Mellencamp reflects on role in pop music

Kirk Baird

Friday, Nov. 30, 2001 | 3:55 a.m.

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"Turning 50 is not for (sissies)," said John Mellencamp in a recent phone interview from New York, relating some wisdom imparted from "some guy" a few days prior.

"He said, 'You're going to find that out.' "

Nearly two months after Mellencamp reached the half-century milestone, now seems the perfect time for reflecting on the singer-songwriter's 25-year career.

Enter the 2001 Billboard Music Awards, which pays tribute to Mellencamp with its annual Century Award, the publication's highest honor, during Tuesday's ceremonies. (The awards showcase is being broadcast live on Fox from the MGM Grand Garden Arena. It can be seen locally on Channel 5 after a three-hour tape delay at 8 p.m.)

The Century Award is named after Billboard's 100th anniversary in 1994, and is given each year to an artist "who has not received the wider recognition he or she merits."

In that respect, Mellencamp is in good company.

Past recipients include Randy Newman, Joni Mitchell, Billy Joel, Buddy Guy, Chet Atkins, James Taylor, Emmylou Harris, Carlos Santana and the late George Harrison -- artists who've had their share of hits, but never seemed to enjoy as much success as their talents warranted.

"It's not always about the music. It's the time, the trends and what radio and TV wants to do," Mellencamp said as he relaxed backstage at the NBC studios in Rockefeller Center last week, where he performed live during the city's Christmas tree-lighting ceremony.

"Even from the beginning, when I first started, people from the record company would try and steer me in that direction. But I've always been kind of Prometheus," he said. "That's really what the Billboard (Century) award is, it's the Prometheus award."

For those who've forgotten Greek mythology, Prometheus was a Titan who stole fire from the gods and gave it to mortals. As a consequence, he was chained to a rock where an eagle was to pick at his liver for eternity, although he was later rescued.

OK, Mellencamp has never had birds tearing into his innards, but he has sacrificed bigger sales numbers for the sake of better music.

In fact, the rocker has never had an album sell more than five million copies, a feat itself shared by just two of his 16 studio efforts: 1982's "American Fool" and 1985's "Scarecrow," which only reached the mark in early November.

While both records produced a string of hits -- "Jack & Diane," "Hurts So Good" "Hand To Hold On To" from the former; "Small Town" "R.O.C.K. In The U.S.A." and "Lonely Ol' Night" from the latter -- there's nothing trendy about either of them.

Even "Peaceful World," the first single off his latest album, "Cuttin' Heads," which seems tailor-made for the post-Sept. 11 climate, was written two years prior.

"People have been saying to me, 'It sounds like you wrote ("Peaceful World") after the fact,'" Mellencamp said. "And I said, 'I had a record a few years ago with a song called, 'Now More Than Ever.' And if that song would have been out now, people would have said that.'

" 'Now more than ever, the world needs love/It's not just a slogan, but the world needs love.' I wrote that song in '93, (but) people were busy dancing to boy bands, so nobody heard the song."

That's typical of the performer who, no matter the four decades in which he's performed, has always been about straight-forward rock 'n' roll from the heart and the heartland, both a clear reflection of his small-town upbringing in Seymour, Ind.

Ironically, Mellencamp said if he were to attempt a career now playing the same type of music, no record company would sign him.

"I said in one of my songs, 'Pop Singer,' a long time ago, 'I never had no weird hair to get my songs over.' I've always been out of step with what's going on," he said.