profilepod1header
 This group has been flagged as inappropriate, temporarily disabling the ability to join, upload media, and perform actions. |
|
1 2 3  |
| |  | |
| JOHN COUGAR MILLENCAMP | | SMALL TOWN
John Mellencamp, previously known as John Cougar and then John Cougar Mellencamp, (born October 7, 1951 in Seymour, Indiana) is a Grammy-winning American rock singer-songwriter, musician and more...occasional actor.
Mellencamp was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on March 10, 2008 by Billy Joel.
After about 18 months of traveling back and forth from Indiana to New York City, Mellencamp finally found someone receptive to his music and image in Tony DeFries of MainMan Management (at the time well-known for representing David Bowie, one of Mellencamp's musical idols). DeFries insisted that Mellencamp's first album, Chestnut Street Incident, a collection of covers and derivative originals (Mellencamp had written just a handful of songs prior to landing a record deal and was still very raw), be released under the stage name Johnny Cougar, a move Mellencamp claims was made without his knowledge and against his will. The album was a total failure, selling just 12,000 copies mostly in Indiana.
Mellencamp recorded The Kid Inside in 1977, the follow-up to Chestnut Street Incident, but DeFries eventually decided against releasing the album and Mellencamp was dropped from MCA records. Mellencamp hooked up with Rod Stewart's manager Billy Gaff after parting ways with DeFries and was signed to the tiny Riva Records label. At Gaff's request, Mellencamp moved to London, England for nearly a year to record, promote and tour behind 1978's A Biography. The record wasn't released in the United States, but yielded a No. 1 hit in Australia with "I Need a Lover." Riva Records added "I Need a Lover" to Mellencamp's next album, 1979's John Cougar (which did see domestic release); and it became a No. 28 single in the United States in late 1979. Rocker Pat Benatar recorded "I Need a Lover" on her debut album In the Heat of the Night, and her version garnered a good deal of FM radio airplay even though it was not issued as a single in the United States.
In 1980, Mellencamp returned with the Steve Cropper-produced Nothin' Matters And What If It Did, which yielded two Top 40 singles — "This Time" (No. 27) and "Ain't Even Done With The Night" (No. 17) and showed continued improvement in both his songwriting and singing. However, Mellencamp wasn't particularly fond of the album, or its two hit singles.
"The singles were stupid little pop songs," he told Record Magazine in 1983. "I take no credit for that record. It wasn't like the title was made up it wasn't supposed to be punky or cocky like some people thought. Toward the end, I didn't even go to the studio. Me and the guys in the band thought we were finished, anyway. It was the most expensive record I ever made. It cost $280,000, do you believe that? The worst thing was that I could have gone on making records like that for hundreds of years. Hell, as long as you sell a few records and the record company isn't putting lot of money into promotion, you're making money for 'em and that's all they care about. PolyGram loved Nothin' Matters. They thought I was going to turn into the next Neil Diamond."
In 1982, Mellencamp released his breakthrough album, American Fool (see 1982 in music). The album had a rootsy, garage-rock vibe and spawned the hit singles "Hurts So Good," which spent four weeks at No. 2, and "Jack and Diane," which parked itself at No. 1 for four weeks. Those mega-hits sent American Fool to the top of the charts. A third single, "Hand To Hold On To," made it to No. 19 and was a staple in his concerts throughout the 1980s. Additionally, "Hurts So Good" spent 16 weeks in the Top Ten (more than any other single in the 1980s); and "Jack and Diane" is, to date, Mellencamp's only single to ever top the Billboard Hot 100. "Hurts So Good" went on to win the Grammy Award for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance at the 25th Grammys. Despite the fact that American Fool made Mellencamp a superstar, he doesn't consider it anywhere close to a masterpiece.
"To be less
03:40
Category: Music
Views: 269
Comments: 2
Added: Nov 7, 09
By: VESAVERSA 
Tags: classic rock n roll | |
| | | | | | | | | |
|
| 1 2 3 |
|
|
|
