John Mellencamp: Tapping the Hall of Famer's 22 albums for a possible set listBy Chuck Yarborough, The Plain Dealer
"Jack and Diane.'' "Pink Houses.'' "Authority Song.'' "Wild Nights.''
Yeah, those are some of the songs – the big hits – that got John Mellencamp, who will be at Playhouse Square's Connor Palace on Saturday, Jan. 31, inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2008. But as every true fan knows, before the listening public got to know him by his real name, he was out there first as Johnny Cougar, a surname foisted on him by his first manager, Tony DeFries, who thought nobody would buy music from a dude named Mellencamp.
Mellencamp's distaste for the name is legendary – there's one report out there that says he didn't even know he'd been rechristened until he saw his first album cover. So eventually it went to John Cougar, then John Cougar Mellencamp and finally just plain John Mellencamp.
But while the name changed, certain things remained the same; namely, his ability to sing and write songs.
Let's be up front about that. The singing came first. His first album, "Chestnut Street Incident,'' came out in 1976, under the name Johnny Cougar. Though it had a few originals, it had a lot of covers, including "Pretty Woman,'' "Jailhouse Rock,'' "Do You Believe in Magic'' and "Hit the Road Jack.''
The voice, the delivery were in the spotlight. But with each successive studio album – and there have been 22 now – the message and the writing have gotten stronger.
Most concert headliners have about 20 songs in their set lists, so I thought it might be fun to choose one song from each of those 22 albums and put together a "dream set list'' showcasing Mellencamp's growth as a writer and as an artist. Ideally, I'd have asked him to do that, but since through his management, he declined repeated requests for interviews, I'll tackle it myself.
Feel free to agree, disagree or put together your own list. My list is first the album name, then the year, the cut and a little commentary.
Which John Mellencamp song would you put on his set list?
"Chestnut Street Incident.'' 1976. "Jailhouse Rock.'' You can hear the voice that will become "Authority Song,''
"A Biography.'' 1978. "I Need a Lover.'' Who DOESN'T need a lover who won't drive 'em crazy?
"John Cougar.'' 1979. "Great Midwest.'' One of the best lines to describe this area of the country, and though on the surface it sounds disrespectful, it's said with love and affection: "They're all 5 years ahead of their time / Or 25 behind, I just don't know.''
"Nothin' Matters and What If It Did.'' 1980. "Ain't Even Done With the Night.'' Even though it was released under "John Cougar,'' this is the birth of "John Mellencamp.''
"American Fool.'' 1982. "Jack and Diane.'' Two 'Merican kids growin' up in the Heartland make their first appearance.
"The Kid Inside.'' 1983. "The Whore'' or "The Man Who Sold the World.'' My first dilemma – a great song about what it's like to be an artist or a cover of David Bowie. Decisions, decisions.
"Uh-Huh.'' 1983. "Authority Song.'' The first album by John Cougar MELLENCAMP boasts the song that may be my personal favorite to play as a drummer.
"Scarecrow.'' 1985. "R.O.C.K. in the U.S.A. (A Salute to '60s Rock).'' "Small Town'' and "Lonely Ol' Night'' technically are better tunes, but I love the sing-along aspect of "R.O.C.K'' for a live show.
"The Lonesome Jubilee.'' 1987. "Hard Times for an Honest Man.'' Poetry. Sheer. Poetry.
"Big Daddy.'' 1989. "Pop Singer.'' "Jackie Brown'' is a better song as social commentary, but the autobiographical aspect of "Pop Singer'' puts it in the lead for me.
"Whenever We Wanted.'' 1991. "They're So Tough.'' Anti-bullying? Anti-government? But I wonder how a song with the N-word, as in "make me their N-word'' – would go over in 2015? Hello, Sweetheart. Get me rewrite.
"Human Wheels.'' 1993. "Human Wheels.'' Can't decide if his co-writer/muse for the title track of what was a really well-received album was Edgar Allan Poe, William Butler Yeats or Sylvia Plath.
"Dance Naked.'' 1994. "Wild Night.'' His cover of the Van Morrison song is a lot of fun, but the cool thing is that this entire record, recorded in just 14 days, was a ticked-off Mellencamp's response to the criticism of his record label – Mercury -- of "Human Wheels.''
"Mr. Happy Go Lucky.'' 1996. "Life Is Hard.'' This was the first album after his heart attack, and this song as much as any on the album reflects the fragility of life.
"John Mellencamp.'' 1996. "Your Life Is Now.'' Gotta love something soooooo thematically reminiscent of "The Circle of Life'' with Simba and "The Lion King.''
"Rough Harvest.'' 1999. "Farewell Angelina.'' What's not to like about one of the best songwriters in his generation covering Bob Dylan, one of the best songwriters of ANY generation?
"Cuttin' Heads.'' 2001. "Cuttin' Heads.'' Chuck D of Public Enemy did a verse on the original of this tune that decries the use – by all races – of the N-word. Hip-hop meets folk. Victory!
"Trouble No More.'' 2003. "Stones in My Passway.'' John Mellencamp sings Robert Johnson. Wow.
"Freedom's Road.'' 2007. "Ghost Towns Along the Highway.'' The cut "Our Country'' was nominated for a Grammy, but I think "Ghost Towns'' is the most introspective on an album that featured background harmonies from one of my favorite country vocal bands, Little Big Town.
"Life, Death, Love and Freedom.''2008. "For the Children.'' I can just see myself having this conversation with my daughter years ago . . . and her having it with her sons in the not-so-distant future.
"No Better Than This.'' 2010. "Easter Eve.'' A father's walk with his barely-a-teen son turns into a bloody brawl. Vintage folk lyrics for what Mellencamp dubbed one of his most folk-singer albums.
"Plain Spoken.'' 2014. "Tears in Vain.'' But that's on the condition that he tells us the backstory behind the song, which is rumored to hint at infidelity by his ex-wife.
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