Apologies for my absence, gentle readers. The holidays take a bite out of the kind of time needed that meet the criteria of Rule #4 (listening only counts when done alone when I’m doing nothing more than driving, walking, or painting).
As a result, this album took a whole week to get through, but it was an enjoyable week.
Disc 1794 is…Uh-huh
Artist: John Cougar Mellencamp
Year of Release: 1983
What’s up with the Cover? This looks like a photograph that’s been painted on to look ‘arty’. It depicts John Cougar Mellencamp with an array of angels behind his head. I do not understand what the addition of these angels are supposed to represent, although angels are represented (by their absence) in the song “Golden Gates”.
However, it is not the angels that caught and held my attention with a horrified fascination, it was the shoes. That is one ugly pair of loafers, Mr. Mellencamp. And while I know it was the style at the time, the flash of white socks does not help.
Attention folks that are currently white-socking it around out there: you do you, but know that this is not a look that time treats kindly.
How I Came To Know It: This album was everywhere when it came out, and I know it from years of music videos, high school dances, house parties and general media exposure, much of which I considered unwelcome at the time.
Most recently this comes to me via my wife Sheila’s recent penchant for picking up albums at bargain-bin prices from thrift stores and bringing them home on spec. While this has eaten up a lot of additional real estate for the music collection, it has also been welcome for at least three reasons.
First and most obvious – you get a lot of deals and the misses are inexpensive. Case in point: this CD set her back a mere $4.
Second, it is fun to live dangerously and not know whether you’ll like something or not. Reminds me of the adventure of shopping for music back in the days before I stalked prospective records on Youtube and Bandcamp before purchasing.
Third, I don’t acquiesce to AI algorithms finding music for me, and this is one more avenue to expand my musical horizons in ways I otherwise might not.
How It Stacks Up: John Cougar’s “Jack and Diane” was one of my first two ever purchased 45s (the other was Steve Miller Band’s “Abracadabra”) but as far CDs go, this is my only Mellencamp album, so it can’t stack up.
Ratings: 4 stars but almost 5
Four stars will be a shock to all those who have heard me – usually after one too many cocktails – refer to Mellencamp as “shitty Bruce Springsteen”. A very unkind and unfair moniker indeed for an artist that is so much a part of the fabric of American rock music. My other favourite falsehood is deeming Lynyrd Skynyrd “shitty Molly Hatchet” but that is more about getting a rise out of Skynyrd fans. Besides, who doesn’t love Molly Hatchet?
Please put your hands down, Skynyrd fans; I don’t have time to spend the afternoon tallying all your votes, and we’re here to praise “Uh Huh” not start a second round of “Sweet Home Alabama”.
Let’s return to Mr. Mellencamp, and “Uh Huh”, one of the seminal albums of eighties rock and roll, that holds up admirably more than forty years after its release. This record is a master class of how some simple rock and roll riffs and heartfelt lyrics, delivered with honesty and integrity, are more than enough to make a classic record.
First and foremost a shout-out to the production decisions. This was 1983, and rock musicians everywhere were starting to experiment with all manner of bad ideas. Synthesizers, drum machines, saxophone solos (excepting the great Clarence Clemons) – the list is long and abhorrent. These aren’t bad ideas overall, but they belong to New Wave and pop music and tend to suck the life out of the grit required to make good old rock and roll.
Mellencamp doubles down on what makes rock be rock, going so far as to include a song, “Play Guitar” which is essentially about this idea. Sure he also includes the very Casio-sounding “Jackie O” on this record, but it is the exception that proves the rule, and so I (mostly) forgive it.
Lyrically, this record digs into the plight of working-class America, and people struggling to get by and realize the American dream. “Pink Houses”, “Authority Song” and “Golden Gates” all capture the sentiment, and the upbeat rock vibe is a nice juxtaposition against the hard message underneath. As Mellencamp himself sings on “Authority Song”, when he rails against the system he “comes out grinnin’”. Not because he wins (n.b. the song makes clear that ‘authority’ always wins) but smiling means not giving “the man” the satisfaction. Sometimes that’s enough.
In many ways the album is the flip side to the darker tones of Springsteen’s “Darkness at the Edge of Town” and “Born in the USA”, telling similar stories with a blush of optimism and bravado. Same outcome but delivered with more major chords.
So does this mean I’ll forever stop that unfair (and incorrect) comparison I’ve made over the years? Given that I’ve just waxed poetic about the brilliance of “Uh huh”? Given that I still have that 45 of “Jack and Diane” squirrelled away somewhere? Given that I continued to harbour a secret (until now) and abiding love for the song “Paper in Fire” since its initial release?
Reader, I cannot promise that. Mostly because cognitive dissonance is a powerful force. I will say that “Uh Huh” is a great record, and I’m going to leave this review a humbled and wiser man. I’ll also go explore both “Scarecrow” (1985) and “The Lonesome Jubilee” (1987) and see how they suit me now that my eyes have been opened.
I’ll also do my best to upgrade the reference to “upbeat Bruce Springsteen”, or maybe even “the Underboss”. Take the win, John.
Best tracks: Crumblin’ Down, Pink Houses, Authority Song, Play Guitar, Serious Business, Golden Gates
