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John Mellencamp – Pop SingerIn 1989, John Mellencamp was still using the “Cougar” moniker given to him. early on in his career by someone at the record company. The idea was to make him more “sellable” to the record buying public.
Mellencamp was a little put off by it but went along with it to get his music out there. At first, he was Johnny Cougar, then John Cougar, then as his notoriety grew, he added his surname back, eventually dropping Cougar altogether.
From his 1989 album, ‘Big Daddy’, Mellencamp wrote and released a song about his distaste for the entertainment industry (mainly the music biz) not being truthful with the public in many cases.
In 1987, Mellencamp said in an interview for Cream magazine:
“The most crucial thing for me is that I want it to be real.”
“Pop Singer” was written during his very public divorce to Victoria Granucci and the mud-slinging accusing him of being a “monster” to his ex-wife and and in many other public forums. It wasn’t fair that just because he was in the public eye and famous that all the vitriol from the divorce had to paint him as such a bad guy when both parties had their issues in the failed marriage.
Mellencamp said in a Rolling Stone magazine interview:
“Things were changing. Everybody was having to kiss everybody’s ass. If you want to be on MTV, then come here and do this. All these backroom deals were getting made. I was like, ‘I don’t want any part of this.'”
The song hit the Hot 100 and peaked at #15.
