct him into the Rock Hall back in 1999 (Mellencamp had to opt out because of another commitment, so Ray Charles
inducted Joel). During his induction speech for Mellencamp, Joel said:
Singer-songwriter
Singer-songwriters are musicians who write, compose and sing their own musical material including lyrics and melodies. As opposed to contemporary popular music singers who write their own songs, the term singer-songwriter describes a distinct form of artistry, closely associated with the...
, musician, painter
Painting
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...
and occasional actor known for his catchy, populist brand of heartland rock
Heartland rock
Heartland rock is a genre of rock music that developed in the 1970s and reached its commercial peak in the 1980s, when it became one of the best-selling genres in the United States. It was characterized by a straightforward musical style, a concern with the average, blue collar American life, and a...
that eschews synthesizers and other artificial sounds in favor of acoustic instrumentation. He has sold over 40 million albums worldwide and has amassed 22 Top 40 hits in the United States. In addition, he holds the record for the most tracks by a solo artist to hit number-one on the Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks chart, with seven, and has been nominated for 13 Grammy Awards, winning one. His latest album, No Better Than This
No Better Than This
No Better Than This is an album by American singer-songwriter and musician John Mellencamp, produced by T Bone Burnett, that was released on August 17, 2010. The album was recorded at several historic locations throughout the United States...
, was released on August 17, 2010 to widespread critical acclaim.
Mellencamp is also one of the founding members of Farm Aid
Farm Aid
Farm Aid started as a benefit concert on September 22, 1985, in Champaign, Illinois, held to raise money for family farmers in the United States...
, an organization that began in 1985 with a concert in Champaign, Illinois
Champaign, Illinois
Champaign is a city in Champaign County, Illinois, in the United States. The city is located south of Chicago, west of Indianapolis, Indiana, and 178 miles northeast of St. Louis, Missouri. Though surrounded by farm communities, Champaign is notable for sharing the campus of the University of...
to raise awareness about the loss of family farms and to raise funds to keep farm families on their land. The Farm Aid
Farm Aid
Farm Aid started as a benefit concert on September 22, 1985, in Champaign, Illinois, held to raise money for family farmers in the United States...
concerts have remained an annual event over the past 26 years, and as of 2011 the organization has raised over $39 million to promote a strong and resilient family farm system of agriculture. The 2011 Farm Aid concert took place on August 13 at Livestrong Sporting Park
Livestrong Sporting Park
Livestrong Sporting Park is a soccer-specific stadium in Kansas City, Kansas and is the home of Sporting Kansas City. The stadium opened during the 2011 season of Major League Soccer on June 9, 2011 with a match against the Chicago Fire. The stadium has a seating capacity of 18,467 seats, which can...
in Kansas City, Kansas
Kansas City, Kansas
Kansas City is the third-largest city in the state of Kansas and is the county seat of Wyandotte County. It is a suburb of Kansas City, Missouri, and is the third largest city in the Kansas City Metropolitan Area. The city is part of a consolidated city-county government known as the "Unified...
.
Mellencamp was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum is a museum located on the shore of Lake Erie in downtown Cleveland, Ohio, United States. It is dedicated to archiving the history of some of the best-known and most influential artists, producers, engineers and others who have, in some major way,...
on March 10, 2008 by Billy Joel
Billy Joel
William Martin "Billy" Joel is an American musician and pianist, singer-songwriter, and classical composer. Since releasing his first hit song, "Piano Man", in 1973, Joel has become the sixth best-selling recording artist and the third best-selling solo artist in the United States, according to...
. His biggest musical influences are Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...
, Woody Guthrie
Woody Guthrie
Woodrow Wilson "Woody" Guthrie is best known as an American singer-songwriter and folk musician, whose musical legacy includes hundreds of political, traditional and children's songs, ballads and improvised works. He frequently performed with the slogan This Machine Kills Fascists displayed on his...
, Buddy Holly
Buddy Holly
Charles Hardin Holley , known professionally as Buddy Holly, was an American singer-songwriter and a pioneer of rock and roll...
and The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones are an English rock band, formed in London in April 1962 by Brian Jones , Ian Stewart , Mick Jagger , and Keith Richards . Bassist Bill Wyman and drummer Charlie Watts completed the early line-up...
. Said longtime Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
contributor Anthony DeCurtis
Anthony DeCurtis
Anthony DeCurtis is an American author and music critic, who has written for Rolling Stone, The New York Times, Relix and other publications.-Career:...
: "Mellencamp has created an important body of work that has earned him both critical regard and an enormous audience. His songs document the joys and struggles of ordinary people seeking to make their way, and he has consistently brought the fresh air of common experience to the typically glamour-addled world of popular music."
Early life
Mellencamp was born in Seymour, IndianaSeymour, Indiana
Seymour was the site of the World's First Train Robbery, committed by the local Reno Gang, on October 6, 1866 just east of town. The gang was put into prison for the robbery, and later hanged at Hangman's Crossing outside of town....
. He is the son of Richard and Marilyn Mellencamp. Mellencamp was born with a mild form of spina bifida
Spina bifida
Spina bifida is a developmental congenital disorder caused by the incomplete closing of the embryonic neural tube. Some vertebrae overlying the spinal cord are not fully formed and remain unfused and open. If the opening is large enough, this allows a portion of the spinal cord to protrude through...
that necessitated a lengthy stay in the hospital as a baby. He is descended from German immigrant Johann Herman Möhlenkamp, who came to the White Creek area of Bartholomew County, Indiana
Bartholomew County, Indiana
Bartholomew County is a county located in the U.S. state of Indiana, and determined by the U.S. Census Bureau to include the mean center of U.S. population in 1900. As of 2010, the population was 76,794...
, in 1855. He grew up in his hometown of Seymour, Indiana.
He formed his first band, Crepe Soul, at the age of 14 and later played in the local bands Trash, Snakepit Banana Barn and the Mason Brothers. He eloped with his pregnant girlfriend Priscilla at the age of 18 and became a father in December 1970, six months after he graduated from high school. His daughter Michelle became a mother at age 19, making John a grandfather at 38.
Mellencamp attended Vincennes University
Vincennes University
Vincennes University is a public university in Vincennes, Indiana, in the United States. Founded in 1801 as Jefferson Academy, VU is the oldest public institution of higher learning in Indiana. Since 1889, VU has been a two-year university, although baccalaureate degrees in seven select areas are...
, a two-year college in Vincennes, Indiana
Vincennes, Indiana
Vincennes is a city in and the county seat of Knox County, Indiana, United States. It is located on the Wabash River in the southwestern part of the state. The population was 18,701 at the 2000 census...
, starting in 1972. During this time he experimented with drugs and alcohol, stating in a 1986 Rolling Stone interview, "When I was high on pot, it affected me so drastically that when I was in college there were times when I wouldn't get off the couch. I would lie there, listening to Roxy Music
Roxy Music
Roxy Music was a British art rock band formed in 1971 by Bryan Ferry, who became the group's lead vocalist and chief songwriter, and bassist Graham Simpson. The other members are Phil Manzanera , Andy Mackay and Paul Thompson . Former members include Brian Eno , and Eddie Jobson...
, right next to the record player so I wouldn't have to get up to flip the record over. I'd listen to this record, that record. There would be four or five days like that when I would be completely gone."
Upon graduating from Vincennes University in 1974, Mellencamp played in a couple of local bands, including the aforementioned glitter-band
Glam rock
Glam rock is a style of rock and pop music that developed in the UK in the early 1970s, which was performed by singers and musicians who wore outrageous clothes, makeup and hairstyles, particularly platform-soled boots and glitter...
Trash, which was named after a New York Dolls
New York Dolls
The New York Dolls is an American rock band, formed in New York in 1971. The band's protopunk sound prefigured much of what was to come in the punk rock era; their visual style influenced the look of many new wave and 1980s-era glam metal groups, and they began the local New York scene that later...
song, and he later got a job in Seymour installing telephones. At this time, Mellencamp, who had given up drugs and alcohol for good before graduating from Vincennes University, decided to pursue a career in music.
Performing as Johnny Cougar & John Cougar (1976–1982)
After about 18 months of traveling back and forth from Indiana to New York City in 1974 and 1975, Mellencamp finally found someone receptive to his music and image in Tony DeFriesTony DeFries
Tony Defries is a British former record producer and pop manager, and more recently inventor.DeFries worked in the 1960s music scene with such figures as Mickie Most, Allen Klein, before turning his attention to David Bowie...
of MainMan Management. DeFries insisted that Mellencamp's first album, Chestnut Street Incident
Chestnut Street Incident
Chestnut Street Incident is the debut album by Johnny Cougar, later known as John Mellencamp, released in 1976.-Track listing:All tracks composed by John Mellencamp; except where indicated# "American Dream" – 2:21...
, a collection of covers
Cover version
In popular music, a cover version or cover song, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording of a contemporary or previously recorded, commercially released song or popular song...
and a handful of original songs, be released under the stage name Johnny Cougar, suggesting that the bumpy German name "Mellencamp" was too hard to market. Mellencamp reluctantly agreed, but the album was a complete failure, selling only 12,000 copies.
Mellencamp recorded The Kid Inside
The Kid Inside
The Kid Inside is an album recorded by John Mellencamp in 1977 for MCA Records. It was intended to be the follow-up to his debut album Chestnut Street Incident, but MCA declined to release the album and dropped Mellencamp from the label. The recordings remained on the shelf until 1983 when Tony...
, the follow-up to Chestnut Street Incident, in 1977, but DeFries eventually decided against releasing the album and Mellencamp was dropped from MCA records (DeFries finally released The Kid Inside
The Kid Inside
The Kid Inside is an album recorded by John Mellencamp in 1977 for MCA Records. It was intended to be the follow-up to his debut album Chestnut Street Incident, but MCA declined to release the album and dropped Mellencamp from the label. The recordings remained on the shelf until 1983 when Tony...
in early 1983, after Mellencamp broke through to stardom). Mellencamp drew interest from Rod Stewart
Rod Stewart
Roderick David "Rod" Stewart, CBE is a British singer-songwriter and musician, born and raised in North London, England and currently residing in Epping. He is of Scottish and English ancestry....
