He called it “folk music with a rock drum beat.”Ī succession of powerful albums followed, including The Lonesome Jubilee (1987), which soared to the top of the charts, galvanized by gritty songs such as “Paper In Fire”-featuring some of the most burning violin playing ever to be captured on a pop record. He considered himself an American troubadour, as he says in the following, but with folk songs that could be translated into pop-rock songs with the addition of rock instruments. In 1985, painfully aware of the plight of American farmers, he not only founded Farm Aid with Willie Nelson, but he put their dilemma into art and conceived the seminal album Scarecrow. In 1983 came Uh-Huh, which contained huge hits such as “Pink Houses.” By this time he was no longer Johnny Cougar, as he re-embraced his true identity and became John Cougar Mellencamp. The album was called American Fool, and it included two massive hits, “Jack and Diane” and “Hurts So Good,” both of which are discussed in the following interview. ![]() He then went out on tour with a host of bands, including KISS and the Kinks.īy 1982, he was writing the record that would put him over the top in terms of authentic popularity. His first hit, which was also a hit for Pat Benatar, was “I Need A Lover.” Following that, he worked with the legendary musician Steve Cropper, who produced Mellencamp’s next album, Nothin’ Matters And What If It Did-which began to prove to the world that this man was more than a pop singer. ![]() It did little to introduce Johnny Cougar to the world.īut it all shifted when his next album was released, at which time he started writing his own songs. He was dropped from the label and soon signed with another, which released an album called A Biography. ![]() His second album, The Kid Inside, also consisted of covers but was never released. By the next year, he had landed a record deal, but his managers decided they had to mold him into a different form and renamed him “Johnny Cougar.” The album that was released was called Chestnut Street Incident, and it consisted of other people’s songs. In 1975, he moved to New York with the aim of making a living as a musician.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |