Old Enough to Forget

Lonesome Jubilee introduced the world to John Mellencamp ... no more John Cougar, or John Cougar Mellencamp ... it was John Mellencamp thank you very much. John's transformation into a full-fledged folk rock (Americana is the term that would later be applied, but at the time this is just roots rock) hero was complete. While John had maintained his multi-platinum run in the States, here in Canada he would find his greatest commercial success with Lonesome Jubilee . His previous three releases, American Fool , Uh-Huh , and Scarecrow all sold in excess of 500,000 copies. That's the equivalent of an RIAA gold album from a population literally ten times smaller than our neighbours to the south. With Lonesome Jubilee he moved over 600,000, and this would be the peak of his popularity, at least in terms of commercial album sales. He's never stopped creating music and has released another sixteen albums, the last being Orpheus Descending (2023). However, for me, this was reall...

Author's warning.*  After selling 5,000,000 copies of his breakthrough album American Fool in the US, John was back in '83 with Uh-Huh and proceeded to go triple platinum. However, here in Canada he moved half a million copies of each album. He was a pretty big deal here ... and he'd be a big deal for a while. I was never really a big John Cougar Mellencamp fan, I'm still not, but I like him enough to buy his albums when I find them. Oh make no mistake he was decent and in small doses pretty awesome. There was something about a whole album of John's tunes that just felt overly long. I'd almost go so far as to describe a lot of it as unvarnished pretentious rock and roll. A better name for the album would be Nuh Uh. John was earnest in his pursuit of grandeur. To be fair, for all the clunkers, he'd then come out with an absolute barn burner. I didn't know it at the time, but John was carving his own niche. Americana wasn't really a thing I was aware...

With 1985's Scarecrow John Mellencamp's transition into what would later be known as Americana was complete. When this was sparkly and new it was a little harder to peg. It was definitely rock, with echoes of times gone by and it was at odds with what was currently in fashion. That didn't stop this from being embraced by those who liked rock. For me it was an odd experience. I'd never really been a huge fan, but I had to give the guy props, because when he was good he was untouchable. His previous album had "Pink Houses" which alone was enough to earn my respect. However, with Scarecrow I got my back up, almost immediately after the first time I heard the song "Small Town." In fact I got a bee so far up my ass it coloured everything, and I mean EVERYTHING he was to release after, and even altered my perception of the stuff already out there. I started to think of him as a second tier Bruce Springsteen, and that he was a preening little peacock who su...