's manager, Billy Gaff, after parting ways with DeFries and was signed to the tiny Riva Records
Riva Records
Riva Records was a record label founded the UK in 1975 by Billy Gaff, manager of Rod Stewart.Rod Stewart signed to the label in the UK, but stayed with Warner Bros. Records in the US. Another well known artist on the label was John Cougar Mellencamp, distributed by PolyGram in the US, and WEA in...
label. At Gaff's request, Mellencamp moved to London, England for nearly a year to record, promote and tour behind 1978's A Biography
A Biography
- Personnel :* Johnny Cougar – lead vocals, acoustic guitar, background vocals* Brian BecVar – keyboards, background vocals* Larry Crane– guitars, background vocals* Robert "Ferd" Frank – bass, background vocals...
. The record wasn't released in the United States, but it yielded a hit in Australia with "I Need a Lover
I Need a Lover
"I Need a Lover" is a rock song written and performed by John Mellencamp under the stage name John Cougar. It first appeared on his 1978 album A Biography, which was not released in the United States....
". Riva Records added "I Need a Lover" to Mellencamp's next album released in the United States, 1979's John Cougar
John Cougar (album)
John Cougar is the fourth album by John Cougar. Released in 1979, following the Australian success of "I Need a Lover" from the previous year's A Biography , the album included the aforementioned track for U.S...
, where the song became a No. 28 single in late 1979. Pat Benatar
Pat Benatar
Pat Benatar is an American singer and four-time Grammy winner. She had considerable commercial success particularly in the United States...
recorded "I Need a Lover" on her debut album In the Heat of the Night.
In 1980, Mellencamp returned with the Steve Cropper
Steve Cropper
Steve Cropper , also known as Steve "The Colonel" Cropper, is an American guitarist, songwriter and record producer. He is best known as the guitarist of the Stax Records house band, Booker T...
-produced Nothin' Matters and What If It Did
Nothin' Matters and What If It Did
Nothin' Matters And What If It Did is John Mellencamp's fifth album, under his pseudonym of John Cougar. It includes the moderate hits "Ain't Even Done With The Night," which reached No. 17 on the Billboard Hot 100 and "This Time," which reached No. 27....
, which yielded two Top 40 singles — "This Time" (No. 27) and "Ain't Even Done With the Night" (No. 17). "The singles were stupid little pop songs," he told Record Magazine in 1983. "I take no credit for that record. It wasn't like the title was made up — it wasn't supposed to be punky or cocky like some people thought. Toward the end, I didn't even go to the studio. Me and the guys in the band thought we were finished, anyway. It was the most expensive record I ever made. It cost $280,000, do you believe that? The worst thing was that I could have gone on making records like that for hundreds of years. Hell, as long as you sell a few records and the record company isn't putting lot of money into promotion, you're making money for 'em and that's all they care about. PolyGram loved Nothin' Matters. They thought I was going to turn into the next Neil Diamond
Neil Diamond
Neil Leslie Diamond is an American singer-songwriter with a career spanning over five decades from the 1960s until the present....
."
In 1982
1982 in music
This is a list of notable events in music from 1982. 1982 was a big year in music with Madonna making her debut as well as the year that Michael Jackson released Thriller which became the world's best selling album and it still holds that title today....
, Mellencamp released his breakthrough album, American Fool
American Fool
American Fool is the sixth album by John Mellencamp, released under the stage name John Cougar in 1982. This was Mellencamp's last album to be released under the name John Cougar. His next album, Uh-Huh, would be released under the name John Cougar Mellencamp. The album was Mellencamp's commercial...
, which contained the singles "Hurts So Good
Hurts So Good
"Hurts So Good" is a song from 1982 by the American singer-songwriter John Mellencamp, then performing as John Cougar. The song was a number two hit on the Billboard Hot 100 for the singer. It was the first of three major hit singles from his 1982 album American Fool...
," an uptempo rock tune that spent four weeks at No. 2 and 16 weeks in the top 10, and "Jack & Diane," which was a No. 1 hit for four weeks. A third single, "Hand to Hold On To," made it to No. 19. "Hurts So Good" went on to win the Grammy Award for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance
Grammy Award for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance
The Grammy Award for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance was an award presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards, to male recording artists for works containing quality vocal performances in the rock music genre...
at the 25th Grammys. "To be real honest, there's three good songs on that record, and the rest is just sort of filler," Mellencamp told Creem Magazine of American Fool in 1984. "It was too labored over, too thought about, and it wasn't organic enough. The record company thought it would bomb, but I think the reason it took off was – not that the songs were better than my others – but people liked the sound of it, the 'bam-bam-bam' drums. It was a different sound."
Performing as John Cougar Mellencamp (1983–1990)
With some commercial success under his belt, Mellencamp had enough clout to force the record company to add his real surname, Mellencamp, to his stage moniker. The first album recorded under his new name John Cougar Mellencamp was 1983's Uh-HuhUh-Huh
Uh-Huh is an 1983 album by John Cougar Mellencamp, a stage name for John Mellencamp. It was Mellencamp's seventh album and the first in which he used his real last name. It charted at #9 on the Billboard 200....
, a Top-10 album that spawned the Top 10 singles "Pink Houses
Pink Houses
"Pink Houses" is a song written and sung by John Cougar Mellencamp. It was released on the 1983 album Uh-Huh on Riva Records. It reached #8 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 in early 1984...
,"and "Crumblin' Down
Crumblin' Down
"Crumblin' Down" is a rock song co-written and performed by John Cougar Mellencamp, released as the lead single from his 1983 album Uh-Huh. It was a top-ten hit on both the Billboard Hot 100 and Mainstream Rock charts.- Details :...
" as well as the No. 14 hit "Authority Song," which he said is "our version of "I Fought the Law.'" During the recording of Uh-Huh, Mellencamp's backing band settled on the lineup it would retain for the next several albums: Kenny Aronoff
Kenny Aronoff
Kenny Aronoff is an American drummer. He has played drums for many musicians, including John Mellencamp, Bob Seger, Belinda Carlisle, Elton John, John Fogerty, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Meat Loaf, The BoDeans, Gregg Alexander, The Smashing Pumpkins, Tony Iommi, Jon Bon Jovi, Vasco Rossi, Cinderella and...
on drums and percussion, Larry Crane and Mike Wanchic on guitars, Toby Myers on bass and John Cascella on keyboards. In 1988, Rolling Stone magazine called this version of Mellencamp's band "one of the most powerful and versatile live bands ever assembled." On the 1984 Uh-Huh Tour, Mellencamp opened his shows with cover versions of songs he admired growing up, including Elvis Presley
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King"....
's "Heartbreak Hotel," the Animals' "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood," Lee Dorsey
Lee Dorsey
Lee Dorsey was an African American pop/R&B singer during the 1960s. Much of his work was produced by Allen Toussaint with instrumental backing provided by the Meters.-Career:...
's "Ya Ya" and the Left Banke's "Pretty Ballerina."
Since college, Mellencamp has, with the exception of his continuing devotion to nicotine, lived a drug and alcohol-free lifestyle. In 1984, when asked about his views on drugs, he told Bill Holdship of Creem
Creem
Creem , "America's Only Rock 'n' Roll Magazine," was a monthly rock 'n' roll publication first published in March 1969 by Barry Kramer and founding editor Tony Reay. It suspended production in 1989 but received a short-lived renaissance in the early 1990s as a glossy tabloid...
magazine, "If you want to stick needles in your arms, go ahead and fucking do it. You're the one that's going to pay the consequences. I don't think it's a good idea, and I sure don't advocate it, but I'm not going to judge people. Hell, if that was the case, you wouldn't like anyone in the music business because everyone's blowing cocaine."
In 1985, Mellencamp released Scarecrow
Scarecrow (John Mellencamp album)
Scarecrow is the eighth album by John Mellencamp. Released in August 1985 by Mercury Records, it peaked at #2 on the U.S. charts. It was remastered and reissued on Mercury Records on May 24, 2005, with one bonus track....
, which peaked at No. 2 in the fall of '85 and spawned five Top 40 singles: "Lonely Ol' Night
Lonely Ol' Night
"Lonely Ol' Night" is a rock song written and performed by singer-songwriter John Mellencamp as John Cougar Mellencamp. It appeared on his 1985 album Scarecrow, and was released as a single, peaking at number 6 on the Billboard Hot 100...
" (No. 6), "Small Town
Small Town
Small Town is a song written by John Cougar Mellencamp and released on his 1985 album Scarecrow. The song reached #6 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.-Content:...
" (No. 6), and "R.O.C.K. in the U.S.A. (A Salute to '60s Rock)
R.O.C.K. in the U.S.A.
"R.O.C.K. in the U.S.A.", subtitled "A Salute to '60s Rock", is a rock song written and performed by John Mellencamp as John Cougar Mellencamp...
" (No. 2), "Rain on the Scarecrow" (No. 21) and "Rumbleseat" (No. 28). According to the February 1986 edition of Creem Magazine, Mellencamp wanted to incorporate the sound of classic '60s rock into Scarecrow, and he gave his band close to a hundred old singles to learn "almost mathematically verbatim" prior to recording album.
"Learning those songs did a lot of positive things," Mellencamp explained to Creem writer Bill Holdship. "We realized more than ever what a big melting pot of all different types of music the '60s were. Take an old Rascals song for example – there's everything from marching band beats to soul music to country sounds in one song. Learning those opened the band's vision to try new things on my songs. It wasn't let's go back and try to make this part fit into my song, but I wanted to capture the same feeling – the way those songs used to make you feel. After a while, we didn't even have to talk about it anymore. If you listen to the lead Larry [Crane] plays on 'Face The Nation', he never would have played that 'cause he didn't really know who the Animals were. He's young, and he grew up on Grand Funk Railroad. You hear it, and it's like 'where did that come from?' It had to be from hearing those old records."
