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It took Mellencamp a little time, but he eventually reached par with Springsteen per writing songs about the hearland, in a roots rock vein(but without the bombast)....I believe he was every bit the equal of him in that era....
These songs are from Uh-Huh, Blood on the Scarecrow, and Lonesome Jubilee, no contest his best three albums, in no particular order.....enjoy!
I hate him! I hated that he started out as John Cougar. John Cougar, give me a break. That started him out as phony-baloney and to me he never rose above the level of a second-rate road company hack wannabe wildest-dreams Bruce Springsteen. IMO. YMMV.
I hate him! I hated that he started out as John Cougar. John Cougar, give me a break. That started him out as phony-baloney and to me he never rose above the level of a second-rate road company hack wannabe wildest-dreams Bruce Springsteen. IMO. YMMV.
I wouldn't say he's Brittney Spears either, but prob not quite the level of Springsteen..I prob reached with that one, but I was just thinking of the Springsteen of the mid 80's.....Bruce is really a touch act to follow for anyone, not unlike comparing someone with Dylan....mellencamp is a great roots-rocker, ala Steve Earle....a little country tint, populist lyrics, and such...
Let's put it another way...the 80's music in general is unbearable to listen to on those oldies 80's stations...dated synth pop, really not much worth remembering....I would give Mellencamp the kudos that at least HIS 80's hits were based on more solid foundations, per country, older 60's rock, and such..call it Americana.....and sure more palatable on the radio than Cyndi laupner's "She-bop"..
Actually, Farm Aid started when Bob Dylan mentioned at Live Aid that some of the Ethiopian money should be diverted to the farmers losing their land.."At least a few million of it"......Willie Nelson overheard the comment, and they brainstormed it all out of that comment...strange but true..
Wish I made it up...Here are Bob Dylan's words right here at Farm Aid, right at the beginning of this clip..funny, but when someone of Dylan's stature makes a quip/statement, it can resonate to the effect that it created 25 years of concerts(Farm Aid)....That's why he always watched what he said carefully..
I fall somewhere between the OP and delusianne, he's got some good tunes and a lot of crap.
Between 77 and 85
I bought probably 500 albums and cassettes, and I never bought anything from Cougar/Cougar-Mellancamp or Mellancamp
I just never saw him at the same level of Bruce or Seger
The only way I can think of to describe him is this...Southern Indiana is a totally nondescript, pretty poor place, not unlike west Texas, with hills...There's not a bunch to do there but "hang out and get a chili dog at the tastee freeze"...some kid back in the early 70's wanted to get the hell out of there, and start a band...they and he were nothin' too special, but they never said they were either....he had more than a little to say about a few things, rocked out a little in his own way, and now moved back to southern indiana again...that pretty much explains mellencamp...I don't even think he thinks much of himself..just happy he had a chance to crank out a few simple tunes and rock out a bit, in his own way, space, and time......
That being said, "Jack and Diane" "Pink Houses" and "Small Town" are the greatest homages to the glories and hell of living in a small town(maybe trying to get out, but prob dying there) ever recorded in a studio/penned....I grew up there too, and frankly, listening to those 3, call it the great triad of small-town life, hits my heart in a good way every time......Right there with Carl Sandburg and Walt Whitman...sorry folks, I know greatness when I hear/see it, and it LIVES in those three....the midwest plains put to music, like Sandburg did with his pen....and a populists' dream....The great unwashed have their say.."Ain't that America, for you and me? Something to see baby....home of the free...little pink houses..for you and me..."......Ole Carl Sandburg would have liked that, I just know it....
To frame a moment, a snapshot so to speak...hold back the hands of time....freeze a moment/suspended in space.....
To live life fully, just for one night, 16 years old, hanging out in front of a buddy's house, the girls coming over from down the block....drinking a few beers left behind by an old brother...
Driving down Route 41, a little past Seymour, Indiana, wondering what more in life must be out there, seeing a sea of cornfields, smelling a little whiff of rural air in the convertible...maybe, one day, I could start a band..hell, why not....
But before, you hold onto childhood/youth for just a spell more, before you leave for good....and think....and try holding onto the past one last time before you leave...
"life goes on...long after the thrill of livin' is gone, so,....hold onto 16 as long as you can..pretty soon changes come make us women and men"...
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