John Mellencamp
By All Music Guide
By All Music Guide
A prolonged, acclaimed career seemed an impossibility when Mellencamp released his first album under the name Johnny Cougar in 1976. As a child in Seymour, IN, Mellencamp had suffered a number of setbacks, including being born with a neural tube defect called spina bifida that necessitated a lengthy hospitalization as a baby. As a teenager, he was rebellious, often getting in trouble with the law. He formed his first band at the age of 14, and continued to play throughout his teens. When he was 17, he eloped with %Pricilla Esterline, his pregnant girlfriend, and proceeded to try to support his family by working a series of blue-collar jobs. By the time he was 24, he had decided to move to New York City to attempt to break into the music industry.
In New York, Mellencamp became a client of David Bowies manager, %Tony DeFries, who signed him to a lucrative deal with Mainman/MCA. Mellencamp recorded an album of covers called Chestnut Street Incident. Upon receiving the finished album in 1976, he was infuriated to learn that %DeFries had billed the singer as Johnny Cougar. Chestnut Street Incident was a bomb and MCA immediately dropped the singer. The fiasco of his first album was enough to sour Mellencamp toward the industry for the remainder of his career. Two years later, he signed with Riva Records, releasing A Biography (1978) to little attention. However, Johnny Cougar (1979) spawned the Top 40 hit I Need a Lover, which also became an AOR hit for Pat Benatar a few years later. Steve Cropper produced 1980s Nothin Matters and What If It Did, which contained the Top 30 hits This Time and Aint Even Done with the Night.
Mellencamps next album, 1982s American Fool, became his breakthrough, both commercially and musically. More focused than his earlier records, American Fool rocketed to number one on the strength of the number two hit Hurts So Good and the number one single Jack & Diane, both of which were supported by videos that became MTV favorites. The success of American Fool meant that he could add Mellencamp to his stage name, and 1983s Uh-Huh became the first album credited to John Cougar Mellencamp. Uh-Huh was released while American Fool was still high on the charts, and it became a hit, peaking at number nine and generating the Top Ten hits Crumblin Down and Pink Houses, as well as the Top 15 Authority Song. He supported the album with his first headlining tour.
While he had commercial success, Mellencamp made his bid for critical acclaim with his next album, 1985s Scarecrow. Scarecrow displayed a greater social conscious and musical eclecticism, resulting in his best-reviewed -- as well as his biggest -- album to date. Peaking at number two, Scarecrow generated the Top Ten singles Lonely Ol Night, Small Town, and R.O.C.K. in the U.S.A. Following the release of Scarecrow, Mellencamp became an outspoken advocate of the American farmer, organizing ~Farm Aid with Willie Nelson and Neil Young. He also became known for his anticorporate stance, refusing to accept tour sponsorship offers from beer and tobacco companies.
Mellencamp continued to explore social commentary and new musical avenues with 1987s The Lonesome Jubilee. Featuring a distinct Appalachian folk and country influence, The Lonesome Jubilee was a melancholy elegy for the forgotten middle America, and while it was more adventurous than its predecessors, it was another hit, peaking at number six and generating the hits Paper in Fire, Cherry Bomb, and Check It Out. Mellencamp continued to explore American roots music on Big Daddy (1989). While the album received generally good reviews and peaked at number seven, it failed to produce a big single. Two years later, he returned with Whenever We Wanted, which was another moderate hit, peaking at number 17. Human Wheels (1993) received some of Mellencamps strongest reviews, yet the record didnt generate a hit single and quickly fell down the charts after debuting at number seven.
Mellencamp bounced back into the Top Ten in 1994, when his duet with MeShell NdegéOcello on Van Morrisons Wild Night peaked at number three. Its accompanying album, Dance Naked, became his biggest album since Big Daddy, going gold months after its release. Mellencamp planned to support the album with an extensive tour, but he suffered a major heart attack in late 1994 that necessitated its cancellation. Mellencamp spent 1995 recuperating, re-emerging in 1996 with Mr. Happy Go Lucky. Produced by Junior Vasquez and demonstrating a slight dance influence, Mr. Happy Go Lucky was greeted with positive reviews and featured the minor hit single Key West Intermezzo (I Saw You First), which helped the album go gold. The album was his last for longtime label Mercury, and he moved to Columbia for 1998s John Mellencamp. Rough Harvest, a collection of unreleased material, appeared a year later.
Cuttin Heads, his second album for Columbia and 20th overall, followed in 2001 and spawned a radio hit with Peaceful World, featuring eo-soul singer India.Arie on backing vocals. Also in 2001, he won the Billboard Century Award for creative achievement. Inspired by his performance of Robert Johnsons Stones in My Passway at an October 2002 tribute concert for the late music journalist %Timothy White, Mellencamp recorded a covers album, Trouble No More, in 2003. It was released that summer and topped the ~Billboard lues chart. The impressive Freedoms Road appeared in 2007.