Scarecrow was the first album Mellencamp recorded at his own recording studio "Belmont Mall," located in Belmont, Indiana
Belmont, Indiana
Belmont is an unincorporated town in Washington Township, Brown County, Indiana.Belmont was originally the settlement of the Shakers, who quickly died out. However, they left the bell from their church. The bell went with the land in the government auction. The bell remained until 1920 by that...
and built in 1984. Mellencamp sees Scarecrow as the start of the alternative country
Alternative country
Alternative country is a loosely defined sub-genre of country music, which includes acts that differ significantly in style from mainstream or pop country music...
genre: "I think I invented that whole 'No Depression' thing with the Scarecrow album, though I don’t get the credit," he told Classic Rock magazine in October 2008.
Shortly after finishing Scarecrow, Mellencamp helped organize the first Farm Aid
Farm Aid
Farm Aid started as a benefit concert on September 22, 1985, in Champaign, Illinois, held to raise money for family farmers in the United States...
benefit concert with Willie Nelson
Willie Nelson
Willie Hugh Nelson is an American country music singer-songwriter, as well as an author, poet, actor, and activist. The critical success of the album Shotgun Willie , combined with the critical and commercial success of Red Headed Stranger and Stardust , made Nelson one of the most recognized...
and Neil Young
Neil Young
Neil Percival Young, OC, OM is a Canadian singer-songwriter who is widely regarded as one of the most influential musicians of his generation...
in Champaign, Illinois
Champaign, Illinois
Champaign is a city in Champaign County, Illinois, in the United States. The city is located south of Chicago, west of Indianapolis, Indiana, and 178 miles northeast of St. Louis, Missouri. Though surrounded by farm communities, Champaign is notable for sharing the campus of the University of...
on September 22, 1985. The Farm Aid concerts remain an annual event and have raised over $39 million for struggling family farmers as of 2011.
Prior to the 1985–86 Scarecrow Tour, during which he covered some of the same 1960s rock and soul songs he and his band rehearsed prior to the recording of Scarecrow, Mellencamp added fiddle player Lisa Germano
Lisa Germano
Lisa Germano is an American singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist who has released seven albums featuring her often-hushed vocal style, confessional lyrics, and distinctive violin. Her 1994 album Geek the Girl received widespread critical acclaim, including being featured as a top album of...
to his band. Germano would remain in Mellencamp's band until 1994, when she left to pursue a solo career.
Mellencamp's next LP, 1987's The Lonesome Jubilee
The Lonesome Jubilee
The Lonesome Jubilee is the ninth album by American singer-songwriter John Mellencamp, credited as John Cougar Mellencamp. The album was released by Mercury Records on August 24, 1987 . Four singles were released from the album, the first two in 1987 and the last two in 1988.The album was one of...
, included the singles "Paper in Fire
Paper in Fire
"Paper in Fire" is a song by American rock singer John Cougar Mellencamp, released as the first single from his ninth studio album The Lonesome Jubilee....
," (No. 9) "Cherry Bomb," (No. 8), "Check It Out," (No. 14) and "Rooty Toot Toot" (No. 61) along with the popular album tracks "Hard Times for an Honest Man" and "The Real Life," both of which garnered significant radio airplay even though they didn't achieve any chart position. "We were on the road for a long time after Scarecrow, so we were together a lot as a band," Mellencamp said in a 1987 Creem Magazine feature. "For the first time ever, we talked about the record before we started. We had a very distinct vision of what should be happening here. At one point, The Lonesome Jubilee
The Lonesome Jubilee
The Lonesome Jubilee is the ninth album by American singer-songwriter John Mellencamp, credited as John Cougar Mellencamp. The album was released by Mercury Records on August 24, 1987 . Four singles were released from the album, the first two in 1987 and the last two in 1988.The album was one of...
was supposed to be a double album, but at least 10 of the songs I'd written just didn't stick together with the idea and the sound we had in mind. So I just put those songs on a shelf, and cut it back down to a single record. Now, in the past, it was always 'Let's make it up as we go along' – and we did make some of The Lonesome Jubilee up as we went along. But we had a very clear idea of what we wanted it to sound like, even before it was written, right through to the day it was mastered."
As Frank DiGiacomo of Vanity Fair
Vanity Fair (magazine)
Vanity Fair is a magazine of pop culture, fashion, and current affairs published by Condé Nast. The present Vanity Fair has been published since 1983 and there have been editions for four European countries as well as the U.S. edition. This revived the title which had ceased publication in 1935...
wrote in 2007, "The Lonesome Jubilee was the album in which Mellencamp defined his now signature sound: a rousing, crystalline mix of acoustic and electric guitars, Appalachian fiddle, and gospel-style backing vocals, anchored by a crisp, bare-knuckle drumbeat and completed by his own velveteen rasp."
During the 1987-88 Lonesome Jubilee Tour, Mellencamp was joined onstage by surprise guest Bruce Springsteen
Bruce Springsteen
Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen , nicknamed "The Boss," is an American singer-songwriter who records and tours with the E Street Band...
at the end of his May 26, 1988 gig in Irvine, California, for a duet of Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...
's "Like a Rolling Stone", which Mellencamp performed as the penultimate song during each show on that tour.
After the Lonesome Jubilee Tour, Mellencamp divorced his second wife, Vicki.
In 1989, Mellencamp released the personal album Big Daddy
Big Daddy (album)
Big Daddy is the tenth studio album by American singer-songwriter and musician John Mellencamp, released in 1989 by Mercury Records. It was his last album to be released under the name John Cougar Mellencamp, a combination of his real name and his original stage name of Johnny Cougar...
, with the key tracks "Jackie Brown," "Big Daddy of Them All" and "Void in My Heart" accompanying the Top 15 single "Pop Singer." The album, which Mellencamp called at the time the most "earthy" record he'd ever made, is also the last to feature the "Cougar" moniker.
Mellencamp was heavily involved in painting at this time in his life and decided not to tour behind Big Daddy, stating: "What's the point?... This other step that people keep wanting me to take to become another level of recording artist - to be Madonna? To sell out? To bend over? To kiss somebody's ass? I ain't gonna do it." In his second painting exhibition, at the Churchman-Fehsenfeld Gallery in Indianapolis in 1990, Mellencamp's portraits were described as always having sad facial expressions and conveying "the same disillusionment found in his musical anthems about the nation's heartland and farm crisis."
Performing as John Mellencamp (1991–1997)
Mellencamp's 1991 album, Whenever We WantedWhenever We Wanted
Whenever We Wanted is American singer-songwriter and musician John Mellencamp's eleventh album, and the first to be credited simply to Mellencamp's given name ....
, was the first with a cover billed to John Mellencamp—the Cougar was now gone forever. Whenever We Wanted yielded the Top 40 hits "Get a Leg Up" and "Again Tonight," but "Last Chance," "Love and Happiness" and "Now More Than Ever" all garnered significant airplay on rock radio. "It's very rock 'n' roll," Mellencamp said of Whenever We Wanted. "I just wanted to get back to the basics."
In 1993, he released Human Wheels
Human Wheels
Human Wheels is the 12th album released by American singer-songwriter and musician John Mellencamp in 1993. Released on Mercury Records, it peaked at No. 7 on the Billboard 200. The single "What If I Came Knocking" was Mellencamp's last No...
, and the title track peaked at No. 48 on the Billboard singles chart. "To me, this record is very urban," Mellencamp told Billboard magazine of Human Wheels in the summer of '93. "We had a lot of discussions about the rhythm and blues music of the day. We explored what a lot of these (current) bands are doing — these young black bands that are doing more than just sampling."
Mellencamp's 1994 Dance Naked
Dance Naked
Dance Naked is the 13th album by American singer-songwriter and musician John Mellencamp released in 1994. The album was released in response to the record company's accusations that Mellencamp's previous album, Human Wheels, didn't "fit the format." Mellencamp was irritated with this remark,...
album included a cover of Van Morrison
Van Morrison
Van Morrison, OBE is a Northern Irish singer-songwriter and musician. His live performances at their best are regarded as transcendental and inspired; while some of his recordings, such as the studio albums Astral Weeks and Moondance, and the live album It's Too Late to Stop Now, are widely...
's "Wild Night
Wild Night
"Wild Night" is a song written by Northern Irish singer-songwriter Van Morrison and is the opening track on his fifth studio album Tupelo Honey. It was released as a single in 1971 and reached number twenty-eight on the Billboard Hot 100 chart....
" as a duet with Meshell Ndegeocello. "Wild Night" became Mellencamp's biggest hit in years, peaking at No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
. The album also contained two protest songs in "L.U.V." and "Another Sunny Day 12/25", in addition to the title track, which hit No. 41 on the Hot 100 in the summer of 1994. "This is as naked a rock record as you're going to hear," Mellencamp said of Dance Naked
Dance Naked
Dance Naked is the 13th album by American singer-songwriter and musician John Mellencamp released in 1994. The album was released in response to the record company's accusations that Mellencamp's previous album, Human Wheels, didn't "fit the format." Mellencamp was irritated with this remark,...
in a 1994 Billboard magazine interview. "All the vocals are first or second takes, and half the songs don't even have bass parts. Others have just one guitar, bass, and drums, which I haven't done since American Fool."
With guitarist Andy York now on board as Larry Crane's full-time replacement, Mellencamp launched his Dance Naked Tour in the summer of 1994, but a minor heart attack suffered after a show at Jones Beach in New York on August 8 of that year eventually forced him to cancel the last few weeks of the tour. "I was up to 80 cigarettes a day," Mellencamp told the Boston Herald in September 1996 about the habits that led to his heart malfunction two years prior. "We'd finish a show and I'd go out and have steak and french fries and eggs at 4 in the morning and then go to sleep with all that in my gut. It was just a terrible lifestyle."
He returned to the concert stage in early 1995 by playing a series of dates in small Midwestern clubs under the pseudonym Pearl Doggy.
In September 1996, the experimental album Mr. Happy Go Lucky
Mr. Happy Go Lucky
Mr. Happy Go Lucky is a rock album released by American singer-songwriter and musician John Mellencamp on September 10, 1996. It was his first album released after his heart attack in 1994. Mellencamp's music on the album is said to reflect his brush with death. This album was recorded in Belmont,...
, which was produced by Junior Vasquez
Junior Vasquez
Junior Vasquez, , is an American club DJ and remixer/producer.-Career:...
