[Powderworks] Mellencamp
Kate Adams
kate@dnki.net
Sun, 22 Sep 2002 03:21:19 -0400
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While Mellencamp may be sincere in his appreciation for the life of Rural
America, he is vastly simplistic in his portrayal of the same.
For example, my hayseed brother and I can still laugh each other into
hysterics when we make alterations to that insipid "I was born in a small
town" song. (e.g. "beat up a fag in a small town"... "got drunk and
knocked up in a small town ... that's why we never leave").
Once I moved East I would giggle and snicker every time I would see my
husband's suburban Boston friends sing along with that song with great
feeling and connection even though their "small towns" would have been
Oregon's third or fourth largest city at the time and had subway service to
downtown Boston. Not that they noticed.
I think "Pink Houses" is probably the closest Mellencamp comes to
meaningful depiction on the larger front ... most of his stuff is really
aural Norman Rockwell in its evocation of sentimental constructions of a
heartland we Americans are trained to envision.
Meanwhile, the Oils work translates very nicely to those dry and sparsely
populated American small towns my brother and I once inhabited. About a
month ago I dragged my kids off to Eastern Oregon. In our rented 4wd we
were bounding along a dirt road familiar to me from my childhood on a tank
full of gas courtesy of a grade school classmate who still recognized me
twenty-five years on. Behind us we were kicking up a nice cloud as I
pointed out the Umatilla Army Depot full of chemical weapons (13% of
all-US), the new I-82 built to keep the nuke shipments from Hanford from
going through the middle of town like they did when I was little, and some
other rather unattractive detritus visible on the wide open and empty
spaces. Then a watermelon truck, fully loaded and most ancient, rattled by
the other direction and cloaked us in stinking exhaust and sagey
particulate. A little voice piped up from the back in response, singing:
Diesel and Dust is what we breathe. This land don't change, and we don't
leave. Some people leave, always return. This land must change or land
must burn, this land must change or land must burn!
If a four-year-old can find something eerily appropriate to Oil the dirt
roads through the melon fields, then there is something transcendent in the
lyric and song.
At 01:53 AM 9/22/02 -0400, GrnVillageGirl@aol.com wrote:
>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.
>
>
>
>
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Kate Adams
Gradual Student
Environmental Epidemiology
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
go Out Of Mind with me:
www.kpasoutput.blogspot.com
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
I pledge allegiance to the Earth
And all life which She supports
One planet in our care, irreplaceable
With sustenance and respect for all
(fancyredbicycle on mamatron)
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
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While Mellencamp may be sincere in his appreciation for the life of Rural
America, he is vastly simplistic in his portrayal of the same.<br>
<br>
For example, my hayseed brother and I can still laugh each other into
hysterics when we make alterations to that insipid "I was born in a
small town" song. (e.g. "beat up a fag in a small
town"... "got drunk and knocked up in a small town ... that's
why we never leave").<br>
<br>
Once I moved East I would giggle and snicker every time I would see my
husband's suburban Boston friends sing along with that song with great
feeling and connection even though their "small towns" would
have been Oregon's third or fourth largest city at the time and had
subway service to downtown Boston. Not that they
noticed.<br>
<br>
I think "Pink Houses" is probably the closest Mellencamp comes
to meaningful depiction on the larger front ... most of his stuff is
really aural Norman Rockwell in its evocation of sentimental
constructions of a heartland we Americans are trained to envision. <br>
<br>
Meanwhile, the Oils work translates very nicely to those dry and sparsely
populated American small towns my brother and I once inhabited.
About a month ago I dragged my kids off to Eastern Oregon. In our
rented 4wd we were bounding along a dirt road familiar to me from my
childhood on a tank full of gas courtesy of a grade school classmate who
still recognized me twenty-five years on. Behind us we were kicking
up a nice cloud as I pointed out the Umatilla Army Depot full of chemical
weapons (13% of all-US), the new I-82 built to keep the nuke shipments
from Hanford from going through the middle of town like they did when I
was little, and some other rather unattractive detritus visible on the
wide open and empty spaces. Then a watermelon truck, fully loaded
and most ancient, rattled by the other direction and cloaked us in
stinking exhaust and sagey particulate. A little voice piped up
from the back in response, singing: <i>Diesel and Dust is what we
breathe. This land don't change, and we don't leave. Some
people leave, always return. This land must change or land must burn,
this land must change or land must burn!<br>
<br>
</i>If a four-year-old can find something eerily appropriate to Oil the
dirt roads through the melon fields, then there is something transcendent
in the lyric and song.<br>
<br>
At 01:53 AM 9/22/02 -0400, GrnVillageGirl@aol.com wrote:<br>
<blockquote type=3Dcite class=3Dcite cite><font face=3D"arial" size=3D2>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>
</blockquote>
<x-sigsep><p></x-sigsep>
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~<br>
Kate Adams<br>
Gradual Student<br>
Environmental Epidemiology<br>
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~<br>
go Out Of Mind with me:<br>
<a href=3D"http://www.kpasoutput.blogspot.com/"=
eudora=3D"autourl">www</a>.kpasoutput.blogspot.<a=
href=3D"http://www.kpasoutput.blogspot.com/" eudora=3D"autourl">com<br>
</a>*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~<br>
I pledge allegiance to the Earth<br>
And all life which She supports<br>
One planet in our care, irreplaceable<br>
With sustenance and respect for all<br>
(fancyredbicycle on mamatron)<br>
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~<br>
<br>
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