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Interview With John Mellencamp

Aired October 02, 2003 - 14:45   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Meantime, singer John Mellencamp back with classic songs made new like "To Washington" once recorded by the great Woody Guthrie.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: That song is featured on Mellencamp's latest album "Troubled No More." The making of this album was captured in a rockumentary to be aired nationwide this week.

John Mellencamp, joining us live from New York City to tell us about the project and that he's receiving a special honor tonight. All kinds of exciting things going on in his career. Good to have you with us, John.

JOHN MELLENCAMP, MUSICIAN: Hey, thanks for having me.

O'BRIEN: All right. Why is it "Trouble No More"? Kind of a statement about music and corporate America here?

MELLENCAMP: Well, "Trouble No More" is an old blues song. It's the title of an old blues song. When I listened to the entire record as a piece of work, it just kind of said "Trouble No More" to me and that's how the title came about.

PHILLIPS: All right now I have just a quick question, John. All right John Cougar Mellencamp, John Cougar, John, J.C. Set the record straight on the name, will you?

MELLENCAMP: Well the record has been set straight for about ten years now. When I first started, I had -- the record company wanted me to call myself John Cougar, and I didn't want to, so I had to spend the next ten years getting rid of it.

O'BRIEN: All right so tell me a little bit about the video you released in conjunction with this. I was watching it earlier. It's good. Tell me a little bit about that concept.

MELLENCAMP: Well, this is a documentary that was made by students at Indiana University. You know for the last 20 albums I've made they've also asked me to come in and document the recording and I never wanted to do it until these students came to me and said let us come and make a student film.

So some students from Indiana University through Indiana University made this documentary. It was shot by them and edited by them. And it was an interesting thing to do. PHILLIPS: Take us back, will you, to southern Indiana and, you know, before you came to the point where you are now. And tell us, because a lot of people have followed your career through all the different genres and how you put everything together. How did it all begin?

MELLENCAMP: Well, I was always interested in music. I was a singer in bands, you know, since I was 13-years-old. I came to New York in 1974, '75 when I got out of college and I gut a record deal. And it wasn't quite that easy, but that's the long and short of it.

O'BRIEN: Tell me a little bit about this. In the wake of Johnny Cash's death, we talked a lot about artists who crossed...

PHILLIPS: Influence.

O'BRIEN: .. are in multiple genres of music. And you have certainly done that. What is the key to all of that, I suppose?

MELLENCAMP: Well, if you talk about Johnny Cash, he was always constant. He was always Johnny Cash. He put down a big footprint and a lot of people would do well such as myself to pay attention to the legacy Johnny Cash has left because he was honest and true to himself and true to the music.

PHILLIPS: "To Washington," there's a little part in there in that video, tell us about this, where you're playing the part of an anchor.

MELLENCAMP: Well, actually, "To Washington" was a song that I wrote right before the war broke out and I caught quite a bit of flak for being un-American. I thought it was kind of unusual that John Mellencamp after 21 albums would be labeled un-American after 21 albums of American songs. But I found it also humorous that my name was right above Jimmy Carter's.

PHILLIPS: Do you like Jimmy Carter?

MELLENCAMP: Well, yes, I love Jimmy Carter. A very honest president.

O'BRIEN: Well let me ask you this though. That must have stung quite a bit, to have that hurled at you. What were your thoughts at that time?

MELLENCAMP: Well, you know, I think that, you know, dissent in this country is not being encouraged which is what made this country great. I think that, you know, I just had to kind of like take it with a grain of salt because it was just -- we were in a very afraid moment at the time. And I think people heard the war drums sounding and now that the dust is clearing a little bit, people are starting to see the reality of what that was all about and that's what the video you're showing right now is about.

O'BRIEN: Others faced even harsher recriminations. The Dixie Chicks I'm thinking of right now. Do you think that was unfair? MELLENCAMP: Yes, it was totally unfair. I mean I saw the president, he was asked on the news, what about the Dixie Chicks? And he said well, There's a price for -- he got a smirk on his face -- There's a price for freedom of speech.

And I thought you know, you could have said a million more things like you know it's terrible this happened, but he was very arrogant about it. And once I saw that, he just sent a message out to everybody you want them go get them. And I just thought it was terrible.

You know, freedom of speech, people should say what they want to be able to say, but they shouldn't have people driving by their house throwing rocks and making disparaging comments about them.

PHILLIPS: John, you've also had a social conscious, you embrace diversity, you talk about that a lot. We look at a lot of the top albums, a lot of the young singers. It seems so different from our generation, I say our generation. I say our generation -- Miles, you, me. It has really changed. Seems like music isn't as always deep as it used to be.

MELLENCAMP: Well, you know, it's not really the artists' fault. When I started out, the record companies were all privately owned. Now they're publicly owned which tell you that -- I don't know how many times I've heard this in the last ten years. "John, be nice, you don't want to offend any of our sponsors."

So you have to pay -- you know the record companies want you to pander to people and pander to the audience, pander to them. But when, you know, music that we grew up with, things were privately owned, people spoke their mind and the record companies encouraged it. Now they don't encourage that at all. As a matter of fact with my song "To Washington," the record company said, Look, do what you want to with it, but don't involve us, please.

O'BRIEN: All right. Thank you very much, John Mellencamp.

PHILLIPS: Always says how he feels, John. We love you for that.

O'BRIEN: Our show goes on long after the thrill of having John Mellencamp here is gone.

PHILLIPS: "Teardrops Will Fall."

O'BRIEN: "Teardrops Will Fall" will take us to break. Thank you, John.