, was released to critical acclaim. "It's been fascinating to me how urban records use rhythm and electronics, and it's terribly challenging to make that work in the context of a rock band," Mellencamp told Billboard magazine in 1996. "But we took it further than an urban record. The arrangements are more ambitious, with programs and loops going right along with real drums and guitars."
Mr. Happy Go Lucky spawned the No. 14 single "Key West Intermezzo (I Saw You First)" (Mellencamp's last Top 40 hit) and "Just Another Day," which peaked at No. 46.
Recording for Columbia (1998–2003)
After the release of Mr. Happy Go Lucky and a subsequent four-month tour from March–July 1997 to promote it, Mellencamp signed a four-album deal with Columbia RecordsColumbia Records
Columbia Records is an American record label, owned by Japan's Sony Music Entertainment, operating under the Columbia Music Group with Aware Records. It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company — successor to the Volta Graphophone Company...
, although he wound up making only three albums for the label.
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 standout album tracks such as "Eden Is Burning," "Miss Missy," "It All Comes True" and "Chance Meeting At The Tarantula." The switch in labels coincided with Dane Clark replacing Aronoff on drums. "On this record, we ended up quite a-bit away from where we started," Mellencamp told Guitar World Acoustic in 1998. "Initially, I wanted to make a record that barely had drums on it. Donovan made a record (in 1966), Sunshine Superman, and I wanted to start with that same kind of vibe—Eastern, very grand stories, fairy tales."
He released a book of his early paintings, titled Paintings and Reflections, in 1998.
In 1999, Mellencamp covered his own songs as well as those by Bob Dylan and the Drifters
The Drifters
The Drifters are a long-lived American doo-wop and R&B/soul vocal group with a peak in popularity from 1953 to 1963, though several splinter Drifters continue to perform today. They were originally formed to serve as Clyde McPhatter's backing group in 1953...
for his album Rough Harvest
Rough Harvest
Rough Harvest is a collection of alternate, acoustic arrangements of John Mellencamp's favorite tracks, as well as several covers. Recorded mostly in 1997 , the album fulfilled Mellencamp's contractual obligation with Mercury Records.-Track listing:# "Love And Happiness" -...
(recorded in 1997), 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 early 21st century found Mellencamp teaming up with artists such as Chuck D
Chuck D
Carlton Douglas Ridenhour , better known by his stage name, Chuck D, is an American rapper, author, and producer. He helped create politically and socially conscious rap music in the mid-1980s as the leader of the rap group Public Enemy.- Early life :Ridenhour was born in Queens, New York...
and India.Arie
India.Arie
India.Arie is a Grammy Award-winning American singer-songwriter and record producer . She has sold over 3.3 million records in the U.S. and 10 million worldwide. She has won four Grammy Awards from her 21 nominations, including Best R&B Album.-Background:Simpson was born in Denver, Colorado...
to deliver his second Columbia album, Cuttin' Heads
Cuttin' Heads
Cuttin' Heads is an album by American singer-songwriter and musician John Mellencamp, released in 2001. It was his second album for Columbia Records.- Track listing :All songs written by John Mellencamp, except where noted....
and the single "Peaceful World
Peaceful World (John Mellencamp song)
"Peaceful World" is a 2001 song by John Mellencamp and India.Arie, and was featured on Mellencamp's album Cuttin' Heads. Mellencamp also included the track on his 2007 album 20th Century Masters: The Millennium Collection: The Best of John Mellencamp...
." Cuttin' Heads also included a duet with Trisha Yearwood
Trisha Yearwood
Patricia Lynn Yearwood, professionally known as Trisha Yearwood , is an American country music artist. She is best known for her ballads about vulnerable young women from a female perspective that have been described by some music critics as "strong" and "confident."Trisha Yearwood signed with MCA...
on a love song called "Deep Blue Heart." "He played me this song," Yearwood told Country.com, "and he said, 'I kind of have an idea of like when Emmylou Harris
Emmylou Harris
Emmylou Harris is an American singer-songwriter and musician. In addition to her work as a solo artist and bandleader, both as an interpreter of other composers' works and as a singer-songwriter, she is a sought-after backing vocalist and duet partner, working with numerous other artists including...
sang on Bob Dylan's record, just kind of harmony all the way through.'"
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 cover of the Rolling Stones' "Gimme Shelter
Gimme Shelter
"Gimme Shelter" is a song by English rock band The Rolling Stones. It first appeared as the opening track on the band's 1969 album Let It Bleed. Although the first word was spelled "Gimmie" on that album, subsequent recordings by the band and other musicians have made "Gimme" the customary spelling...
" and also played a solo acoustic version of the Cuttin' Heads track "Women Seem" at each show.
In 2003, he released Trouble No More
Trouble No More
Trouble No More is American singer-songwriter and musician John Mellencamp's eighteenth full-length album and his final recording for Columbia Records, released in 2003. It consists of blues and folk covers....
, a quickly-recorded collection of folk
Folk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....
and blues
Blues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
covers originally done by artists such as Robert Johnson, Son House
Son House
Eddie James "Son" House, Jr. was an American blues singer and guitarist. House pioneered an innovative style featuring strong, repetitive rhythms, often played with the aid of slide guitar, and his singing often incorporated elements of southern gospel and spiritual music...
, Lucinda Williams
Lucinda Williams
Lucinda Williams is an American rock, folk, blues and country music singer and songwriter. She recorded her first albums in 1978 and 1980 in a traditional country and blues style and received very little attention from radio, the media, or the public. In 1988, she released her self-titled album,...
and Hoagie Carmichael. The album was also dedicated to Mellencamp's friend, Billboard magazine editor-in-chief Timothy White, who died from a heart attack in 2002. In October 2002, Mellencamp performed the Robert Johnson song "Stones In My Passway" at two benefit concerts for White. Columbia Records executives, who were in attendance at the benefits shows, were so impressed with Mellencamp's live renditions of "Stones In My Passway" that they convinced him to record an album of vintage American songs, which ultimately became Trouble No More
Trouble No More
Trouble No More is American singer-songwriter and musician John Mellencamp's eighteenth full-length album and his final recording for Columbia Records, released in 2003. It consists of blues and folk covers....
. Mellencamp sang the gospel
Gospel music
Gospel music is music that is written to express either personal, spiritual or a communal belief regarding Christian life, as well as to give a Christian alternative to mainstream secular music....
song "Will The Circle Be Unbroken" at White's funeral on July 2, 2002. Trouble No More
Trouble No More
Trouble No More is American singer-songwriter and musician John Mellencamp's eighteenth full-length album and his final recording for Columbia Records, released in 2003. It consists of blues and folk covers....
spent several weeks at #1 on Billboard's Blues Album charts.
Words and Music and Freedom's Road (2004–2007)
Mellencamp participated in the Vote for ChangeVote for Change
The Vote for Change tour was a politically-motivated American popular music concert tour that took place in October 2004. The tour was presented by MoveOn.org to benefit America Coming Together. The tour was held in swing states and was designed to encourage people to register and vote...
tour in October 2004 leading up to the 2004 U.S. Presidential election. That same month he released the two-disc career hits retrospective Words & Music: John Mellencamp's Greatest Hits
Words & Music: John Mellencamp's Greatest Hits
Words & Music: John Mellencamp's Greatest Hits is a greatest hits album by American rock and roll artist John Mellencamp. This 2-disc set was released October 19, 2004 on the Island and UTV Records labels....
, which contained 35 of his radio singles (including all 22 of his Top 40 hits) along with two new tunes, "Walk Tall
Walk Tall
"Walk Tall" is a song written by rock musician John Mellencamp which protests the Bush administration's policies. It can be found on his 2004 compilation Words & Music: John Mellencamp's Greatest Hits....
" and "Thank You" — both produced by Babyface but written by Mellencamp.
In 2005, Mellencamp toured with Donovan
Donovan
Donovan Donovan Donovan (born Donovan Philips Leitch (born 10 May 1946) is a Scottish singer-songwriter and guitarist. Emerging from the British folk scene, he developed an eclectic and distinctive style that blended folk, jazz, pop, psychedelia, and world music...
and John Fogerty
John Fogerty
John Cameron Fogerty is an American rock singer, songwriter, and guitarist, best known for his time with the swamp rock/roots rock band Creedence Clearwater Revival and as a #1 solo recording artist. Fogerty has a rare distinction of being named on Rolling Stone magazine's list of 100 Greatest...
. The first leg of what was called the Words and Music Tour in the spring of '05 featured Donovan playing in the middle of Mellencamp's set. Mellencamp would play a handful of songs before introducing Donovan and then duetting with him on the 1966 hit "Sunshine Superman." Mellencamp would leave the stage as Donovan played seven or eight of his songs (backed by Mellencamp's band) and then return to finish off his own set after Donovan departed. On the second leg of the tour in the summer of '05, Fogerty co-headlined with Mellencamp at outdoor amphitheaters across the United States. Fogerty would join Mellencamp for duets on Fogerty's Creedence Clearwater Revival
Creedence Clearwater Revival
Creedence Clearwater Revival was an American rock band that gained popularity in the late 1960s and early 1970s with a number of successful singles drawn from various albums....
hit "Green River" and Mellencamp's "Rain on the Scarecrow." During Mellencamp's 2006 tour at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Wilkes-Barre, PA, a giant screen displayed pictures of local landmarks while the band played "Small Town."
Mellencamp released Freedom's Road
Freedom's Road
Freedom's Road is an album by American singer-songwriter and musician John Mellencamp, released in 2007. It debuted on the Billboard 200 at number five in late January 2007, becoming the highest debuting album of Mellencamp's career...
, his first album of original material in over five years, on January 23, 2007. He intended for Freedom's Road
Freedom's Road
Freedom's Road is an album by American singer-songwriter and musician John Mellencamp, released in 2007. It debuted on the Billboard 200 at number five in late January 2007, becoming the highest debuting album of Mellencamp's career...
to have a 1960s rock sound while still remaining contemporary, and he feels that goal was achieved. "We wanted to make sure that it had the same feeling of some of the great songs from the '60s but also had the message of today and had the backbeat of today. I think we came up with a pretty timeless sounding album," Mellencamp told his online radio station in late 2006. "Our Country," the first single from Freedom's Road
Freedom's Road
Freedom's Road is an album by American singer-songwriter and musician John Mellencamp, released in 2007. It debuted on the Billboard 200 at number five in late January 2007, becoming the highest debuting album of Mellencamp's career...
