The pain of making music that matters

Author Paul Rees Mellencamp gives an unflinching look at John Mellencamp's music career and personal life, which is fascinating and unsettling. 

Rees takes a quick tour through Mellencamp's scrappy and harsh upbringing, setting the stage for his music career. Mellencamp had a tremendous drive early on that created opportunities and missteps. 

Saddled with the unfortunate name of Johnny/John Cougar, his early efforts in the late 1970s were lukewarm outside of the hit "I Need a Lover." He began to turn the corner when he notched hits with "Jack and Diane" from American Fool and "Pink Houses" from Uh-huh, which identified him squarely with small-town America.

With those successes, he vaulted into serious songwriter/musician territory with Scarecrow, which contained eloquent songs about the economic struggles of American farmers and heartland folks. The follow-up, Lonesome Jubilee, favored a more Americana-based acoustic approach, and Mellencamp has more or less maintained it since the late 1980s. Although his record sales tailed off as he aged--as often happens to musicians in their 40s and 50s--Mellencamp still strives to make meaningful music, and his songwriting prowess has remained strong.

The genesis of something is always more interesting to me than the completion, so I appreciate Rees' meticulous reporting on how songs and albums came together. Almost all of Mellencamp's albums were painful births. In the book, Mellencamp is a temperamental and abrasive taskmaster. Interviews with musicians who played on the records and colleagues and friends are not flattering. That he has produced as many albums as he has is impressive, considering his ability to alienate people. Mellencamp has moments of generosity and compassion, but he's a failure at relationships. 

Since I'm a fan of his music, I wanted to like Mellencamp as a person, but the book tells me that's not possible. Still, the book makes me appreciate him as an artist and his struggles to make his music a reality. Thanks to Rees for writing a resonant biography about this genuinely American musician.