10 minutes on the phone with John Cougar in 1983, before he was Mellencamp

By Steve Newton

I interviewed John Mellencamp for the first time in May of 1983, when he was still known as John Cougar.

He called me up from his home in Bloomington, Indiana to talk about his latest album, American Fool, which was tearing up the charts thanks to hits like “Hurts So Good”, “Jack & Diane”, and “Hand to Hold On To”.

He swore a lot.

Have a listen:

To hear the full 22-minute audio of my 1983 interview with John Cougar–and my 1999 interview with him when he was Mellencamp as well–subscribe to my Patreon page, where you can eavesdrop on over 500 of my uncut, one-on-one conversations with the legends of rock since 1982.