, 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
Little Big Town
Little Big Town is an American country music vocal group. Founded in 1998, the group has comprised the same four members since its inception: Karen Fairchild, Kimberly Schlapman, Jimi Westbrook, and Phillip Sweet. The quartet's musical style relies heavily on four-part vocal harmonies, with all...
, was called on to record harmonies on the studio version of "Our Country," as well as seven other songs on Freedom's Road. Although Mellencamp had always been outspoken and adamant about not selling any of his songs to corporations to use in commercials, he changed his stance and let Chevrolet use "Our Country" in Chevy Silverado TV commercials that began airing in late September 2006.
"I agonized," Mellencamp told USA Today
USA Today
USA Today is a national American daily newspaper published by the Gannett Company. It was founded by Al Neuharth. The newspaper vies with The Wall Street Journal for the position of having the widest circulation of any newspaper in the United States, something it previously held since 2003...
's Edna Gundersen in 2007 over his decision to license "Our Country" to Chevrolet. "I still don't think we should have to do it, but record companies can't spend money to promote records anymore, unless you're U2
U2
U2 are an Irish rock band from Dublin. Formed in 1976, the group consists of Bono , The Edge , Adam Clayton , and Larry Mullen, Jr. . U2's early sound was rooted in post-punk but eventually grew to incorporate influences from many genres of popular music...
or Madonna
Madonna (entertainer)
Madonna is an American singer-songwriter, actress and entrepreneur. Born in Bay City, Michigan, she moved to New York City in 1977 to pursue a career in modern dance. After performing in the music groups Breakfast Club and Emmy, she released her debut album in 1983...
. I'm taking heat because no one's ever done this before. People have licensed songs that have already been hits, but nobody's licensed a brand-new song to a major company, and people don't know how to react."
Mellencamp sang "Our Country" to open Game 2 of the 2006 World Series
2006 World Series
The 2006 World Series, the 102nd edition of Major League Baseball's championship series, began on October 21 and ended on October 27, and matched the American League champion Detroit Tigers against the National League champion St. Louis Cardinals. The Cardinals won the Series in five games, taking...
, and the song was nominated for a 2008 Grammy Award in the category Best Solo Rock Vocal Performance but lost out to Bruce Springsteen
Bruce Springsteen
Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen , nicknamed "The Boss," is an American singer-songwriter who records and tours with the E Street Band...
's "Radio Nowhere." Freedom's Road peaked at No. 5 on the Billboard 200 album chart by selling 56,000 copies in its first week on the market.
The T-Bone Burnett Era (2008–present)
On August 13, 2007, Mellencamp began recording his 18th album of original material, titled Life, Death, Love and FreedomLife, Death, Love and Freedom
Life, Death, Love and Freedom is a folk rock album by singer-songwriter John Mellencamp and produced by T-Bone Burnett. It was released on July 15, 2008. At the end of 2008, Rolling Stone magazine named Life, Death, Love and Freedom No. 5 on its list of the 50 best albums of the year...
. The album, which was released on July 15, 2008, was produced by acclaimed roots producer T-Bone Burnett
T-Bone Burnett
Joseph Henry Burnett , widely known as T-Bone Burnett, is an American musician, songwriter, and soundtrack and record producer.He was a guitarist in Bob Dylan's band on the Rolling Thunder Revue...
. The first song with video, "Jena," was introduced on Mellencamp's website in October 2007. In an interview with the Bloomington Herald-Times in March 2008, Mellencamp dubbed Life, Death, Love and Freedom
Life, Death, Love and Freedom
Life, Death, Love and Freedom is a folk rock album by singer-songwriter John Mellencamp and produced by T-Bone Burnett. It was released on July 15, 2008. At the end of 2008, Rolling Stone magazine named Life, Death, Love and Freedom No. 5 on its list of the 50 best albums of the year...
"The best record I've ever made." He signed with Starbucks
Starbucks
Starbucks Corporation is an international coffee and coffeehouse chain based in Seattle, Washington. Starbucks is the largest coffeehouse company in the world, with 17,009 stores in 55 countries, including over 11,000 in the United States, over 1,000 in Canada, over 700 in the United Kingdom, and...
' Hear Music
Hear Music
Hear Music, also known as StarCon is the brand name of Starbucks' retail music concept and record label. Hear Music began as a catalog company in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1990 before being purchased by Starbucks in 1999.-Concept:...
label to distribute the album and said, "they think it's a fucking masterpiece." The album's first single was "My Sweet Love." A video for the song was filmed in Savannah, GA on June 9, 2008. Karen Fairchild of Little Big Town
Little Big Town
Little Big Town is an American country music vocal group. Founded in 1998, the group has comprised the same four members since its inception: Karen Fairchild, Kimberly Schlapman, Jimi Westbrook, and Phillip Sweet. The quartet's musical style relies heavily on four-part vocal harmonies, with all...
is featured in the video. She harmonizes with Mellencamp on "My Sweet Love" and provides background vocals to three other songs on Life, Death, Love and Freedom, which became the ninth Top 10 album of Mellencamp's career when it debuted at No. 7 on the Billboard 200
Billboard 200
The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...
the week of August 2, 2008. It sold 56,000 copies in its first week on the market. In its list of the 50 best albums of 2008, Rolling Stone magazine named Life, Death, Love and Freedom No. 5 overall and also dubbed "Troubled Land" No. 48 among the 100 best singles of the year.
Mellencamp made a guest appearance at Billy Joel
Billy Joel
William Martin "Billy" Joel is an American musician and pianist, singer-songwriter, and classical composer. Since releasing his first hit song, "Piano Man", in 1973, Joel has become the sixth best-selling recording artist and the third best-selling solo artist in the United States, according to...
's July 16, 2008 concert at Shea Stadium
Shea Stadium
William A. Shea Municipal Stadium, usually shortened to Shea Stadium or just Shea , was a stadium in the New York City borough of Queens, in Flushing Meadows–Corona Park. It was the home baseball park of Major League Baseball's New York Mets from 1964 to 2008...
in New York. Mellencamp sang "Pink Houses" in front of a sold-out crowd of nearly 60,000 people.
The Times They Are a-Changin' (song)
"The Times They Are a-Changin" is a song written by Bob Dylan and released as the title track of his 1964 album, The Times They Are a-Changin. The song was ranked #59 on Rolling Stones 2004 list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time....
" as a sign that the 2008 Presidential Election is going to bring about change in America.
On September 23, 2008, Mellencamp filmed a concert at the Crump Theatre in Columbus, Indiana for a new A&E Biography series called "Homeward Bound." The show features performers returning to small venues they performed at during the early stages of their careers. Mellencamp had last played at the Crump Theatre on October 4, 1976. The program aired on December 11, 2008 and also featured an in-depth documentary tracing Mellencamp's roots.
For the first time since 1992, Mellencamp toured Australia and New Zealand with opening act Sheryl Crow
Sheryl Crow
Sheryl Suzanne Crow is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, musician, and actress. Her music incorporates elements of rock, folk, hip hop, country and pop...
from November 15 – December 7, 2008. Crow joined Mellencamp on stage to duet on "My Sweet Love" during the last seven shows.
Mellencamp participated in a tribute concert for Pete Seeger
Pete Seeger
Peter "Pete" Seeger is an American folk singer and was an iconic figure in the mid-twentieth century American folk music revival. A fixture on nationwide radio in the 1940s, he also had a string of hit records during the early 1950s as a member of The Weavers, most notably their recording of Lead...
's 90th birthday on May 3, 2009 at Madison Square Garden
Madison Square Garden
Madison Square Garden, often abbreviated as MSG and known colloquially as The Garden, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in the New York City borough of Manhattan and located at 8th Avenue, between 31st and 33rd Streets, situated on top of Pennsylvania Station.Opened on February 11, 1968, it is the...
in New York City which raised funds for an environmental organization founded by Seeger to preserve and protect the Hudson River
Hudson River
The Hudson is a river that flows from north to south through eastern New York. The highest official source is at Lake Tear of the Clouds, on the slopes of Mount Marcy in the Adirondack Mountains. The river itself officially begins in Henderson Lake in Newcomb, New York...
. Mellencamp performed solo acoustic renditions of Seeger and Lee Hays' "If I Had a Hammer
If I Had a Hammer
"If I Had a Hammer " is a song written by Pete Seeger and Lee Hays. It was written in 1949 in support of the progressive movement, and was first recorded by The Weavers, a folk music quartet composed of Seeger, Hays, Ronnie Gilbert and Fred Hellerman, and then by Peter, Paul and Mary.- Early...
" and his own "A Ride Back Home."
In the summer of 2009, Mellencamp embarked on a tour of minor league ballparks with Bob Dylan and Willie Nelson that ran from July 2–August 15.
While he was on tour, Mellencamp recorded a new album, titled No Better Than This
No Better Than This
No Better Than This is an album by American singer-songwriter and musician John Mellencamp, produced by T Bone Burnett, that was released on August 17, 2010. The album was recorded at several historic locations throughout the United States...
, that was again produced by T-Bone Burnett
T-Bone Burnett
Joseph Henry Burnett , widely known as T-Bone Burnett, is an American musician, songwriter, and soundtrack and record producer.He was a guitarist in Bob Dylan's band on the Rolling Thunder Revue...
