Minutes to Memories: John Mellencamp rolling out jukebox of his old hits

Not every musician has the pull to announce a concert tour with a trailer that stars Sean Penn.

John Mellencamp does. The 74-year-old rocker revealed Wednesday that he’ll embark on a 19-date run of U.S. amphitheaters this summer. The theme of “Dancing Words Tour — The Greatest Hits” is as the name suggests, Mellencamp’s most extensive rendering of his best-known songs in decades.

In the short film, Mellencamp and Penn are sitting in a diner, the rocker saying he’s been asked to do a “greatest hits” tour. He seems reluctant.

“God forbid you become generous with your hits and the soundtrack of people’s lives,” Penn said. “I can’t imagine you would do that. Maybe actually let yourself enjoy it. Just because they’re hits doesn’t mean they’re not great songs.”

Twenty-two of Mellencamp’s songs made Billboard’s Top 40 between 1979 and 1996. Ten made the Top 10, with the peak being the four-week run of “Jack & Diane” at No. 1 in 1982.

It’s not like he never performs hits like “Pink Houses,” “Hurts So Good,” “Small Town” and “Lonely Ol’ Night.” He’ll mix some in with whatever new material he’s promoting. But he hasn’t rolled out some hits live in a while — “I Need a Lover,” not since 2005; the Van Morrison cover “Wild Nights,” last heard live in 1997; “Rumbleseat” in 1992; “R.O.C.K. in the USA (A Salute to ‘’60s Rock)” in 2014. He’s never played “Rooty Toot Toot” live.

This summer’s show will be like the jukebox in the diner where the two men sit — stocked with nothing but his hits.

A waitress walks over and orders the cantankerous men to put out their cigarettes. Her nametag says “Diane,” of course. The jukebox roars to life with “Jack & Diane” and the diner “patrons” sing along.

“Let’s do it,” Mellencamp says.

He sat down recently with The Associated Press to talk about his plans, where he’s again lightly scolded about his smoking. But it’s over Zoom. It’s not illegal.

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THE ASSOCIATED PRESS: The video with Sean Penn gives the impression that you are kind of dragged into this. How much of that is real and how much of that is acting?

MELLENCAMP: About 20 years ago, I was doing a thing at Madison Square Garden for Pete Seeger (Eds. note: it was 2009). I was talking to Pete and I went, “how do you like this, you know?” And Pete went, well, it’s all right occasionally. And I said, you wouldn’t want to play these types of places, which were the type of place I was playing at the time, arenas? And he looked at me and he just said John, let me give you a bit of advice. Keep it small, but keep it going. Don’t try to ride on the crest of something that happened 20 years ago. And that’s how I’ve stayed in business all these years.

AP: So what convinced you that the time was right to go against what you’ve been doing for the last 20 years?

MELLENCAMP: Well, I’m not really going against it. I’m just stepping out of line for a little bit. I’ll go back to theaters as soon as this is over and start doing what I always do. When I was playing in front of the big audiences, I started feeling like a cheerleader. Let’s have one more round of you name the song. I just didn’t feel like it was satisfying because I’m, you know, a musician. I’m not a cheerleader. And when you’re playing outside and stuff, you’re really playing for a party.

AP: There was a time a snotty journalist like me would probably say that this kind of tour was just some rock star taking it to the bank. But they’re your songs. You’re a working musician. You have the right to do whatever you want. How have your feelings evolved about this sort of thing through the years?

MELLENCAMP: Let me tell you something. You’re looking at the luckiest guy in the world … I’ve never given a (expletive) about money. I always wanted to get paid, but I never did do anything for money. As the little commercial that Sean and I made together, Sean just kind of said — and that was all ad lib — there’s nothing wrong with it. And I agree, there is nothing wrong with me going out and playing my hit records. It will make people happy. It will probably make me happy because I haven’t done it for so long. I imagine some snarky people will say Mellencamp’s just doing it for the money, but I gotta tell you, I don’t give a (expletive) about money.

AP: You have 19 dates for this tour. What are the chances it expands or you take it overseas?

MELLENCAMP: I’d say slim or none. I agreed to do this and I can’t imagine doing any more than that. People ask me if I like touring and I go, I like the first 20 shows. And then all of a sudden it turns into something else. It turns into a job for me.

AP: Do you find that people, as we age, are not as interested in hearing new music?

MELLENCAMP: I’m very aware of it. When I’m playing in theaters, I’ll play two or three new songs in a row and I can feel the audience kind of going, uh, uh. That’s where you’ve got to be smart and go, OK, now that would be a good time to have a song that they’re familiar with.

AP: From your standpoint, with some of these old hits, what are some of the songs that you think have aged the best?

MELLENCAMP: I don’t know about the hits, but some of the songs that I’ve written, particularly as a young guy, I don’t know where I got the idea to write them, because they have held up so good. A song like “Minutes to Memories.” Some of these songs have held up really surprisingly well. I quit playing “Jack & Diane” for a long time. And then, a few years ago, one of the guys in the band said, let’s play it and see what happens. The place went nuts. And they sang every word, which gave me a song off. All I had to do was strum the guitar. So, I kind of enjoyed that. But this time around, we’re going to play “Jack & Diane” as, I don’t know what they call it, a mashup. It’s a soul song now.

AP: Are there any songs that make you cringe or say, I want to keep that on the shelf? Any of the old hits?

MELLENCAMP: Not yet. That’s good, I guess. But that doesn’t mean, you know, after 15 shows, I’m going to be going, God, I can’t believe I’ve got to play that song again tonight. But right now I have tried to have an open mind and open heart about it. Like Sean said, there’s nothing wrong with making people happy.

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David Bauder writes about the intersection of media and entertainment for the AP. Follow him at http://x.com/dbauder and https://bsky.app/profile/dbauder.bsky.social.