Still, the singer professionally christened “Johnny Cougar” against his will at age 21 admits he made five albums before making a good one. “I didn’t know,” he said, “because I didn’t know I had to change my game.” He’ll remind you of hit songs that predated the album. in the USA,” which neatly summarized the musical approach - even if Mellencamp had to be talked into putting it on the album.Īsk him now, at age 71, whether “Scarecrow” represented an elevated standard, and you’ll discover the chip that remains on his shoulder. The Indiana-bred singer embraced his roots in the anthem “Small Town.” At age 34, his writing in “Minutes to Memories” showed a new maturity about life.Ī high standard is maintained through the closer, “R.O.C.K. In that first song, “Rain on the Scarecrow,” Mellencamp described the financial crisis that was swallowing family farms in the Midwest. It elevated Mellencamp from a generic heartland rocker to a serious artist with something to say, helping spark Farm Aid, a movement that lives on. The disc, which is getting the deluxe reissue treatment this week, stands as a rare reputation-changing work. NEW YORK (AP) - An urgency in the ringing guitar and thunderous drums that opened the 1985 album “Scarecrow” was the first hint that this was something different for the artist then billed as John “Cougar” Mellencamp. Mellencamp’s 1985 album “Scarecrow” is being reissued this week. John Mellencamp performs during a tribute concert to Billy Joel, the recipient of the Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song in Washington on Nov.
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