![]() The demo tape For the Record …īorn October 7, 1951, in Seymour, IN son of Richard and Marilyn Mellencamp married Priscilla Esterline, 1969 (marriage ended, 1981) married Vicki Granucci, 1981 (marriage ended, 1989) married Elaine Irwin, 1992 children: Michelle (first marriage), Teddi Jo, Justice Renee (second marriage), Hud, Speck (third marriage).įormed a “glam-rock ” band called Trash, 1971 signed with MainMan in 1975, name changed to John Cougar scored first top 40 hit in 1978 with “I Need a Lover ” widespread fame achieved with American Fool in 1982 Uh-Huh released in 1982, under the name John Cougar Mellencamp. ’ That ’s what made me want to get out and do it -everyone saying you can ’t! ” Played the American FoolĪround this time Mellencamp decided to go to New York City to try to sell himself as a rock star. Get a good job by the time you ’re fifty, and that ’s that. ![]() ![]() They work in the fields, and they work in the factory, and if you ’re lucky, you can be like your old man. Mellencamp told Edwin Miller of Seventeen, “Everybody said, ’John, you ’re dumb. Gradually growing apart from his first wife, Mellencamp had started to record demos of his own songs and take music as a career more seriously, much to the derision of seemingly everyone he knew. ”Īfter being kicked out, the Mellencamps stayed together for another ten years. They kicked the young couple out with the typical “you ’ll never go any where with this silly rock and roll business. Considering the fact that he had a wife and daughter to support, his in-laws did not see guitar playing as a stable occupation. At that time, the only productive thing Mellencamp did was play music in local bar bands, using the guitar skills he started building at the age of fourteen. Attending junior college, studying communications, and barely holding down a job for more than a few months, Mellencamp reverted to his old partying ways. With the intent of making a living for themselves, the newlyweds moved into Priscilla ’s parents ’ house with their newborn daughter Michelle. ” The couple were in love and Priscilla was pregnant. In Rolling Stone, Mellencamp recalled, “You could get married there at eighteen without your parents ’ permission. At the age of eighteen, Mellencamp took off to Kentucky and married his twenty-three year old girlfriend, Priscilla. As a teenager, Mellencamp had few interests other than hanging out, getting high, and listening to rock n ’ roll. His father, vice president of Robbins Electric in Seymour, pushed Mellencamp to excel at school and sports, neither of which the boy took to heart. John Mellencamp, with his two sisters and two brothers, was raised strictly. Known for his unpretentious manner and brutal honesty, Mellencamp wishes to be taken seriously on his own terms, without losing sight of where he comes from, which granted, is hard when you ’ve never really left. Bucking the rock star tradition of leaving the hometown for more glamorous pastures, Mellencamp remains a resident of Indiana. But it also produced at least one musician, celebrated son, John Mellencamp. With Uh-Huh, Mellencamp found the perfect balance between his social concerns and the rock n’ roll of his youth.Seymour, Indiana, a blue collar town about forty minutes from Bloomington, is populated by about 20,000, mostly electronics industry workers. ![]() With the genuine simplicity of an ageless folk song, Mellencamp laid out the modest goals and sad, awful truth of the working class without pity and with a dose of celebration. But it was the Springsteen-like acoustic number, “Pink Houses,” that solidified Mellencamp’s image as a voice for Middle America. “Play Guitar” and “Crumblin’ Down” worked similarly, capitalizing on Mellencamp’s tough exterior and unfancy rock arrangements. “The Authority Song” took its message from the Bobby Fuller Four’s “I Fought the Law” and its guitar sound from the Rolling Stones, marrying the two to an irresistible rhythm. He added back his real last name and recorded an album that spoke simply and directly from his heart and mind. With 1983’s Uh-Huh, Cougar began reclaiming and defining his identity as more than just a sassy, snarky rock n’ roll singer. 1982’s American Fool catapulted Indiana’s John Cougar into the pop mainstream after years of dubious material and artistic struggle.
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