"Fuck, when the Couge's on, he's on"

John Mellencamp |MTV Music

That is my favorite quote from my entire time in Richmond. Whilst standing in a checkout line at Plan 9 as John Cougar Mellencamp was playing on throughout the store I heard one hipster behind the counter tell another hipster behind the counter "Fuck, when the Couge's on, he's on". And not only is that applicable to Mellencamp's music but a lot of times to his take on American life and culture, and now in his take on the music business as a whole. Below is an op-ed that The Couge has just posted laying out his thoughts on the music biz...

"Over the last few years, we have all witnessed the decline of the music business, highlighted by finger-pointing and blame directed against record companies, artists, internet file sharing and any other theories for which a case could be made. We've read and heard about the "good old days" and how things used to be. People remember when music existed as an art that motivated social movements. Artists and their music flourished in back alleys, taverns and barns until, in some cases, a popular groundswell propelled it far and wide. These days, that possibility no longer seems to exist. After 35 years as an artist in the recording business, I feel somehow compelled, not inspired, to stand up for our fellow artists and tell that side of the story as I perceive it. Had the industry not been decimated by a lack of vision caused by corporate bean counters obsessed with the bottom line, musicians would have been able to stick with creating music rather than trying to market it as well..."
The rest of the article after the jump