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John Cougar Mellencamp Pink Houses Video Guitar Lesson.
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With a major hit under his belt, Mellencamp insisted on changing his billing to John Cougar Mellencamp (compromising by keeping the stage name as well as his true last name) for the 1983 follow-up, Uh-Huh, which was another top-10 hit and spawned several hit singles, including the vivid Americana of "Pink Houses," and the rocking "Crumblin' Down." Despite his popular success, Mellencamp fared less well with critics who tended to view him as a derivative heartland rocker in the mold of Bob Seger or as a poor man's Bruce Springsteen.
During the recording of Uh-Huh, Mellencamp's backing band settled on the lineup it would retain for the next several albums: Kenny Aronoff on drums and percussion, Larry Crane and Mike Wanchic on guitars, Toby Myers on bass and John Cascella on keyboards.
Mellencamp, now beginning to assert his power as a hitmaker, changed his billing for songwriting and production credits to simply John Mellencamp, although his official name on album covers and other releases was still John Cougar Mellencamp. He also made waves by refusing to allow alcohol or tobacco companies to sponsor his tours and was adamant in not selling his songs for commercial use, no matter how much money he was offered. However, since September 2006, Mellencamp's "Our Country" has been used to advertise Chevy trucks, replacing "Like A Rock" by Bob Seger (more on that below).
In 1985 Mellencamp released Scarecrow, a rural masterpiece that was dubbed his first "serious" effort. The album's lyrics were socially aware, with several songs focusing on the plight of the American family farmer, and Mellencamp soon helped organize Farm Aid with Willie Nelson and Neil Young. Scarecrow was the epitome of a heartland rock album and improved his critical reputation in some quarters, while "Lonely Ol' Night", "Small Town", and "R.O.C.K. in the U.S.A." all became Top 10 hits and "Rain On The Scarecrow" and "Rumbleseat" garnered considerable play on album-rock stations.
During this time Mellencamp was establishing himself as one of the top live acts in rock 'n roll. His concerts were celebrations of all that was great about rock music, and during the 1985-86 Scarecrow Tour he played not only two energetic sets of his own songs, but also a set of 1960s rock and soul classics such as "Mickey's Monkey," "Proud Mary," "You Can't Sit Down," "Nobody But Me," "Land of 1000 Dances," "Cold Sweat," and "Mony Mony" among others to close out his high-energy shows. At a December 6, 1985 show at Madison Square Garden that was plagued with sound problems, Mellencamp promised to refund all ticketholders' money, even though less than half of those in attendance took him up on the offer after he delivered a passionate set of both his own songs and 60s classics once the technical problems were corrected. Prior to the Scarecrow Tour he added fiddle player Lisa Germano to his band to accent and deepen his overall sound. Germano would remain in Mellencamp's band until 1994.
Germano played a big role in Mellencamp's next LP, 1987's The Lonesome Jubilee, which was departure from his earlier material as it incorporated country and folk influences. It generated several more hit singles, "Paper in Fire," "Cherry Bomb" and "Check It Out," along with hit album tracks like "Hard Times For An Honest Man" and "The Real Life" and is often considered one of the best and most unusual albums of the 1980s. The Lonesome Jubilee Tour played around the world to rave reviews and kept him on the road until July of 1988. By this time Mellencamp's band was widely hailed as one of the greatest ensembles in rock.
1989's Big Daddy was an ever quieter, mostly acoustic venture; the "Cougar" cover usage now seemed fully inappropriate to Mellencamp, and it was indeed the last album to contain it. Big Daddy stands as one of Mellencamp's most popular albums, containing widely-regarded songs like "Jackie Brown," "Big Daddy of Them All" and "Void in My Heart." By this point Mellencamp had established himself as one of rock's most popular songwriters and a unique talent. He decided not to tour behind Big Daddy, instead shifting his focus to a newfound love of painting that helped him through a rough divorce from his second wife Vicky.
