John Cougar Mellencamp – John Cougar
(Mercury Records 8149951)
Matrix No’s: 1Y1/2Y1
Sleeve in Excellent+ condition
– crease in top right corner
Inner Sleeve in Nr MINT condition
Vinyl in Nr MINT condition
(there are some surface marks visible on the vinyl when held up to the light but they don’t affect the sound quality)
John J Mellencamp (born October 7, 1951), previously known as Johnny Cougar, John Cougar, and John Cougar Mellencamp, is an American musician, singer-songwriter, painter, and actor. He is known for his catchy, populist brand of heartland rock, which emphasizes traditional instrumentation. Mellencamp rose to fame in the 1980s while “honing an almost startlingly plainspoken writing style that, starting in 1982, yielded a string of Top 10 singles”, including “Hurts So Good”, “Jack & Diane”, “Crumblin’ Down”, “Pink Houses”, “Lonely Ol’ Night”, “Small Town”, “R.O.C.K. in the U.S.A.”, “Paper in Fire”, and “Cherry Bomb”. He has amassed 22 Top 40 hits in the United States. In addition, he holds the record for the most tracks by a solo artist to hit number one on the Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks chart, with seven. Mellencamp has been nominated for 13 Grammy Awards, winning one. Mellencamp released his latest album, Sad Clowns & Hillbillies, on April 28, 2017, to widespread critical acclaim.
Mellencamp is also one of the founding members of Farm Aid, an organization that began in 1985 with a concert in Champaign, Illinois, to raise awareness about the loss of family farms and to raise funds to keep farm families on their land. Farm Aid concerts have remained an annual event over the past 32 years, and as of 2017 the organization has raised over $50 million to promote a strong and resilient family farm system of agriculture.
Mellencamp was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on March 10, 2008. His biggest musical influences are Bob Dylan, Woody Guthrie, James Brown and the Rolling Stones.[3] Rolling Stone contributor Anthony DeCurtis said: “Mellencamp has created an important body of work that has earned him both critical regard and an enormous audience. His songs document the joys and struggles of ordinary people seeking to make their way, and he has consistently brought the fresh air of common experience to the typically glamour-addled world of popular music.”
In 2001, Billboard magazine editor-in-chief Timothy White said:
| “ | John Mellencamp is arguably the most important roots rocker of his generation. John has made fiddles, hammer dulcimers, Autoharps and accordions lead rock instruments on a par with electric guitar, bass and drums, and he also brought what he calls ‘a raw Appalachian’ lyrical outlook to his songs. Mellencamp’s best music is rock ‘n roll stripped of all escapism, and it looks directly at the messiness of life as it’s actually lived. In his music, mortality, anxiety, acts of God, questions of romance and brotherhood, and crises of conscience all collide and demand hard decisions. This is rock music that tells the truth on both its composer and the culture he’s observing. | ” |
Johnny Cash called Mellencamp “one of the 10 best songwriters” in music.
John Cougar is the third studio album by John Mellencamp. This was the first album with his new record company Riva Records and under the name “John Cougar.” Released in 1979, following the Australian success of “I Need a Lover” from the previous year’s A Biography (which did not receive a U.S. release), the album included the aforementioned track for U.S. audiences, as well as a re-working of A Biography‘s “Taxi Dancer.”
“I Need a Lover,” upon the release of this album, became a Top 40 hit in the U.S., peaking at No. 28 in December 1979, after having been a No. 5 hit in Australia in 1978 when it was released as a single from A Biography. “Miami” was also a hit single in Australia and became his second Top 40 hit in that country. “I Need a Lover” was subsequently covered by Pat Benatar on her album In the Heat of the Night. In the U.S., however, “Small Paradise” was released as a single in place of “Miami,” but it was not very successful, peaking at No. 87 on the Billboard Hot 100 in February 1980. During concerts in 1979 and 1980, guitarist Mike Wanchic would trade lead vocals with Mellencamp on “Miami.”
Mellencamp recorded a solo acoustic rendition of “Sugar Marie” for his 2010 box set On the Rural Route 7609, stating in the set’s liner notes: “‘Sugar Marie’ suffered from young musicians not knowing how to present the music. I’ve always had an affection for the song, and I’ve always known it had something I didn’t get at on the album.”
Track listing
All songs written by John Mellencamp, except where noted.
- “A Little Night Dancin'” – 3:43
- “Small Paradise” – 3:40
- “Miami” – 3:53
- “The Great Midwest” – 4:29
- “Do You Think That’s Fair” – 4:48
- “I Need a Lover” – 5:35
- “Welcome to Chinatown” – 3:59
- “Sugar Marie” – 4:16
- “Pray for Me” – 3:30 (Mellencamp, Brian Bec Var)
- “Taxi Dancer” – 5:02
- “Take Home Pay” (2005 re-issue bonus track) – 3:10
Personnel
- John Mellencamp – vocal, guitar
- Brian Bec Var – piano, keyboards
- Larry Crane – guitars, backing vocals
- Mike “Chief” Wanchic – guitars, backing vocals
- Robert “Ferd” Frank – bass
- Tom Knowles – drums
- Don Gehman – engineer
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