OT: John "Cougar" Mellencamp --- why does his stuff pull my heart strings?

I'm 21, not 45. I grew up in a largish city on the East coast of the USA, not a small town in southern Indiana. I don't have a driver's liscence, let alone a pickup truck.

Yet - what can I say? - I love John "Cougar" Mellencamp. He reminds me of the Indiana childhood I never had.

Oh, the rote sentimentalism of it! So damn shlocky . . . "A little ditty about Jack and Diane." . . ."17 has turned 35" . . . "i was born in a small town."

Also, I love the latent S&M theme that runs through his music - from "hurts so good" to that utterly bizarre whip-crack heard on Jack and Diane.

Anybody else a closet Cougar fan?

p.s. If you think the Stones' version of LARS is bad, check out Mellencamp's take on it from the Dylan 30th anniversary show! OUCH!



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 2007-09-10 15:52 by bv.

Not really a fan...



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2007-09-09 20:36 by Erik_Snow.

billy joel's got some of the sentimental thing going . . .

i dunno, some of mellencamp's lyrics remind of the worst of springsteen, i.e. "glory days."

i don't know if this is a feature of other nations represented here at IORR, but there's an idea here that people from farm country are more "honest," more "pure," somehow more "american." (though i do suspect this idea is present elsewhere: even in Ancient Rome, many Roman aristocrats would talk about how "good" country farmers were compared to decadent city dwellers.)

in any event, mellencamp plays into that bs, but damn if it don't bring a tear to my eye

Very general idea, that country-honest-one.
But most often those country-rockers live in huge cities
(read: "John Fogerty"). And look on that country boy,
the Zimmerman-character: didnt he nick records all over?

...What about the Band - are they really country boys?

I'm still seeking for THE JCM-song and t h e JCM-album;
maybe you, nikki, can recommend it to me?

shockingly, mellencamp actually still lives in indiana!

i'd say the perfect distillation of what makes mellencamp mellencamp or cougar cougar (his "all down the line," so to speak) is the song 'Jack and Diane,' a bittersweet look back at "two American kids growing up in the heartland."

Thanks, Brother Bong. Will check it out.

John "Cougar" Mellencamp is a radio rocker, with brown, worn skin jacket and a tough haircut.

But that won`t do to me.

He`s just an American for you post-hippie millions out there. Isn`t he also called "the red rocker"?

yes, he's a liberal.

is there something wrong with that?

It`s a free world.

First, Sammy Hagar is the Red Rocker.

I'm...24 (oddly, I have to think about how old I am)... anyway, I am a huge fan and I own all (but 1) of his records. I think he is a great artist (andf dig his, and the stones', version of LARS).

Of course, the curse of being a JM fan is that you understand his music more as you age and then you feel older.

Still, a gret artist.

josh.
np: when i'm gone - eminem

I'm a fan of his music, although I'm not familiar with his newest stuff apart from that song they use for the Chev truck commercials. He was really big in the mid 80's with Scarecrow and Lonesome Jubilee.
He thanks the Stones in the liner notes of Uh Huh. Saw him on Farm Aid a few years ago and he sang Street Fighting Man.
Really liked Kenny Aranoff's drumming, but he's with Fogerty now.

Mellencamp is really good. His albums are rolling very often in my house and car

Lonesome Jubilee is one of my favourite records.

My favorite thank you of his to the Stones is in the liner notes of either American Fool or Uh Huh where he thanks them for "never taking the living room of the records"

josh.
np: salome - u2

Josh said
>My favorite thank you of his to the Stones is in the liner notes of either American Fool or Uh Huh where he thanks them for "never taking the living room of the records">

Yeah, that's on Uh Huh, a great album (Pink Houses etc.). I also like Scarecrow.

In a documentary on the making of Scarecrow he mentions his love of Exile and that it was an influence on that record.

Yeah, I'm a big fan of John's. I think he started taking himself a little too seriously after J & D and Pink Houses got a little critical applause.

His stuff after Whenever We Wanted is spotty but some of it is quite good.

As stated many times before, I don't dig the mixture of R & R and politics.

"No Anchovies, Please"

Always thought he was sort of the redneck equivalent of Celine Dion or something. The tunes are catchy, but I just can't get over the cheap sentimentalism of his lyrics. Also, I find his attempt to sell himself as the regular guy from Indiana a bit silly. It's true that he still lives there, but his huge mansion/ fortified compound on the shores of Monroe Lake (near Bloomington) is not much of a testament to his small town creds.

Raoul Duke Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Always thought he was sort of the redneck
> equivalent of Celine Dion or something. The tunes
> are catchy, but I just can't get over the cheap
> sentimentalism of his lyrics. Also, I find his
> attempt to sell himself as the regular guy from
> Indiana a bit silly. It's true that he still lives
> there, but his huge mansion/ fortified compound on
> the shores of Monroe Lake (near Bloomington) is
> not much of a testament to his small town creds.

maybe the "small town" he's reffering to his the compound itself and all that it entails? (mexican servants, french chefs etc.)

Mellencamp's Indiana home:



Affectionately known as Camp Melon.

LOL @ kick jaggers

There may be something to this global warming thing as Indiana looks desertlike in that picture!

"No Anchovies, Please"



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2007-09-09 21:42 by Elmo Lewis.

This is the one. Ain't that America...



[thumbsgm.virtualglobetrotting.com]



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2007-09-10 05:24 by Raoul Duke.

Elmo Lewis Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Yeah, I'm a big fan of John's. I think he started
> taking himself a little too seriously after J & D
> and Pink Houses got a little critical applause.
>
> His stuff after Whenever We Wanted is spotty but
> some of it is quite good.
>
> As stated many times before, I don't dig the
> mixture of R & R and politics.


Not a fan of his 80's stuff....it just suffered from overplaying....my wife's favorite song is Jack & Diane though...

But I do love his Mr. Happy Go Lucky release.

the shoot 'em dead, brainbell jangler!

rattler2004 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

>
> But I do love his Mr. Happy Go Lucky release.


yes: 'I Saw You First' is a superb song.

I saw him on tour with Fogerty. He put on a very good show. I thought Fogerty just smoked him, though.

I saw him about eight years ago at the Garden State Arts Center in N.J.. He put on a good show and even let a fan come up on stage and sing a few lines of "Hurt So Good".

The only thing I didn't like about the concert is that none of his pre American Fool stuff was played. He had a few radio hits before American Fool ("Ain't Even Done With The Night", "This Time", and "I Need A Lover") and he didn't do any of them. I actually think those three are among his best stuff.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2007-09-10 10:13 by FrankM.

"I Saw You First" is named "Key West Intermezzo".

"No Anchovies, Please"

Wonder why nobody mentioned "Dance Naked". I really like it, sounds great!