John Mellancamp will be inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame, for the 2018 class. The induction ceremony is June 14.
Mellancamp is known for a brand of rock that can be credited to his Indiana roots, called “heartland rock”, with songs like “Jack and Diane” and “Small Town” as some of his biggest hits.
Mellancamp attended Vincennes University and part of I-65 is named in his honor.
Drummer Kenney Aronoff, an IU graduate, joined Mellancamp’s band in 1980, ulitmately recording 10 albums and touring with him. He says he and Mellancamp didn’t understand each other at first, and that led to him missing out on being on Mellancamp’s first record.
But, he learned a big lesson, thanks to Mellancamp.
“That’s a very life-changing moment for me,” said Aronoff. “I didn’t understand what my purpose was as a drummer and my role in the John Mellancamp band was to get his songs to be on the radio and to be number one.”
But, Aronoff wasn’t used to playing for a singer-songwriter. His drumming was hard and tough. Mellancamp told him to go home while session musicians were brought in who could get the job done quickly.
“When John was starting to tell me, you go home, I just said, I’m not going home. I’m gonna sit here and learn and watch what these guys do. I said you don’t have to pay me and I’ll sleep on the floor and whatever. He didn’t pay me and I did sleep on the floor. It was a huge education for me.”
Aronoff went on to play for John Fogerty for 20 years. He later found out it wasn’t Mellancamp who told him to go home.
“He told me for the first time recently it was Steve Cropper, the producer, who needed to get this record done fast and didn’t have time to work with me.”
Aronoff’s drumming became mega important to the Mellancamp sound, with fills you hear on the big hits, like :Jack and Diane.