TS: Paul Weller vs. John Mellencamp

Mellenhead.

Transatlantic divide, I'm guessing.

Only a handful of Weller songs have stuck with me, while (at least) a dozen Mellencamp songs have. His raspy proletarian meaninglessness is at least as corny as Weller's, but I'd rather listen to guitarist Larry Crane and Kenny Aronoff trying their hardest to redeem the corn.

I once made a two cd comp of my favorite Mellencamp songs and barely got deeper than singles. I could probably do two more discs.

I like, maybe, five songs by The Jam.

^^Ditto^^

I'm gonna have a fucking aneurysm if we keep getting threads about Paul Weller that don't take his new album into account. Which is still sounding like top 10 of 2010 material.

ILM in 1995: "TS: Roy Orbison vs. Scott Walker." Ok, not exactly, but I'm too tired to think of a better one.

BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH

The MELONS ARE ROTTEN AND THE CAMPERS ARE SMELLING!!!!

― Bimble

Guess.

don't know Weller's solo stuff that well and while I lloved Mellencamp circa Scarecrow, gotta say The Jam >>>>> The Coug

and as far as that goes Style Council were better than you remember

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

I have a serious soft spot for the Style Council, like The Jam, and really like the new album. I also cannot really think of a Mellencamp song off the top of my head that isn't 'Little Pink Houses' or whatever that's called.

coug obv

Americans taking John Mellencamp seriously makes the Atlantic seem that much wider.

midwest is pretty wide too ; )

I don't take either of these guys seriously, but I like a lot more Mellencamp songs than I do Jam songs, & I don't know anything else by Weller---except that I was a Mojo subscriber a long time ago & he featured in many of their stupidest, most self-congratulatory features, so I guess I dislike the place Weller plays in pop music's "structure". However: I saw Mellencamp at a Farm Aid in the late 90s & it was horrible: one lowlight was the rap interlude added to "Jack & Diane".

I wonder how many Americans will vote Weller and how many Brits vote Mellencamp.

Mellencamp wrote better songs, sang those songs better, and hired a better band than Weller's ever managed. It's actually very simple.

Unless you hate Mellencamp's songs, voice and whole schtick, obviously. I think there's definitely a cultural divide. Weller doesn't get enough credit for his experimental streak either (partly his fault, partly that of his fans' boring geezer-worship)

Yeah, Mellencamp always seemed like a decent fellow to me but his music has never spoken to me at all.

I've always considered mellencamp a wannabe springsteen and don't know him beyond the singles - what to listen to?

alfred OTM - and once you get past the whole schtick there's a ton of great stuff in that catalog

What is your favorite John Mellencamp song?

Best post-"Lonesome Jubilee" John Mellencamp Songs?

John(ny) "Cougar" Mellencamp: C or D?

TS: Tom Petty vs. John Mellencamp

Honestly, this battle is no contest. (Petty vs. Coug was closer, I guess.)

Scarecrow and The Lonesome Jubilee are the kinds of really good records that hardly anyone calls great so they're overlooked.

And they're not even his best albums!

in the city is 30+ minutes of punky-mod near-perfection; and their next few are pretty damn classic. Cougar have any songs nearly as sublime as "Down in a Tube Station at Midnight"?
guess JM deserves some listens, based on the posts here so far....

To be fair, xhuxk, that doesn't disprove my point. You have probably the most American tastes of anyone on ILX. (Not an insult btw)

Really?? I love lots of oi! and glam records, though! (And Australian ones.) (And Fall ones.)

Anyway, an even better thread:

What is John (Cougar) Mellancamp's best song?

rap interlude added to "Jack & Diane".
sounds icky. Still voted Coug.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=joNzRzZhR2Y&feature=av2e

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=myo9wXrNUP4&feature=av2e

Both artists are good at selling a vision of their national identity, tho I'd argue that Weller diversified from that at several points over the years - the Motown-influenced Jam stuff, the Style Council, the weirder Brendan Lynch productions, his last two albums…

xpost. I don't mean to stereotype you xhuxk but you do rep for a lot of heartland US rock and country that doesn't really translate over here, except among a handful of the Uncut crowd.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OoK6lSImv6k

Here's a clip from a 1998 performance of "Jack & Diane" with the rap interlude, at about 2:30 in.

xhuxk might dig it! There's fiddle & rap all together! & check out JM's hair!

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

xxpp Actually, Mellencamp vs Mark E. Smith would be a tough one for me! (Kind of similar career trajectories, too: Debut around '76/'77 with very good records, best album '82, and I mostly lose interest after '87. Or okay, actually, after '85 in the Fall's case, and they'd started recording later. But their earliest records beat Cougar's earliest, and I like their new album more than his.)

Also, I like tons of music by Germans! (Really don't take offense to "the most American tastes of anyone on ILX," though; just honestly never thought of it that way.)

Also: Both Mark E. and the Coug had excellent taste in drummers!

(Fwiw, I suspect I'd like more Fall music in the past 23 years than Mellencamp music, but what I've heard from both mostly strikes me as mediocre, despite their both having many devoted defenders. And I doubt I'll ever be inspired to investigate much further.)

Now I am imagining the Fall covering "Jack and Diane"... I bet they'd do a good job of it.

selling a vision of their national identity, tho I'd argue that Weller diversified from that at several points over the years - the Motown-influenced Jam stuff, the Style Council

...both of which still sounded completely British regardless (especially with the "rows and rows of disused milkers," and all.)