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John Mellencamp enters Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
Posted: Mar 09, 2008 in Music, TV and Celebrities
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John Mellencamp likely will spend more time onstage during tonight's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame ceremony than fellow inductees Madonna, Leonard Cohen, the Dave Clark Five and the Ventures.
Mellencamp and instrumental rock band the Ventures are the only inductees scheduled to play music at New York's Waldorf-Astoria Hotel. Iggy & the Stooges will perform songs popularized by Madonna, and Damien Rice will stand in for Cohen.
An all-star tribute to the Dave Clark Five is expected to feature Mellencamp, John Fogerty and others. Dave Clark Five vocalist Mike Smith died Feb. 28.
Billy Joel will give the introductory speech for Mellencamp, a choice the Hoosier rock star said he's happy about.
Mellencamp and Joel have been friends since the early 1980s.
"I was starting to have the smell of a hit record with 'Hurts So Good,'." Mellencamp said. "The phone rang, and it was Billy Joel, who was already a big star. He called me up and said, 'Man, this song "Hurts So Good" is rocking.' He said, 'The drum sound is fantastic. I had to pull my car over when I heard it on the radio.' That was the very first call I ever got from somebody really famous to say congratulations on your success."
"Hurts So Good" became Mellencamp's first Top Ten single on Billboard magazine's pop chart.
The Seymour native and Bloomington resident was known as "John Cougar" at the time. He later dropped the stage name and accumulated nine more Top Ten singles while selling more than 25 million albums.
In 2007, Mellencamp was listed as a finalist on the Hall of Fame ballot for the third time. He failed to collect enough votes from music industry experts in 2003 and 2005.
The singer-songwriter leaked news of his induction to a Pennsylvania concert audience in late November, more than a week before the formal announcement was made.
"I got a phone call today," Mellencamp told an audience in Erie, Pa. "I found out I'm in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame."
The 56-year-old will issue new album "Life, Death, Love and Freedom" later this year. Produced by T-Bone Burnett, the recording will include songs such as "Jena" -- inspired by the Jena 6 trial in Jena, La. -- the mortality-themed "Ride Back Home (Hey Jesus)" and "If I Die Sudden."
"I think the new record is going to be quite a surprise to a lot of people," Mellencamp said.
A theatrical musical created by Mellencamp and Stephen King, "Ghost Brothers of Darkland County," will premiere in Atlanta in 2009.
The musician and the author began working on "Ghost Brothers" eight years ago. If the production is well-received during a run at Atlanta's Alliance Theatre, a Broadway debut is possible.
"If it ends in Atlanta, at least Steve and I can sit in the dark with each other like we wanted to do the first night," Mellencamp said.
Saying he's turned down opportunities to appear on national television in recent weeks, Mellencamp plans diminished interaction with the media for the rest of his career.
The singer said King can talk to the press about the "Ghost Brothers" project as it moves forward.
"I've been doing interviews for 30 years," Mellencamp said. "There's nothing more for me to say about myself."
There's at least one more public statement on Mellencamp's schedule: Tonight's Hall of Fame speech.
The ceremony will be broadcast live at 8:30 p.m. on cable television network VH1 Classic and streamed live online at www.bestbuy.com/halloffame
I have never heard of Leonard Cohen, the Dave Clark Five and the Ventures. So way to go Mellencamp! Nice story Mr. Lindquist! We Hoosiers love our Mellencamp :)
Seymour mayor Craig Luedeman proclaimed Monday as "John Mellencamp Day" in the Jackson County community.
Within his announcement, Luedeman referred to Seymour as "the original small town" that influenced Mellencamp, a 1970 graduate of Seymour High School.
Luedeman, 31, said he always appreciated Mellencamp's use of Seymour landmarks in the singer's early music videos.
"I grew up with those images, and I thought, 'Wow, he's really from Seymour,'" Luedeman said.
This post is being beamed from Manhattan, where I arrived about an hour ago.
My flight also included Mellencamp band members Dane Clark, Jon E. Gee and Troye Kinnett.
More than one person told me I was cutting it close when I planned to arrive the day of the Rock Hall ceremony.
Clark, Gee and Kinnett thought they were flying on Sunday, but a day's worth of delays kept them grounded at Indianapolis International Airport.
But they're here now, and I plan to walk over to the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in a few minutes to catch the band's afternoon rehearsal.
It's well-deserved.
When I talked to Mellencamp this weekend, I asked him about Iggy and the Stooges performing a set of Madonna songs at tonight's ceremony -- largely because, believe it or not, Mellencamp covered the Stooges classic "Search and Destroy" quite often in his pre-stardom days.
