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I'm not sure exactly why, but John a.k.a "Cougar" a.k.a "Mr Righteously Indignant Leftist" Mellencamp seems like a bit of a douchebag. Which is not to say that I have anything against righteously indignant leftists - hell, I dated/lived with one for almost two years. The difference between her and Cougar is that she didn't have any money and was thus entitled to be a righteously indignant leftist (RIL). I don't think you're allowed to be a RIL when you're married to a supermodel, have sold 40-odd million records and the big decisions in your life are "Porsche/Ferrari/both?". RILs are supposed to marry lumpen communists with bad teeth and body odour and live in community of poverty with an ill-shod, ringworm-ridden brood. Think Billy Bragg, not Bruce Springsteen.
Douche.
Nonetheless, the drug-free, teetotalling Cougar (*cough* loser *cough*) did take a bit of a stand against John McCain about the use of his songs on the campaign trail, so we should give some credit to him. Except that what was McCain doing using his songs anyway? You can't really see David Cameron using Billy Bragg songs, now can you?
OK, the music. Well, imagine that small part of the American midwest that thinks that Springsteen is a little aspirational and complex. This is just the music for them. It's cod-philosophy set to the music from a beer advert. It's all perfect middle American charm - clean acoustic guitar, a little electric guitar twang, tobacco-enhanced lead vocals and honey-voiced backing. It's about as offensive as an American tourist. I can live without ever hearing it again - it's not that it's offensively bad, it's just completely and utterly middle of the road. Billy Bragg would be ashamed.
Verdict: Rather stay at home
Tomorrow: The Stooges - I Wanna Be Your Dog
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