![]() Peaking at number two, Scarecrow generated the Top Ten singles "Lonely Ol' Night," "Small Town," and "R.O.C.K. Scarecrow displayed a greater social consciousness and musical eclecticism, resulting in his best-reviewed - as well as his biggest - album to date. While he had commercial success, Mellencamp made his bid for critical acclaim with his next album, 1985's Scarecrow. Uh-Huh was released while American Fool was still high on the charts, and it became a hit, peaking at number nine and generating the Top Ten hits "Crumblin' Down" and "Pink Houses," as well as the Top 15 "Authority Song." He supported the album with his first headlining tour. The success of American Fool meant that he could add "Mellencamp" to his stage name, and 1983's Uh-Huh became the first album credited to John Cougar Mellencamp. ![]() More focused than his earlier records, American Fool rocketed to number one on the strength of the number two hit "Hurts So Good" and the number one single "Jack and Diane," both of which were supported by videos that became MTV favorites. Mellencamp's next album, 1982's American Fool, became his breakthrough, both commercially and musically. Steve Cropper produced 1980's Nothin' Matters and What If It Did, which contained the Top 30 hits "This Time" and "Ain't Even Done with the Night." However, Johnny Cougar (1979) spawned the Top 40 hit "I Need a Lover," which also became an AOR hit for Pat Benatar a few years later. Two years later, he signed with Riva Records, releasing A Biography (1978) to little attention. The fiasco of his first album was enough to sour Mellencamp on the industry for the remainder of his career. Chestnut Street Incident was a bomb and MCA immediately dropped him. Upon receiving the finished album in 1976, he was infuriated to learn that DeFries had billed the singer as Johnny Cougar. Mellencamp recorded an album of covers called Chestnut Street Incident. In New York, Mellencamp became a client of David Bowie's manager, Tony DeFries, who signed him to a lucrative deal with MainMan/MCA. By the time he was 24, he had decided to move to New York City to attempt to break into the music industry. When he was 17, he eloped with Priscilla Esterline, his pregnant girlfriend, and proceeded to try to support his family by working a series of blue-collar jobs. He formed his first band at the age of 14, and continued to play throughout his teens. As a teenager, he was rebellious, often getting in trouble with the law. As a child in Seymour, Indiana, Mellencamp had suffered a number of setbacks, including being born with a neural tube defect called spina bifida that necessitated a lengthy hospitalization as a baby. 2010's No Better Than This marks the point where he fully immersed himself in folk and roots music as his voice gained the grit of an elder statesman, and 2022's Strictly a One-Eyed Jack is a spare, forceful set that sees him collaborating with one of his most celebrated contemporaries, Bruce Springsteen.Ī prolonged, acclaimed career seemed an impossibility when Mellencamp released his first album under the name Johnny Cougar in 1976. Elements of folk, blues, and other roots rock music became more prominent in his arrangements and his themes grew more introspective beginning with 1993's Human Wheels, and they came to dominate his work as the '90s gave way to the 2000s. As his career progressed, Mellencamp evolved toward socially conscious storytelling he co-founded the charity Farm Aid the same year he released his defining album, 1985's Scarecrow, which reflects the same kind of populist philosophies. ![]() ![]() His early hits, such as "Hurts So Good," "Jack & Diane," and "Pink Houses," are knowing sketches of small-town life accompanied by a crack rock & roll band, and albums like 1982's American Fool and 1983's Uh-Huh took him to stardom. Mellencamp's musical roots are in the sounds of the 1960s, particularly the muscular wallop of the Rolling Stones and their garage-y imitators, along with the folk-rock revolution pioneered by Bob Dylan. One of the cornerstones of the heartland rock movement of the 1980s, John Mellencamp's most famous music is full of passion, heart, and understanding of the lives of ordinary folks living in the American Midwest, and his characters haven't change much with time, even when his music did. ![]()
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