The topic turned to defunct Creem magazine, which -- like Iggy Pop and Madonna -- is a treasure of Detroit-related pop culture.
Mellencamp said he recently was given a copy of the 2007 book based on Creem titled "America's Only Rock 'n' Roll Magazine." The book compiled by Robert Matheu and Brian J. Bowe includes a Mellencamp interview from the early 1980s.
"That's when music was really fun, when we were kids," Mellencamp said. "Everybody in that book is so young. The music was so wide open. The things you said didn't have consequences the way the things you say today do.
"I could say one (messed) up thing, and it's around the world. Back then, you could say anything you wanted. You could be as arrogant or stupid as you wanted. You could be as thoughtful as you wanted. You could be all of those things in the same interview. It was just fun. Now, there's consequences."
When I talked to Mellencamp this weekend, he said "Who are you? Quit stalking me. I'm calling the police!"
David,
Who in the band is being inducted? Is Tobey, Jimmy and Larry on the list or is it just John? Haven't heard.
To answer cboze's question, John's name is the only one listed in the entry to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, I believe.
He and the band just wrapped rehearsal of three songs for tonight's ceremony.
VH1 Classic viewers can expect performances of two hits from the "Uh-Huh" album and one hit from "Scarecrow."
Paul Shaffer, the long-running musical director of Rock Hall induction ceremonies, and Will Lee, his band mate in David Letterman's house band, were seen applauding a Miriam Sturm violin solo.
The big news from rehearsal would be Mellencamp's 12-year-old son, Speck, playing guitar with the band for one number.
Speck's mother, Elaine, said the pre-teen was anxious about the prospect of making his live debut on national television -- and perhaps even more nervous if members of the Rolling Stones show up as members of the Ballroom audience at the Waldorf.
We'll see who's in the crowd at 8:30 p.m. ...
It looks as if Mellencamp's band will back Mellencamp, John Fogerty and Joan Jett during a two-song tribute to the Dave Clark Five (with Shaffer adding stylish keyboard tones to the mix).
Jett sang a proto-garage rendition of "Bits and Pieces" during Monday afternoon's rehearsal, while Mellencamp and Fogerty shared lead vocal duties on a soulful version of "Glad All Over."
Big beats supplied by Mellencamp drummer Dane Clark were highlights of both tunes.
I am SO glad that John is finally going to be recognized. I grew up in Southern Indiana, too, and I know what a small town really is. John is nostalgic about it. Unfortunately, I was definitely big city material.
Is Leonard Cohen ill? Why can he not perform his own songs? And Iggy doing Madonna songs? Does that mean Madonna won't be there?
I am in heaven. With John and Madonna being inducted, that means along with U2 and REM, all of my favorites will be honored.
I caught up with Shaffer and asked for his reaction to Mellencamp's induction.
"He is America," Shaffer said, "and he's in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, where he belongs."
Rather than pick one of Mellencamp's many appearances on Letterman's late-night talk show as a prominent memory, Shaffer said he has fond recollections of Mellencamp's 1981 music video for the song "Ain't Even Done with the Night."
Mellencamp and members of his band defied expectations by offering a parody of a doo-wop group -- complete with matching wardrobe and choreography.
"He showed himself to be something special, even then," Shaffer said.
John Fogerty, already a Rock and Roll Hall of Famer for his work in Creedence Clearwater Revival, will pay tribute to two acts during tonight's ceremony.
He's scheduled to give the introductory speech for instrumental rock group the Ventures, and he'll sing as part of the show segment devoted to the British Invasion's Dave Clark Five.
"I think 'Walk, Don't Run' is basically the first surf record," Fogerty said of the Ventures during a rehearsal break Monday afternoon.
The Ventures will perform "Walk, Don't Run" and the theme from "Hawaii Five-O" during the ceremony.
As an American teenager in the mid-60s, Fogerty said he wasn't intimidated or disheartened by the chart dominance of U.K. acts such as the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, the Who, the Kinks and the Dave Clark Five.
"I was totally for it all," Fogerty said. "To tell you the truth, American rock 'n' roll at the time the Beatles hit really needed a shot in the arm. We were having things like 'The Singing Nun' as the No. 1 record."
When Fogerty led Creedence into the spotlight, he helped the United States balance the score.
I plan on watching this evening. Seems like the last few years it's kinda become "uncool" to say you like Mellencamp, specially if your a musician from Indy. I have no problem with that. His music was a soundtrack for my teens years, and "Lonely Old Night" stills plays in my head anytime I'm alone out driving on a summer night. Good stuff Dave.