. The tracks for the album were recorded at historic locations, such as the First African Baptist Church in Savannah, Georgia
Savannah, Georgia
Savannah is the largest city and the county seat of Chatham County, in the U.S. state of Georgia. Established in 1733, the city of Savannah was the colonial capital of the Province of Georgia and later the first state capital of Georgia. Today Savannah is an industrial center and an important...
as well as at the Sun Studio
Sun Studio
Sun Studio is a recording studio opened by rock pioneer Sam Phillips at 706 Union Avenue in Memphis, Tennessee, on January 3, 1950. It was originally called Memphis Recording Service, sharing the same building with the Sun Records label business...
in Memphis
Memphis, Tennessee
Memphis is a city in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Tennessee, and the county seat of Shelby County. The city is located on the 4th Chickasaw Bluff, south of the confluence of the Wolf and Mississippi rivers....
and the Sheraton Gunter Hotel
Gunter Hotel
The Gunter Hotel is a historic hotel in downtown San Antonio, Texas built in 1909 and designed by St. Louis architect John Mauran.Now the Sheraton Gunter, it is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.-In popular culture:...
in San Antonio, where blues pioneer Robert Johnson recorded "Sweet Home Chicago" and "Crossroad Blues". Mellencamp recorded the album using a 1955 Ampex
Ampex
Ampex is an American electronics company founded in 1944 by Alexander M. Poniatoff. The name AMPEX is an acronym, created by its founder, which stands for Alexander M. Poniatoff Excellence...
portable recording machine and only one microphone, requiring all the musicians to gather together around the mic. The album was recorded in mono. Mellencamp wrote over 30 songs for the record (only 13 made the final cut), and he wrote one song specifically for Room 414 at the Gunter Hotel. "It's called 'Right Behind Me'. I wrote it just for this room." Mellencamp told the San Antonio Express-News. "I could have done this in my studio. But I want to do it this way, and if I can't do what I want at this point, I'm not going to do it. If it's not fun, I'm not going to do it. I'm through digging a ditch." No Better Than This
No Better Than This
No Better Than This is an album by American singer-songwriter and musician John Mellencamp, produced by T Bone Burnett, that was released on August 17, 2010. The album was recorded at several historic locations throughout the United States...
was released on August 17, 2010 and peaked at No. 10 on the Billboard 200
Billboard 200
The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...
, becoming the 10th Top 10 album of his career. No Better Than This
No Better Than This
No Better Than This is an album by American singer-songwriter and musician John Mellencamp, produced by T Bone Burnett, that was released on August 17, 2010. The album was recorded at several historic locations throughout the United States...
is the first mono-only release to make the top 10 since James Brown
James Brown
James Joseph Brown was an American singer, songwriter, musician, and recording artist. He is the originator of Funk and is recognized as a major figure in the 20th century popular music for both his vocals and dancing. He has been referred to as "The Godfather of Soul," "Mr...
's Pure Dynamite! Live At The Royal, which peaked at #10 in April 1964.
On December 6, 2009, Mellencamp performed "Born in the U.S.A.
Born in the U.S.A. (song)
"Born in the U.S.A." is a 1984 song written and performed by Bruce Springsteen. Taken from the album of the same name, it is one of his best-known singles. Rolling Stone ranked the song 275th on their list of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time". In 2001, the RIAA's Songs of the Century placed...
" as a tribute to Bruce Springsteen, who was one of the honorees at the 2009 Kennedy Center Honors
Kennedy Center Honors
The Kennedy Center Honors is an annual honor given to those in the performing arts for their lifetime of contributions to American culture. The Honors have been presented annually since 1978 in Washington, D.C., during gala weekend-long events which culminate in a performance for—and...
. "I was very proud and humbled to have been able to play 'Born in the U.S.A.' in a different fashion that I think was true to the feelings that Bruce had when he wrote it," Mellencamp said. He performed "Down By The River" on January 29, 2010 in Los Angeles in tribute to Neil Young
Neil Young
Neil Percival Young, OC, OM is a Canadian singer-songwriter who is widely regarded as one of the most influential musicians of his generation...
, who was honored at the 20th annual MusiCares Person of the Year gala. Mellencamp sang the hymn "Keep Your Eyes on the Prize
Keep Your Eyes on the Prize
"Keep Your Eyes on the Prize" is a folk song that became influential during the American civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s. Although the song was composed as a hymn well before World War I, the lyrics to this version were written by civil rights activist Alice Wine in 1956...
" at "In Performance at the White House: A Celebration of Music from the Civil Rights Movement" on February 9, 2010.
A career-spanning box set of album tracks and demos titled On the Rural Route 7609
On the Rural Route 7609
On the Rural Route 7609 is a box set by rock singer/songwriter John Mellencamp that was released on June 15, 2010. The first part of the title refers to the song "Rural Route" from his 2007 album Freedom's Road and the fact that Mellencamp's music and lifestyle have always been very rural in...
was released on June 15, 2010, nine weeks before No Better Than This
No Better Than This
No Better Than This is an album by American singer-songwriter and musician John Mellencamp, produced by T Bone Burnett, that was released on August 17, 2010. The album was recorded at several historic locations throughout the United States...
hit stores. "If you didn’t get deeper into the original albums and know these songs, it will be like discovering new material," Mellencamp said about On the Rural Route 7609
On the Rural Route 7609
On the Rural Route 7609 is a box set by rock singer/songwriter John Mellencamp that was released on June 15, 2010. The first part of the title refers to the song "Rural Route" from his 2007 album Freedom's Road and the fact that Mellencamp's music and lifestyle have always been very rural in...
.
Mellencamp, who co-headlined 11 shows in the summer of 2010 with Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...
, launched the No Better Than This
No Better Than This
No Better Than This is an album by American singer-songwriter and musician John Mellencamp, produced by T Bone Burnett, that was released on August 17, 2010. The album was recorded at several historic locations throughout the United States...
theater tour on October 29, 2010 in his hometown of Bloomington, Indiana
Bloomington, Indiana
Bloomington is a city in and the county seat of Monroe County in the southern region of the U.S. state of Indiana. The population was 80,405 at the 2010 census....
. On this tour, which ran through the fall of 2011 and covered the entire United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, Mellencamp opened each concert with a showing of a Kurt Markus documentary about the making of No Better Than This called "It's About You" before hitting the stage to play three different sets: a stripped-down acoustic set with his band, a solo acoustic set, and a fully electrified rock set. "It'll be like Alan Freed
Alan Freed
Albert James "Alan" Freed , also known as Moondog, was an American disc-jockey. He became internationally known for promoting the mix of blues, country and rhythm and blues music on the radio in the United States and Europe under the name of rock and roll...
, like the old Moondog shows," Mellencamp told Billboard magazine prior to the tour. "When you went to see his shows, there was a movie, like 'The Girl Can't Help It' or something, and then three or four bands played. I'm gonna come out and play with upright bass and cocktail [drum] kits and a lot of acoustic instruments. I'll play for, like, 40 minutes that way. Then the band will leave and it'll just be me with an acoustic guitar for 40 minutes, and then there'll be 40 minutes of rock 'n' roll. You'll get three different types of John Mellencamp, and you'll get a movie." Mellencamp played for over two hours and included 24 songs in his setlist on the tour. He brought the No Better Than This
No Better Than This
No Better Than This is an album by American singer-songwriter and musician John Mellencamp, produced by T Bone Burnett, that was released on August 17, 2010. The album was recorded at several historic locations throughout the United States...
tour to Europe in the summer of 2011, opening in Copenhagen
Copenhagen
Copenhagen is the capital and largest city of Denmark, with an urban population of 1,199,224 and a metropolitan population of 1,930,260 . With the completion of the transnational Øresund Bridge in 2000, Copenhagen has become the centre of the increasingly integrating Øresund Region...
on June 24. One reviewer called the opening gig of the European leg of the tour "maybe the best rock-performance ever in Denmark." The No Better Than This
No Better Than This
No Better Than This is an album by American singer-songwriter and musician John Mellencamp, produced by T Bone Burnett, that was released on August 17, 2010. The album was recorded at several historic locations throughout the United States...
tour returned to the U.S. for one final round of shows from Oct. 25-Nov. 19, 2011.
Ghost Brothers of Darkland County
Mellencamp has been working on a musical with horrorHorror fiction
Horror fiction also Horror fantasy is a philosophy of literature, which is intended to, or has the capacity to frighten its readers, inducing feelings of horror and terror. It creates an eerie atmosphere. Horror can be either supernatural or non-supernatural...
author Stephen King
Stephen King
Stephen Edwin King is an American author of contemporary horror, suspense, science fiction and fantasy fiction. His books have sold more than 350 million copies and have been adapted into a number of feature films, television movies and comic books...
, entitled Ghost Brothers of Darkland County
Ghost Brothers of Darkland County
-Album release:The plan is to release a three-CD/book package featuring major artists performing Mellencamp's songs, and the book will contain the play's dialogue. According to Rolling Stone, two of those artists will be Elvis Costello and Neko Case. It was later announced that Kris Kristofferson,...
, since 2000. The Alliance Theatre in Atlanta, GA announced on March 30, 2011 that the musical will debut in the spring of 2012 and will be directed by Alliance artistic director Susan V. Booth. Mellencamp's official website reported that a CD/book package of Ghost Brothers of Darkland County will be released in advance of the stage production. Production on the CD/book package began on June 15, 2009, when T Bone Burnett, who is serving as the project's musical producer, began laying down tracks in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
for the songs Mellencamp wrote for the musical. The recording will be available in a book package containing the full text, two discs featuring the entire production of the spoken word script and songs performed by the cast, and a third CD of the songs only. Mellencamp said the soundtrack includes Rosanne Cash
Rosanne Cash
Rosanne Cash is an American singer-songwriter and author. She is the eldest daughter of the late country music singer Johnny Cash and his first wife, Vivian Liberto Cash Distin....
, Sheryl Crow
Sheryl Crow
Sheryl Suzanne Crow is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, musician, and actress. Her music incorporates elements of rock, folk, hip hop, country and pop...
, Elvis Costello
Elvis Costello
Elvis Costello , born Declan Patrick MacManus, is an English singer-songwriter. He came to prominence as an early participant in London's pub rock scene in the mid-1970s and later became associated with the punk/New Wave genre. Steeped in word play, the vocabulary of Costello's lyrics is broader...
, Taj Mahal and Neko Case
Neko Case
Neko Case is an American singer-songwriter, best known for her solo career and her contributions as a member of the Canadian indie rock group The New Pornographers....
among others singing the songs he wrote.
In November 2010, Mellencamp told the Chicago Tribune
Chicago Tribune
The Chicago Tribune is a major daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, and the flagship publication of the Tribune Company. Formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" , it remains the most read daily newspaper of the Chicago metropolitan area and the Great Lakes region and is...
