Midnight Oil

[Powderworks] Mellencamp

GrnVillageGirl@aol.com GrnVillageGirl@aol.com
Sun, 22 Sep 2002 01:53:28 EDT


--part1_159.148ae7c5.2abeb4d8_boundary
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit

IMHO (In My Humble Opinion): John Mellencamp, while a terrific performer and 
an excellent songwriter, doesn't come within shouting distance of the Oils.
I'm not going to take anything away from Mellencamp as a stalwart Farm Aid 
supporter; he does a valuable service there. And not many artists address 
these heartland issues, which I think are quite different from what the Oils 
are on about. 
Nope...singing about the plight of the farmer or small-town resident, to me, 
doesn't correlate to songs about environmental pollution or disaster, 
aboriginal land rights (who is speaking for the Native Americans? Where did 
John Trudell go?), or the ancient-modern culture clash unique to Australia.
Then again, that's just my opinion.
Also, Mellencamp is a group leader/singer/guitarist, who changes personnel 
(although I believe some of his people have been with him quite a long time), 
whereas the Oils are a BAND. The feel of the music - we're not discussing 
quality, per se - is so different when you're talking about a real group 
that's been through the mill together.
Sort of what Springsteen was like without the E Street Band...he was still 
great, but not as superb as he is within that ensemble unit, even though he's 
obviously the leader.
There's just something special about how a group that's been together for 
many years mesh and anticipate and complement one another; some kind of 
telepathy goes into effect. 
It makes a big difference in the concertgoing experience, or so I've found.







--part1_159.148ae7c5.2abeb4d8_boundary
Content-Type: text/html; charset="US-ASCII"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit

<HTML><FONT FACE=arial,helvetica><BODY BGCOLOR="#ffffff"><FONT  style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff" SIZE=2>IMHO (In My Humble Opinion): John Mellencamp, while a terrific performer and an excellent songwriter, doesn't come within shouting distance of the Oils.<BR>
I'm not going to take anything away from Mellencamp as a stalwart Farm Aid supporter; he does a valuable service there. And not many artists address these heartland issues, which I think are quite different from what the Oils are on about. <BR>
Nope...singing about the plight of the farmer or small-town resident, to me, doesn't correlate to songs about environmental pollution or disaster, aboriginal land rights (who is speaking for the Native Americans? Where did John Trudell go?), or the ancient-modern culture clash unique to Australia.<BR>
Then again, that's just my opinion.<BR>
Also, Mellencamp is a group leader/singer/guitarist, who changes personnel (although I believe some of his people have been with him quite a long time), whereas the Oils are a BAND. The feel of the music - we're not discussing quality, per se - is so different when you're talking about a real group that's been through the mill together.<BR>
Sort of what Springsteen was like without the E Street Band...he was still great, but not as superb as he is within that ensemble unit, even though he's obviously the leader.<BR>
There's just something special about how a group that's been together for many years mesh and anticipate and complement one another; some kind of telepathy goes into effect. <BR>
It makes a big difference in the concertgoing experience, or so I've found.<BR>
<BR>
<BR>
<BR>
<BR>
<BR>
<BR>
</FONT></HTML>
--part1_159.148ae7c5.2abeb4d8_boundary--