![]() ![]() Yet his body of work contradicts this modest slight in spades, showing a consistent pattern of knowing how to craft songs with lyrical value, musical accessibility and even pop craftsmanship. Mellencamp, conversely, is widely popular but often not included in this lofty company directly. Their place in musical lore is secure (even if still changing since they are alive and active). Nobody questions the stature of Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan, Neil Young or other similar musical icons (also Mellencamp’s generational peers), no matter if they like them or not. Mellencamp isn’t the only musical spokesperson of his era but he is perhaps its most underrated. He remains an artist in every sense of the word and his recorded work defies any real categorization, filled with songs serving as an American storybook, taking listeners through various incarnations of political division, poverty, increased wealth, social progress, wars and everything in between, all told through ordinary characters who lived each day like they were sold a bill of American Dream goods. He went by John Cougar Mellencamp for awhile in the 1980s until finally settling on his real name by the early 1990s. He followed up this success by cranking out albums at a respectably consistent rate over the next thirty -five years, dipping his creative toes in all kinds of genres and working with an array of musicians and other artists. Of those albums, it was his fourth release, American Fool (1982), that catapulted him to stardom, earning him heavy rotation radio play (at a time when that mattered), his lone Grammy Award and a #1 album. Mellencamp started out as a rising pop star in the late 1970s under the name John Cougar for his first six albums. And judging by the crowd’s willingness to stick with him through each song, it was worth every penny. This, after all this time, is the Mellencamp we have paid to come see. ![]() When the setlist turned more acoustic-based and introspective, Mellencamp told those not interested in this musical shift to “get the fuck out and go grab a beer in the lobby”. Mellencamp didn’t shy away from telling stories of keeping his elderly grandmother company as a young man or playfully embarrassing his longtime lead guitarist Mike Wanchic with a tale of bailing him out a Providence jail one morning many decades ago after being charged with “lewd vagrancy”. After the documentary ended, Mellencamp and his band tore through a boisterous and varied setlist which touched upon some of his most successful hits while offering broad brush strokes of more obscure blues covers, country ballads and folk anthems. He would likely sound just as good playing at a local fair as he would in this newly restored and magnificent urban theater. As this night proved more than once, Mellencamp’s voice is intact and robust, resembling more a southern rhythm and blues crooner than pop star. His music today resembles some of the very best recordings from the 1950s Sun Records era or perhaps early Bob Dylan more than anything considered modern rock or pop. Nobody succeeded and as a result, we are left today with arguably America’s most underrated storyteller and musical troubadour, an artist who has become an unlikely patriot and national treasure, terms he would almost certainly deem absurd. Most of the film’s dialogue was comprised of quick anecdotes by Mellencamp about those who doubted him, tried to mold him, tried to control him or simply tried to push him aside. While mostly received with polite tolerance by most in attendance, anyone paying attention would quickly figure out Mellencamp, now 67, despises the very industry which now allows him to perform whenever and wherever he wants. On this night, Mellencamp started “The John Mellencamp Show” with a 20 minute film telling the story of his creative origins and subsequent highs and lows in the music business. This simple descriptor personifies Mellencamp’s musical resume almost perfectly, one which boasts as much mainstream success as it does head scratching yet decidedly intentional left turns creatively. Near the beginning of a recent performance in Providence, Rhode Island, John Mellencamp told the theater-sized crowd him and the band were going to play “some songs you know, some songs you don’t know, some songs where you can sing along and some you can dance to.” ![]()
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