1998/1999
Official Biography
On
John Mellencamp, his fifteenth full-length album and first for Columbia
Records, America's troubadour-poet from Bloomington, Indiana, remains true
to the signature elements of his sound and sensibility while exploring
a breathtaking new range of universal and personal themes. For Mellencamp's
fans, who've bought more than 25 million of his records in the United States
alone, the arrival of John Mellencamp is cause for celebration. Since 1982,
Mellencamp's audience has helped him earn an unbroken run of 36 RIAA gold,
platinum, and multi-platinum awards; astounding by any standards. An unlikely
rock star who never stopped being a rock fan himself, John Mellencamp continues
to share his insight, confusion and compassionate understanding of the
human condition.
Filled
with trenchant observation, Biblical allegory, blue-collar narrative, and
sagas of struggle, growth, and redemption, John Mellencamp is rooted in
the bedrock of American music -- with echoes of electro-acoustic jigs and
reels intermingling with the earnest sturdy strum and sublime vocal expression
of the balladeer. Mellencamp continues to experiment with the texture and
feel of his music by expanding the instrument lineup of guitars, bass,
drums, keyboards and violin that has been at the core of his sound for
more than a decade. Here, Mellencamp has augmented his trademark instrumentation
with tape loops and other contemporary touches (a process of experimentation
first heard on his last studio release, 1996's Mr. Happy-Go-Lucky) and
employed instruments -- including sitar, tabla, field organ, and others
-- that reach back centuries and span diverse cultures.
Along
with the spirit of rough-hewn grace and freedom in his new music, Mellencamp
has allowed himself a new depth and maturity, while retaining his sly wit
and penetrating turn of phrase, in his lyrical concerns. The writing and
recording of John Mellencamp was strongly influenced by a series of positive
changes in the artist's life: his happy marriage to his wife, Elaine, with
whom he is raising two young sons; the rehabilitation -- physical, emotional,
and spiritual -- from a heart attack that forced an abrupt end to a relentless
rock 'n' roll lifestyle that lasted two decades; the deliberate softening
of a grinding tour schedule that had kept him on the road 11 months a year
for virtually his entire career; and the dissolution of a 20-odd year relationship
with his former record company.
The
thrill of a new beginning is etched into the grooves of John Mellencamp.
Possessed by a powerful surge in creativity, Mellencamp penned more than
50 songs for possible inclusion on his new album. The dozen tracks that
made the final cut each reflect an aspect of the album's main theme: the
search for an authentically moral path in life and the struggle to remain
true to that path. The album opens, literally, in the Garden of Eden, where
Cain and Abel are having a spirited argument -- "We're just yellin' in
the dark/We're just pissin' in the wind/From underneath the sheets we pray
from/Better let a little bit of this goodness get in" -- and a life without
direction is indeed "Ol' Skinny's playground," the song is "Fruit Trader"
and everybody knows what kinda fruit was being traded in the Garden of
Eden. Rock 'n' roll has always been the devil's music and Lucifer makes
a second appearance in "Where The World Began": "Everyone is so fabulous,
hey, we all got our gun/Old Snakey's not a sinner, no, he just shows us
how it's done/When you separate the wretched from the damned/Standin' in
the darkness, baby, there I am." Midway through the album, Mellencamp uses
his own best symbol of young love and sets them down, years later, at the
brink of apocalypse: "Diane and Jack went to the movies/They went to see
Richard Pryor/Screamin' on his knees for his lover/How could I have been
wrong about you?/How could I have been so wrong about you?/Eden is burning/I
can see it from my window/Better take it to the water/Eden is burning/Yeah,
yeah, yeah, yeah."
As
the millennial winds howl, John Mellencamp finds comfort in the simple
pleasures: "a church supper with grandma and granddad" ("Miss Missy"),
the promise of love ("Summer of Love"), the delirium of Eros ("Break Me
Off Some"), and the transmission of values to others ("Would you teach
your children to tell the truth?/Would you take the high road if you could
choose?/Do you believe you're a victim of a great compromise?/Your life
is now"; "Your Life Is Now," the first single from John Mellencamp).