MELLENCAMP: Thank you very much.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com







Aired October 2, 2003 - 14:45   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Meantime, singer John Mellencamp back with classic songs made new like "To Washington" once recorded by the great Woody Guthrie.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: That song is featured on Mellencamp's latest album "Troubled No More." The making of this album was captured in a rockumentary to be aired nationwide this week.

John Mellencamp, joining us live from New York City to tell us about the project and that he's receiving a special honor tonight. All kinds of exciting things going on in his career. Good to have you with us, John.

JOHN MELLENCAMP, MUSICIAN: Hey, thanks for having me.

O'BRIEN: All right. Why is it "Trouble No More"? Kind of a statement about music and corporate America here?

MELLENCAMP: Well, "Trouble No More" is an old blues song. It's the title of an old blues song. When I listened to the entire record as a piece of work, it just kind of said "Trouble No More" to me and that's how the title came about.

PHILLIPS: All right now I have just a quick question, John. All right John Cougar Mellencamp, John Cougar, John, J.C. Set the record straight on the name, will you?

MELLENCAMP: Well the record has been set straight for about ten years now. When I first started, I had -- the record company wanted me to call myself John Cougar, and I didn't want to, so I had to spend the next ten years getting rid of it.

O'BRIEN: All right so tell me a little bit about the video you released in conjunction with this. I was watching it earlier. It's good. Tell me a little bit about that concept.

MELLENCAMP: Well, this is a documentary that was made by students at Indiana University. You know for the last 20 albums I've made they've also asked me to come in and document the recording and I never wanted to do it until these students came to me and said let us come and make a student film.

So some students from Indiana University through Indiana University made this documentary. It was shot by them and edited by them. And it was an interesting thing to do. PHILLIPS: Take us back, will you, to southern Indiana and, you know, before you came to the point where you are now. And tell us, because a lot of people have followed your career through all the different genres and how you put everything together. How did it all begin?

MELLENCAMP: Well, I was always interested in music. I was a singer in bands, you know, since I was 13-years-old. I came to New York in 1974, '75 when I got out of college and I gut a record deal. And it wasn't quite that easy, but that's the long and short of it.

O'BRIEN: Tell me a little bit about this. In the wake of Johnny Cash's death, we talked a lot about artists who crossed...

PHILLIPS: Influence.

O'BRIEN: .. are in multiple genres of music. And you have certainly done that. What is the key to all of that, I suppose?

MELLENCAMP: Well, if you talk about Johnny Cash, he was always constant. He was always Johnny Cash. He put down a big footprint and a lot of people would do well such as myself to pay attention to the legacy Johnny Cash has left because he was honest and true to himself and true to the music.

PHILLIPS: "To Washington," there's a little part in there in that video, tell us about this, where you're playing the part of an anchor.

MELLENCAMP: Well, actually, "To Washington" was a song that I wrote right before the war broke out and I caught quite a bit of flak for being un-American. I thought it was kind of unusual that John Mellencamp after 21 albums would be labeled un-American after 21 albums of American songs. But I found it also humorous that my name was right above Jimmy Carter's.

PHILLIPS: Do you like Jimmy Carter?

MELLENCAMP: Well, yes, I love Jimmy Carter. A very honest president.

O'BRIEN: Well let me ask you this though. That must have stung quite a bit, to have that hurled at you. What were your thoughts at that time?

MELLENCAMP: Well, you know, I think that, you know, dissent in this country is not being encouraged which is what made this country great. I think that, you know, I just had to kind of like take it with a grain of salt because it was just -- we were in a very afraid moment at the time. And I think people heard the war drums sounding and now that the dust is clearing a little bit, people are starting to see the reality of what that was all about and that's what the video you're showing right now is about.

O'BRIEN: Others faced even harsher recriminations. The Dixie Chicks I'm thinking of right now. Do you think that was unfair? MELLENCAMP: Yes, it was totally unfair. I mean I saw the president, he was asked on the news, what about the Dixie Chicks? And he said well, There's a price for -- he got a smirk on his face -- There's a price for freedom of speech.

And I thought you know, you could have said a million more things like you know it's terrible this happened, but he was very arrogant about it. And once I saw that, he just sent a message out to everybody you want them go get them. And I just thought it was terrible.

You know, freedom of speech, people should say what they want to be able to say, but they shouldn't have people driving by their house throwing rocks and making disparaging comments about them.

PHILLIPS: John, you've also had a social conscious, you embrace diversity, you talk about that a lot. We look at a lot of the top albums, a lot of the young singers. It seems so different from our generation, I say our generation. I say our generation -- Miles, you, me. It has really changed. Seems like music isn't as always deep as it used to be.

MELLENCAMP: Well, you know, it's not really the artists' fault. When I started out, the record companies were all privately owned. Now they're publicly owned which tell you that -- I don't know how many times I've heard this in the last ten years. "John, be nice, you don't want to offend any of our sponsors."

So you have to pay -- you know the record companies want you to pander to people and pander to the audience, pander to them. But when, you know, music that we grew up with, things were privately owned, people spoke their mind and the record companies encouraged it. Now they don't encourage that at all. As a matter of fact with my song "To Washington," the record company said, Look, do what you want to with it, but don't involve us, please.

O'BRIEN: All right. Thank you very much, John Mellencamp.

PHILLIPS: Always says how he feels, John. We love you for that.

O'BRIEN: Our show goes on long after the thrill of having John Mellencamp here is gone.

PHILLIPS: "Teardrops Will Fall."

O'BRIEN: "Teardrops Will Fall" will take us to break. Thank you, John.

MELLENCAMP: Thank you very much.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com