At first look, there’s little to counsel that John Mellencamp, a pillar of ’80s heartland rock, and Mick Ronson, David Bowie’s trusted sidekick, would have a lot widespread floor.
However their juxtaposing backgrounds and personalities might have been simply the suitable combine for successful tune.
Mellencamp was the rough-and-tumble insurgent, keen for achievement however distrustful of higher-ups within the recording trade. By the early ’80s, he was nonetheless performing as “Johnny Cougar,” the stage title his administration had insisted was extra marketable. Mellencamp disliked it from the beginning.
“I fought my complete life to have some sort of individuality, from grade faculty on as much as the place I’m now,” he mentioned to Rolling Stone in 1982. “And that’s nonetheless my biggest drawback.”
However, Ronson, who was classically skilled on piano and violin as a toddler, was a much less assertive determine. An exceptionally proficient arranger, along with a guitarist, he was open-minded and imaginative when it got here to working within the studio.
“Music’s all the identical, actually,” he instructed RockTimes. “I do not assume you’ll be able to say, ‘I am a jazz musician’ or ‘I am a rock musician.’ In case you’re a musician, you are a musician. I believe you’ll be able to go into any space of music — it is simply music!”
At starting of the ’80s, a mutual supervisor introduced the artists collectively in a Miami studio, leading to one in all Mellencamp’s biggest hits. Watch the video beneath to get your complete odd-couple story.
John Mellencamp Albums Ranked
A pre-fab pop singer turned heartland rocker turned rootsy moralist, John Mellencamp has had virtually as many profession turns as names.