Philosophically,
John Mellencamp's center lies in "It All Comes True," an elegant meditation
on karmic law: "My life is a contradiction of sorrow and desire/I drag
my heart across the ash to throw it on the fire/Maybe there's a reason
and could there be a plan/Or are we all just fools to think we'll understand/And
it all comes true/Yeah, it all comes through/Like a wheel around a wheel/It
turns on you/And you think, what have I done?/What can I do?/What you believe
about yourself/It all comes true."
John
Mellencamp was produced by the artist and recorded at his Belmont Mall
Studio, located close to Mellencamp's hometown of Bloomington, Indiana,
where he still resides. The album was recorded with the artist's core band:
Dane Clark (drums, percussion), Toby Myers (bass, vocals), Miriam Sturm
(violin, keyboards, vocals), Mike Wanchic (guitars, vocals), Andy York
(guitars, Indian instruments, keyboards, vocals) and Moe Z. MD (keyboards,
loops, vocals). Guests on the album include Izzy Stradlin -- formerly of
Guns 'N' Roses -- on guitar and Stan Lynch -- formerly one of Tom Petty's
Heartbreakers, on drums.
Historical
Background:
John
J. Mellencamp was born in Seymour, Indiana, on October 7, 1951, and joined
his first band in the fifth grade. By 1965, he was performing R&B and
rock music with one of his first bands, Crepe Soul, and, in 1966, got his
first professional gigs playing frat parties for $30 a weekend with Snakepit
Banana Barn before they kicked him out. Graduating from Seymour High School
in 1970, Mellencamp moved to an apartment in the small town of Valonia;
a year later, he formed a 60's cover band, Trash, with guitarist Larry
Crane. In 1975, after graduating from Vincennes University and being laid
off by the phone company, Mellencamp set out for New York with his phone
company severance packet and a demo-tape featuring his version of Paul
Revere & the Raider's "Kicks." While in New York, Mellencamp hooked
up with David Bowie's management company, MainMan. A year later, Mellencamp
recorded his first album, Chestnut Street Incident, which, without the
singer's knowledge, was released under the artist's moniker "Johnny Cougar."
1977 saw Mellencamp split with MainMan and return to Bloomington, Indiana,
where he recorded a second album as "Johnny Cougar," The Kid Inside; MainMan
held onto the album until 1982 when it was released on the coat-tails of
American Fool's phenomenal success.
A third
album, A Biography, was released in the United Kingdom in March 1978, and
gave the world its first taste of "I Need A Lover," a song that would eventually
become a hit for both John Mellencamp and Pat Benatar. Mellencamp and his
band, The Zone, performed "I Need A Lover" and "Small Paradise" on Dick
Clark's "American Bandstand" in 1979. John's third U.S. album, John Cougar
(which contained several tracks from A Biography) hit #64 on the American
charts.
1980
saw John return to the studio to record Nothing Matters And What If It
Did with legendary MG's guitarist Steve Cropper producing; the album, featuring
John Waters' cult-movie actress Edith Massey on the cover, peaked at #37
on the U.S. charts. The first single, "Ain't Even Done With The Night,"
reached #17. Mellencamp's next record, American Fool, became the largest-selling
album of 1982. For four straight weeks in October, John Mellencamp had
a #1 album and two Top 10 singles at the same time, becoming the first
person since John Lennon to do so. "Jack & Diane" was the #1 single
in the country and "Hurts So Good" spent twenty-eight weeks on the Hot
100. Mellencamp received three Grammy nominations for American Fool and
took home the Best Rock Vocal Performance, Male trophy for "Hurt So Good."
By
1983, MTV had helped make John Mellencamp a star and John Mellencamp had
become a video music pioneer. His "Hand To Hold Onto" peaked at #9 in the
U.S. and John recorded Uh-Huh, his new album in a whirlwind sixteen day
marathon at The Shack, an Indiana recording studio. The "Crumblin' Down"
single hit #9 on the charts as did Uh-Huh, John's second platinum album
(and first to reattach "Mellencamp" to his name). "Pink Houses" reached
#8 in February 1984 and "Authority Song" hit #15 in May. In July 1984,
Susan Miles won MTV's "Party House With Mellencamp" competition and painted
her house pink; Mellencamp wrote a screenplay with acclaimed author Larry
McMurtry, and produced Mitch Ryder's comeback album, Never Kick A Sleeping
Dog. In March 1985, he produced the track "Colored Lights," for the Blasters'
Hard Line album.