: "T Bone and I and Stephen King are working on a musical. All the music has been recorded. We had Kris Kristofferson, Neko Case, Elvis Costello, Taj Mahal, all singing different characters’ roles. I wrote all the songs, 17 songs. (T Bone) produced. It sounds like the “Sgt. Pepper” of Americana to me. Forget about the play, just the songs, the way these people sing them. I’m sitting there listening to it and thinking, “Did Rosanne Cash just kill that song or what!” The play is called “Ghost Brothers of Darkland County,” about two brothers who hate each other. If you could imagine Tennessee Williams meets Stephen King. They’re recording the dialogue now and we’re putting out a record of the entire show before it comes out. Right now, Elvis Costello, Meg Ryan, Kris Kristofferson and Matthew McConaughey are doing table readings like an old radio play. So you’ll get all the dialogue, all the sound effects, and all the songs sung by different people so you can follow the story. The CD will come out ahead of time. So many people are involved, it’s taken a long time. But we don’t have to worry about money or record companies – it’s our own money we’re putting into it, so we said, let’s just make something beautiful."
Ryan D'Agostino of Esquire
Esquire (magazine)
Esquire is a men's magazine, published in the U.S. by the Hearst Corporation. Founded in 1932, it flourished during the Great Depression under the guidance of founder and editor Arnold Gingrich.-History:...
stated in a review of a New York rehearsal of Ghost Brothers of Darkland County in the fall of 2007, "Musicals aren't usually a guy thing. This one, though, is not only tolerable, it's good. It may be the first-ever musical written by men for men. There's no orchestra, just two twangy acoustic guitars, an accordion, and a fiddle. The songs are both haunting and all-American."
The Alliance describes the show as a "Southern Gothic musical fraught with mystery, tragedy and ghosts of the past."
The official description of Ghost Brothers of Darkland County from the Alliance Theatre website:
In the tiny town of Lake Belle Reve, Mississippi in 1957, a terrible tragedy took the lives of two brothers and a beautiful young girl. During the next forty years, the events of that night became the stuff of local legend. But legend is often just another word for lie. Joe McCandless knows what really happened; he saw it all. The question is whether or not he can bring himself to tell the truth in time to save his own troubled sons, and whether the ghosts left behind by an act of violence will help him – or tear the McCandless family apart forever.
Movie career
Mellencamp has made several forays into acting over the years, appearing in four films: Falling from Grace (which he also directed) (1992), MadisonMadison (film)
Madison is a semi-fictional 2001 film about APBA hydroplane racing in the 1970s. It stars James Caviezel as a driver who comes out of retirement to lead the Madison, Indiana community-owned racing team.-Background:...
(2001, narration only), After Image (2001), and Lone Star State of Mind (2002). His older brother, Joe Mellencamp, appears in Falling from Grace as the bandleader during the country club scene.
In 1980, Mellencamp turned down the lead role in the movie The Idolmaker
The Idolmaker
The Idolmaker is a 1980 American musical drama starring Ray Sharkey, Peter Gallagher, Paul Land, Tovah Feldshuh and Joe Pantoliano.The film is based on the life of rock promoter and manager Bob Marcucci, who discovered and promoted several rock 'n' roll stars including Frankie Avalon and Fabian....
because, as he told the Toledo Blade in 1983, "I was afraid that if I made too much money, I'd have no motivation to make records anymore."
Mellencamp told VH1 that he was originally offered the Brad Pitt
Brad Pitt
William Bradley "Brad" Pitt is an American actor and film producer. Pitt has received two Academy Award nominations and four Golden Globe Award nominations, winning one...
role in Thelma and Louise
Thelma and Louise
Thelma & Louise is a 1991 film co-produced and directed by Ridley Scott and written by Callie Khouri, the film's plot revolves around Thelma and Louise's escape from their troubled and caged lives. It stars Geena Davis as Thelma and Susan Sarandon as Louise, and co-stars Harvey Keitel as a...
: "You know they used to want me to be an actor all the time and I used to get more movie role offers. That's when I was – believe it or not, I used to not be as ugly as I am now. And they gave me this script called Thelma & Louise and they said, 'The guy wrote the part with you in mind, John, you really gotta do this part.' And I read the script and I thought, 'Yeah, I get it but I don't want to take my shirt off.' So Brad Pitt took his shirt off and look what happened to Brad Pitt. I was that close."
In April 2007, Mellencamp was a "guest critic" on At the Movies, filling in for Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...
.
Personal life
Mellencamp lives five miles outside of Bloomington, IndianaBloomington, Indiana
Bloomington is a city in and the county seat of Monroe County in the southern region of the U.S. state of Indiana. The population was 80,405 at the 2010 census....
on the shores of Lake Monroe
Lake Monroe
Lake Monroe may refer to one of the following lakes:*Lake Monroe in Florida, a lake on the St. Johns River*Lake Monroe in Monroe and Brown counties, Indiana*Lake Monroe in Monroe County, Mississippi...
http://virtualglobetrotting.com/map/john-mellencamps-house/view/?service=0. He married former supermodel
Supermodel
The term supermodel refers to a highly-paid fashion model who usually has a worldwide reputation and often a background in haute couture and commercial modeling. The term became prominent in the popular culture of the 1980s. Supermodels usually work for top fashion designers and labels...
Elaine Irwin Mellencamp
Elaine Irwin Mellencamp
Elaine Irwin Mellencamp is an American model, and formerly worked as the face of Almay Cosmetics and Ralph Lauren.-Early life and career:...
on September 5, 1992, but on December 30, 2010, Mellencamp announced that he and Irwin had separated after 18 years of marriage. Their divorce became official on Aug. 12, 2011, with the couple negotiating "an amicable settlement of all issues involving property and maintenance rights, the custody and support of their children, and all other issues," according the settlement agreement. Mellencamp has five children from his three marriages: Michelle from his first marriage to Priscilla Esterline (1970–81); daughters Teddi Jo and Justice from his second marriage to Victoria Granucci (1981–89); and sons Hud and Speck from his marriage to Irwin. He has since gone public with his relationship with actress Meg Ryan
Meg Ryan
Margaret Mary Emily Anne Hyra , professionally known as Meg Ryan, is an American actress and producer. Raised in Bethel, Connecticut, Ryan began her acting career in 1981 in minor roles, before joining the cast of the CBS soap opera As the World Turns in 1982...
.
In 2000, he gave the Indiana University 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.
Collaboration with George Green
Mellencamp co-wrote several of his best-known songs with his childhood friend, George GreenGeorge Green (songwriter)
George Michael Green was an American songwriter. His compositions included the Top 10 Billboard hits "Crumblin' Down" and "Hurts So Good" , as well as another Canadian Number 1 hit in "Key West Intermezzo ".- Biography :Green was John Mellencamp's long-time writing...
, who, like Mellencamp, was born and raised in Seymour, Indiana. Green was a gifted lyricist and contributed lyrics to numerous Mellencamp radio hits, including “Human Wheels,” “Minutes to Memories,” “Hurts So Good,” “Crumblin’ Down,” “Rain on the Scarecrow,” "Your Life is Now" and “Key West Intermezzo,” in addition to songs recorded by Barbra Streisand
Barbra Streisand
Barbra Joan Streisand is an American singer, actress, film producer and director. She has won two Academy Awards, eight Grammy Awards, four Emmy Awards, a Special Tony Award, an American Film Institute award, a Peabody Award, and is one of the few entertainers who have won an Oscar, Emmy, Grammy,...
, Hall & Oates
Hall & Oates
Hall & Oates are an American musical duo composed of Daryl Hall and John Oates. They achieved their greatest fame in the late 1970s and early to mid-1980s. Both sing and play instruments. They specialized in a fusion of rock and roll and rhythm and blues styles, which they dubbed "rock and soul."...
, Jude Cole
Jude Cole
Jude Cole is a manager, record producer and singer/songwriter/guitarist.-Career:Cole's solo records, "Jude Cole", "A View from 3rd Street" and "Start the Car" were released on Warner Bros./Reprise Records, and contained the singles "Baby, It's Tonight", "Time for Letting Go" and "Start the Car"...
, Vanessa Williams
Vanessa Williams
Vanessa Williams is the name of:* Vanessa L. Williams , American R&B/pop singer and actress, Miss America, actress on Ugly Betty and Desperate Housewives...
, Ricky Skaggs
Ricky Skaggs
Rickie Lee "Ricky" Skaggs is a country and bluegrass singer, musician, producer, and composer. He primarily plays mandolin; however, he also plays fiddle, guitar, and banjo.-Early career:...
, Sue Medley
Sue Medley
Sue Medley is a Canadian rock musician. She released her self-titled debut CD in 1990. She won a Juno Award in 1991 for Most Promising Female Vocalist.-The Early Years:...
and The Oak Ridge Boys
The Oak Ridge Boys
The Oak Ridge Boys are an American country and gospel vocal quartet.The group was founded in the 1940s as the Oak Ridge Quartet. They became popular in southern gospel during the 1950s...
among others. Mellencamp and Green's final collaboration was "Yours Forever," a song that was included on the soundtrack to the 2000 movie The Perfect Storm
The Perfect Storm (film)
The Perfect Storm is a 2000 dramatic disaster film directed by Wolfgang Petersen. It is an adaptation of the 1997 non-fiction book of the same title by Sebastian Junger about the crew of the Andrea Gail that got caught in the Perfect Storm of 1991. The film stars George Clooney, Mark Wahlberg,...
. Mellencamp and Green had a falling out in the early 2000s, and Green ultimately moved from Bloomington, Indiana
Bloomington, Indiana
Bloomington is a city in and the county seat of Monroe County in the southern region of the U.S. state of Indiana. The population was 80,405 at the 2010 census....
to Taos, New Mexico
Taos, New Mexico
Taos is a town in Taos County in the north-central region of New Mexico, incorporated in 1934. As of the 2000 census, its population was 4,700. Other nearby communities include Ranchos de Taos, Cañon, Taos Canyon, Ranchitos, and El Prado. The town is close to Taos Pueblo, the Native American...
in 2001. "Like when you're married, when you're friends with somebody for a long time, the more things build up the more things can go wrong," Mellencamp said in the liner notes to his 2010 box set On the Rural Route 7609
On the Rural Route 7609
On the Rural Route 7609 is a box set by rock singer/songwriter John Mellencamp that was released on June 15, 2010. The first part of the title refers to the song "Rural Route" from his 2007 album Freedom's Road and the fact that Mellencamp's music and lifestyle have always been very rural in...
