This is not a rock opera. This is not Tommy. I can write songs that emote, and that’s it. – John Mellencamp
I wanted to study at the Art Students League in New York when I was young, but I didn’t have the money. Then I was fortunate enough to become Johnny Cougar Mellencamp. At the time, I thought I’d make a couple of records and get back to painting. It never dawned on me that I’d be 64 years old and still making music. – John Mellencamp
The CD, it should be noted, was born out of greed. It was devised to prop up record sales on the expectation of people replenishing their record collections with CDs of albums they had already purchased. – John Mellencamp
Unemployment is sky-rocketing; deflation is in our future for the first time since the Great Depression. I don’t care whose fault it is, it’s the truth. – John Mellencamp
Natalie from the Dixie Chicks could have said what she said before 9-11 and no one would have cared. – John Mellencamp
Regret should be handled swiftly, and you shouldn’t hold onto it. People spend their entire lives regretting what they didn’t do and what they should’ve done. Hey, man, you did what you did. – John Mellencamp
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
I’ve been around so many people for so long that I take great delight in my own company. – John Mellencamp
I don’t have to worry about any pop sensibility. I can write adult songs, and I don’t have to worry about choruses and hook lines. – John Mellencamp
Everything I see and hear… I will take ideas from anyplace, anywhere, anytime, and life has become a song to me. I’m always looking for a song. – John Mellencamp
As I get older, I have a different look on life. I just try to be a little more tolerant and a little bit more centered about what’s going on around me and not so emotional. – John Mellencamp
If we have any hope for survival of the music that we all love, compassion must replace name-calling, fairness must replace greed, and we need to come together as a musical community and try to understand each other’s problems. – John Mellencamp
Life should never be viewed from the vantage point of achievements. It is total folly. – John Mellencamp
It sounds funny, but I always try to keep an open mind about what I’m writing about. Sometimes I squeak my opinions in there, but generally I don’t. I try to be objective about things that I’m writing about. – John Mellencamp