John
Mellencamp, along with Willie Nelson and Neil Young, was instrumental in
organizing the first Farm Aid concert, held September 22, 1985, in Champaign,
Illinois. During the show, Mellencamp asked the audience to write their
congressmen demanding action to help American farmers, the beneficiaries
of the show. There have been eleven day-long Farm Aid concerts through
1996, with all artists appearing and performing at their own expense. NARAS
awarded John Mellencamp its President's Merit Award for his work on Farm
Aid.
At
the end of 1985, Mellencamp recorded Scarecrow in his newly-built studio.
Dedicated to his grandfather, Speck, Scarecrow reached the #2 slot on the
U.S. charts while the album's single, "Small Town," hit #6.
In
September 1986, Mellencamp and his band began work on The Lonesome Jubilee
in his Belmont Mall studio; the album peaks at #6 while "Paper In Fire,"
hit #9 in October 1987. The Lonesome Jubilee was a Top 10 album for twenty-seven
weeks and Mellencamp and his band went on a nine-month, ten-country tour
that reached more than one and a half million fans. That same year, he
contributed "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus" to the charity album, A Very
Special Christmas.
The
fall of 1988 found John Mellencamp contributing his version of "Do Re Mi"
to Folkways: A Vision Shared, a Woody Guthrie/Leadbelly tribute album.
He produced James McMurtry's debut album Too Long In The Wasteland and
directed a video for Bob Dylan's "Political World." That year also saw
him beginning to paint in earnest.
He
released the platinum Big Daddy in 1989 and, in 1990, began to film his
screen debut in the film "Falling From Grace" (the eventual title of the
screenplay he'd written with Larry McMurtry); he recorded the soundtrack
album with John Prine, Dwight Yoakam, Joe Ely, and James McMurtry (Larry's
son).
In
1991, John Mellencamp was the recipient of the Nordhoff-Robbins Silver
Clef Award for his involvement with music therapy for handicapped and autistic
children. Now more than ever, he realized the profound effects that music
could have on the human spirit.
Whenever
We Wanted was released in 1992 and quickly followed up with a marathon
seven-month world tour. The album spawned the hit single, "Get A Leg Up."
John finished out the year with a smokin' "MTV Unplugged" performance and
the theatrical release of "Falling From Grace." He returned to the studio
in 1993 to record Human Wheels which turned platinum in November. His next
album, Dance Naked, was released in summer 1994 and kicked out the massively
successful cover of Van Morrison' "Wild Night," a duet between John and
Me'shell Ndege'ocello. The Summer 94 Mellencamp tour got off to a rousing
start until it was discovered during a mid-tour physical that John had
suffered a mild heart attack. A handful of remaining dates were canceled
and John returned to Bloomington for some well-deserved rest and recuperation
When
it came time record Mr. Happy Go Lucky, John Mellencamp, thee ver-restless
ever-evolving artist, brought in renowned dance-mixer Junior Vasquez as
producer. "Here's Junior Vasquez being part of a rock band!," exclaimed
Mellencamp at the time. "It's all about, 'let's go someplace else.' It's
great to put people together who have the capability and the vision to
do something different when you challenge them to." Like so many of its
predecessors, Mr. Happy Go Lucky went gold and platinum within weeks of
its release.
John
Mellencamp's first retrospective album, The Best That I Could Do: 1978-1988
was released on November 18, 1997, was certified gold in December 1997
and platinum in 1998.
Ever
since the release of American Fool in 1982, John Mellencamp has maintained
a consistent hold on the charts while his fans have remained loyally steadfast.
In addition to his 36 gold, platinum, and multi-platinum awards from 1982-97,
Mellencamp has been nominated for 11 Grammys (in 1982, '84, '85, '86, '87,
'88, '91, '94, '96, and '97). John's unflagging hold on the charts is equally
impressive. In the past two decades, beginning with the chart entry of
John Cougar in August 1979, Mellencamp has racked up 10 Top 10 singles,
29 Top 40 singles, 7 Top 10 albums, and 11 Top 40 albums.
John
Mellencamp continues to pursue his avocation as a painter. Mellencamp:
Painting And Reflections, a book showcasing 75 of his works, will be released
by the prestigious publishing house HarperCollins in November.
