#174 & #175
1983 & October 23 1983
John Cougar Mellencamp
The Kid Inside & Uh-Huh
1983 & October 23 1983
John Cougar Mellencamp
The Kid Inside & Uh-Huh
Highlights:
Kid:
American Son
1.5
Kid:
American Son
1.5
Uh-Huh:
Crumblin’ Down
Pink Houses
Authority Song
4.25
Crumblin’ Down
Pink Houses
Authority Song
4.25
Let’s do these back to back. Like I’ve plopped the platters on top of one another on my record player.
John’s former manager decided to release The Kid Inside, an album that was recorded for MCA before they dropped him. TBH, I’ve thought Cougar was decidedly mediocre for much of his career, until American Fool. So, this should be interesting since the former was a never released, poorly received cash grab and the latter was a smash.
John’s former manager decided to release The Kid Inside, an album that was recorded for MCA before they dropped him. TBH, I’ve thought Cougar was decidedly mediocre for much of his career, until American Fool. So, this should be interesting since the former was a never released, poorly received cash grab and the latter was a smash.
Kid: Side One:
Oh, dear, the self righteous, self importance…who does this kid think he is? Oh. My God. I just figured out who John Cougar of the 70s reminds me of. Suzy Quatro. Faux rock. Studied grassroots. Like when I was 7 and declared to my mother that the way to sing rock songs was to not enunciate certain vowels. I STILL remember the look on her face. Because it was moronic.
Not only does he name drop Bruce Springsteen on “Kid Inside but the sax on “Cheap Shot” bites so hard on Clarence Clemons that I’m actually angry.
What is this fake vibrato on “Sidewalks and Streetlights”??! Ugh, if I was MCA I would’ve dropped him, too.
Oh, dear, the self righteous, self importance…who does this kid think he is? Oh. My God. I just figured out who John Cougar of the 70s reminds me of. Suzy Quatro. Faux rock. Studied grassroots. Like when I was 7 and declared to my mother that the way to sing rock songs was to not enunciate certain vowels. I STILL remember the look on her face. Because it was moronic.
Not only does he name drop Bruce Springsteen on “Kid Inside but the sax on “Cheap Shot” bites so hard on Clarence Clemons that I’m actually angry.
What is this fake vibrato on “Sidewalks and Streetlights”??! Ugh, if I was MCA I would’ve dropped him, too.
Uh-Huh: Side One:
Where did this come from? From the very beginning it’s all just…better. I mean, I think I can see the seeds of what he was trying to do on that first album but on the first track here it feels like a group of farm hands and extras from a Bud Light commercial all hanging out and singing’ songs. On the first album it feels like he’s TRYING to sound like that. Seven albums in and Johnny Cougar finally really has a handle on what he wants to be. This record was crafted to be a monster. Those three epic singles right up top really get the party going. Don Gehman, who would elevate R.E.M.’s sound on Life’s Rich Pageant is the real master here. He knows what to do with Mellencamp. He started to make it happen on American Fool and really perfected it here.
Where did this come from? From the very beginning it’s all just…better. I mean, I think I can see the seeds of what he was trying to do on that first album but on the first track here it feels like a group of farm hands and extras from a Bud Light commercial all hanging out and singing’ songs. On the first album it feels like he’s TRYING to sound like that. Seven albums in and Johnny Cougar finally really has a handle on what he wants to be. This record was crafted to be a monster. Those three epic singles right up top really get the party going. Don Gehman, who would elevate R.E.M.’s sound on Life’s Rich Pageant is the real master here. He knows what to do with Mellencamp. He started to make it happen on American Fool and really perfected it here.
Kid: Side Two:
Bursting open with “American Son”, a song that sounds like the singer listened to Diamond Dogs on repeat for 3 days (which itself is Bowie’s version of the Rolling Stones) one has to wonder, coming on the heels of the first half of Uh-Huh, what Gehman would’ve done with stuff like this. Separate the instruments more, drop those horns, add some fuel to the earthy fire and stripped John of his worst impulses, I bet. I don’t know what’s going on with the muddy, nausea inducing vibrato featuring “Gearhead”, tho. Then,“Too Young to Live”, a song that should clock in at under 4 minutes, is explicably 7:45. Why? Because Bruce writes 7+ minute epics. So, aping the Boss (because he has no grounded identity of his own) mellencamp succeeds…not with song but with overstaying his welcome.
Bursting open with “American Son”, a song that sounds like the singer listened to Diamond Dogs on repeat for 3 days (which itself is Bowie’s version of the Rolling Stones) one has to wonder, coming on the heels of the first half of Uh-Huh, what Gehman would’ve done with stuff like this. Separate the instruments more, drop those horns, add some fuel to the earthy fire and stripped John of his worst impulses, I bet. I don’t know what’s going on with the muddy, nausea inducing vibrato featuring “Gearhead”, tho. Then,“Too Young to Live”, a song that should clock in at under 4 minutes, is explicably 7:45. Why? Because Bruce writes 7+ minute epics. So, aping the Boss (because he has no grounded identity of his own) mellencamp succeeds…not with song but with overstaying his welcome.
Uh-Huh: Side Two:
Okay, I prefer this music bed when it was ripped off by Bloodhound Gang a decade and a half later for “A Lap Dance Is So Much Better When The Stripper Is Crying” and the best song about Jackie Onassis is by Human Sexual Response. But since this is mainly written by John Prine, I’ll give it a pass. His StonesObsession is back on “Serious Business” but, unlike just about every other goddamned John Cougar album he is in the Gehman zone and the song loops us back to the heartland party where we all started. "Lovin' Mother Fo Ya" is practically begging to be covered by Def Leppard and I almost wonder what it would be like if Mutt Lange got his hands on it.
Okay, I prefer this music bed when it was ripped off by Bloodhound Gang a decade and a half later for “A Lap Dance Is So Much Better When The Stripper Is Crying” and the best song about Jackie Onassis is by Human Sexual Response. But since this is mainly written by John Prine, I’ll give it a pass. His StonesObsession is back on “Serious Business” but, unlike just about every other goddamned John Cougar album he is in the Gehman zone and the song loops us back to the heartland party where we all started. "Lovin' Mother Fo Ya" is practically begging to be covered by Def Leppard and I almost wonder what it would be like if Mutt Lange got his hands on it.
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