He started as John J. Mellencamp, his real name. Then to Johnny Cougar. Then John Cougar. Then John "Cougar" Mellencamp. Now, back to John Mellencamp.
Two things have not changed: His unique, raspy singing style and his dedication to what he calls “ardent leftist” causes.
Gun control advocate John Mellencamp brings his 2024 tour to the Birmingham-Jefferson Community Complex (BJCC) on Friday, April 12.
Mellencamp, with 22 Top 40 hits, is the recognized leader of "heartland rock" or "roots rock."
Those hits include "Hurts So Good," "Small Town" and "Cherry Bomb."
Tickets for the 8 p.m. show can be found here.
If the Birmingham show follows the script of others on his 2024 tour, there will be no opening act. Instead, the audience will endure a half-hour of whole scenes from well-remembered classic films, enough to get the audience edgy and impatient for Mellencamp’s entrance for a two-hour show.
Mellencamp’s cause de jour is his strong support for gun control laws.
His official statement is as follows:
Children have been killed by gun violence. If we as a country want to find the collective will within ourselves to change our gun laws, let’s stop playing sill political games. Show the carnage on the news. Show the American people the dead children and others who have been struck down. Show us what guns and bullets can do to the human body. The news media need to be brave enough to let Americans see what slaughtered children look like. Otherwise, I fear that too many perceive gun violence as an abstract; a story that’s repeated nearly every day to numbing effect.
When I was a teenager, there was a war in Vietnam. In the beginning, no one paid much attention to this problem in a foreign land until the media shouldered the responsibility and showed Americans how our sons were being slaughtered. Once those images were shown on TV, there was overwhelming demand for that war to be ended immediately.
I say this as a father and a human being, with deep empathy for the parents whose children have had their lives ended so suddenly and so senselessly: Show Americans the carnage. I am not being callous, and I know it will be painful to see. But, sad to say, I think it’s the only way to shock Americans out of its stupor.
Mellencamp’s earliest known use of his music and influence for causes was as a co-organizer of the 1985 Farm Aid concert and recordings.
2003. He was an outspoken critic of the Iraq War.
2004. He supported ‘Vote for Change’ against the re-election of President George W. Bush.
2008. He sang at events for both Democrat presidential candidates, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. He did not endorse either because “they were not liberal enough.”
2009. He organized and sang at a tribute for singer Pete Seeger’s 90th birthday. Proceeds went to Seeger’s environmental activist fund. If I had a hammer, I’d hammer in the mo-or-ning.
2020. He supported Michael Bloomberg for President.
1819 News has reached out to the Mellencamp handlers asking if he will have any meetings or activities in Alabama in support of his gun control issue but has not yet received a response. Alabama is a strongly pro-gun owner-rights state.
Mellencamp has not mentioned violence caused in the United States by illegal immigrants. His appeal to the media to show videos of victims of gun violence has not addressed showing victims of illegal aliens.
Mellencamp was born with spina bifida. With early corrective surgery, he got over that. He got over his use of drugs and alcohol in college. However, he did not get over his heavy use of nicotine, which at one time consumed 80 cigarettes a day. He credits smoking with the development of his deep, raspy voice – “smoker’s throat.”
“I’m a really good smoker.”
“If you hide information from people, don’t want people to see the Ten Commandments or don’t want people to hear about Darwin, aren’t we hiding things that we know from our future generations? I just think that that’s incorrect.” — John Mellencamp
Jim Zeigler is a former Alabama Public Service Commissioner and State Auditor. You can reach him for comments at ZeiglerElderCare@yahoo.com.
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