. "There were personal problems, cross-pollinated with professional issues. George has written some great lyrics and we've written some great songs together, but I just couldn't do it any more."
On August 28, 2011, Green passed away in Albuquerque, New Mexico
Albuquerque, New Mexico
Albuquerque is the largest city in the state of New Mexico, United States. It is the county seat of Bernalillo County and is situated in the central part of the state, straddling the Rio Grande. The city population was 545,852 as of the 2010 Census and ranks as the 32nd-largest city in the U.S. As...
at the age of 59 after losing a battle with a rapidly-progressing form of lung cancer. “I’ve known George since we were in the same Sunday school class. We had a lot of fun together when we were kids. Later on, we wrote some really good songs together,” Mellencamp told the Bloomington Herald Times shortly after Green's death. “George was a dreamer, and I was sorry to hear of his passing.”
Politics and activism
Mellencamp was critical of Ronald ReaganRonald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....
through his music in the 1980s and wrote some scathing lyrics about Reagan in his 1989 song "Country Gentleman:" "He ain't-a gonna help no children/He aint-a gonna help no women/I ain't gonna help either. I'm just gonna help my new rich friends."
In 2003, Mellencamp became one of the first entertainers to speak out against the Iraqi War when he released the song "To Washington," which was also critical of the 2000 U.S. Presidential elections
United States presidential election, 2000
The United States presidential election of 2000 was a contest between Republican candidate George W. Bush, then-governor of Texas and son of former president George H. W. Bush , and Democratic candidate Al Gore, then-Vice President....
. "When the song first came out I was in the car one day and we were driving to the airport and I had my kids with me and a radio station was playing 'To Washington' and having callers call in." Mellencamp said. "Some guy comes on and says, 'I don't know who I hate the most, John Mellencamp or Osama bin Laden
Osama bin Laden
Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden was the founder of the militant Islamist organization Al-Qaeda, the jihadist organization responsible for the September 11 attacks on the United States and numerous other mass-casualty attacks against civilian and military targets...
.'"
In an "Open Letter to America" on his website, Mellencamp stated:
On his 2007 album Freedom's Road
Freedom's Road
Freedom's Road is an album by American singer-songwriter and musician John Mellencamp, released in 2007. It debuted on the Billboard 200 at number five in late January 2007, becoming the highest debuting album of Mellencamp's career...
, Mellencamp included a hidden track called "Rodeo Clown," which was a direct reference to George W. Bush
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
("The bloody red eyes of the rodeo clown").
In April 2007, Mellencamp performed for wounded troops at the Walter Reed Medical Center. His original intent was to duet on the Freedom's Road
Freedom's Road
Freedom's Road is an album by American singer-songwriter and musician John Mellencamp, released in 2007. It debuted on the Billboard 200 at number five in late January 2007, becoming the highest debuting album of Mellencamp's career...
track "Jim Crow" with singer and activist Joan Baez
Joan Baez
Joan Chandos Baez is an American folk singer, songwriter, musician and a prominent activist in the fields of human rights, peace and environmental justice....
. However, Army officials barred Baez from performing. He told Rolling Stone magazine: "They didn’t give me a reason why she couldn't come. We asked why and they said, 'She can't fit here, period.' Joan Baez is a 66-year-old woman and the sweetest gal in the world."
According to a February 8, 2008, Associated Press
Associated Press
The Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists...
report, Mellencamp's camp asked that the campaign for presidential candidate Sen. John McCain
John McCain
John Sidney McCain III is the senior United States Senator from Arizona. He was the Republican nominee for president in the 2008 United States election....
stop using his songs, including "Our Country" and "Pink Houses
Pink Houses
"Pink Houses" is a song written and sung by John Cougar Mellencamp. It was released on the 1983 album Uh-Huh on Riva Records. It reached #8 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 in early 1984...
," during their campaign events. McCain's campaign responded by pulling the songs from their playlist. Mellencamp's publicist, Bob Merlis, noted to the Associated Press that "if [McCain is] such a true conservative, why [is he] playing songs that have a very populist pro-labor message written by a guy who would find no argument if you characterized him as an ardent leftist?" Merlis also noted that the same songs had been used, with Mellencamp's approval, by John Edwards's campaign
John Edwards presidential campaign, 2008
John Edwards is the former United States Senator from North Carolina and was the Democratic nominee for Vice President in 2004. On December 28, 2006, he announced his entry into the 2008 Presidential election in the city of New Orleans near sites devastated by Hurricane Katrina...
; in response, the McCain campaign ceased using the songs.
Mellencamp performed "Small Town" at a Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
rally in Evansville, Indiana
Evansville, Indiana
Evansville is the third-largest city in the U.S. state of Indiana and the largest city in Southern Indiana. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 117,429. It is the county seat of Vanderburgh County and the regional hub for both Southwestern Indiana and the...
on April 22, the night of the 2008 Pennsylvania primary
Pennsylvania Democratic primary, 2008
The 2008 Democratic primary in Pennsylvania was held on April 22 by the Pennsylvania Department of State in which voters chose their preference for the Democratic Party's candidate for the 2008 U.S. Presidential election. Voters also chose the Pennsylvania Democratic Party's candidates for various...
. Mellencamp also performed "Our Country" at a rally for Hillary Clinton in Indianapolis
Indianapolis
Indianapolis is the capital of the U.S. state of Indiana, and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city's population is 839,489. It is by far Indiana's largest city and, as of the 2010 U.S...
, Indiana, on May 3, 2008, although he never came out in support of either Obama or Clinton during the primaries. "Neither candidate is as liberal as he would prefer, but he's happy to contribute what he can," Merlis said.
On January 18, 2009, Mellencamp performed "Pink Houses" at the Obama inaugural celebration
We Are One: The Obama Inaugural Celebration at the Lincoln Memorial
We Are One: The Obama Inaugural Celebration at the Lincoln Memorial was a public celebration of the then forthcoming inauguration of Barack Obama as the 44th President of the United States at the Lincoln Memorial and the National Mall in Washington, D.C., on January 18, 2009. By some estimates the...
at the Lincoln Memorial.
In 2010, Mellencamp's music was used by the National Organization for Marriage
National Organization for Marriage
The National Organization for Marriage is a nonprofit political association established in 2007 to work against legalization of same-sex marriage in the United States, specifically to pass California Proposition 8 banning same-sex marriage in California...
at events opposing same-sex marriage
Same-sex marriage
Same-sex marriage is marriage between two persons of the same biological sex or social gender. Supporters of legal recognition for same-sex marriage typically refer to such recognition as marriage equality....
. In response, Mellencamp instructed Merlis to pen a letter to NOM stating "that Mr. Mellencamp’s views on same sex marriage and equal rights for people of all sexual orientations are at odds with NOM's stated agenda" and requesting that NOM "find music from a source more in harmony with your views than Mr. Mellencamp in the future."
Honors and awards
Mellencamp has won one Grammy AwardGrammy Award
A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...
(Best Male Rock Performer for "Hurts So Good" in 1982) and been nominated for 12 others. He has also been bestowed with the Nordoff-Robbins Silver Clef Special Music Industry Humanitarian Award (1991), the Billboard Century Award (2001), the Woody Guthrie Award (2003), and the ASCAP Foundation Champion Award (2007). On October 6, 2008, Mellencamp won the prestigious Classic Songwriter Award at the 2008 Q Awards
Q Awards
The Q Awards are the UK's annual music awards run by the music magazine Q. Since they began in 1990, the Q Awards have become one of Britain's biggest and best publicised music awards, helped in no small part by the often boisterous behavior of the celebrities who attend the event...
in London, England. Mellencamp was nominated for induction into the Songwriters Hall of Fame
Songwriters Hall of Fame
The Songwriters Hall of Fame is an arm of the National Academy of Popular Music. It was founded in 1969 by songwriter Johnny Mercer and music publishers Abe Olman and Howie Richmond. The goal is to create a museum but as of April, 2008, the means do not yet exist and so instead it is an online...
in 2009 and 2010 but was not elected either time. On September 9, 2010, Mellencamp received the Americana
Americana Music Association
The Americana Music Association is a trade organization developed to provide professional support and to promote awareness of Americana music. Toward these ends the organization works with artists, radio stations, record labels, publishers, and others to create networking opportunities and to...
Lifetime Achievement Award in Nashville.
Mellencamp was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum is a museum located on the shore of Lake Erie in downtown Cleveland, Ohio, United States. It is dedicated to archiving the history of some of the best-known and most influential artists, producers, engineers and others who have, in some major way,...
's Class of 2008. The induction ceremony took place in New York City on March 10, 2008, and Mellencamp was inducted by good friend Billy Joel
Billy Joel
William Martin "Billy" Joel is an American musician and pianist, singer-songwriter, and classical composer. Since releasing his first hit song, "Piano Man", in 1973, Joel has become the sixth best-selling recording artist and the third best-selling solo artist in the United States, according to...
, who asked Mellencamp to induct him into the Rock Hall back in 1999 (Mellencamp had to opt out because of another commitment, so Ray Charles
Ray Charles
Ray Charles Robinson , known by his shortened stage name Ray Charles, was an American musician. He was a pioneer in the genre of soul music during the 1950s by fusing rhythm and blues, gospel, and blues styles into his early recordings with Atlantic Records...
inducted Joel). During his induction speech for Mellencamp, Joel said:
See also
- Best selling music artists
- List of artists who reached number one on the U.S. Mainstream Rock chart
- Bruce Robb (producer)Bruce Robb (producer)Bruce Robb is an American musician, record producer, engineer, and music supervisor. He is most recognized for his active role in the formative years of the music industry: first as a member of “The Robbs” during the music revolution of the 1960s, then as a founder of Cherokee Studios in the...