John Mellencamp

david bowie lou reed uh matahupo you remember all these bands oh lou reed for sure yeah yeah anyway david bowie obviously yeah rod stewart obviously yeah same guy no rod stewart was different different manager different man but he was english too so uh it's hard to argue with someone that's got that kind of talent right

Well, it's hard to argue when you're 22 years old with a 45-year-old man who has had success.

Yeah, like I signed away my publishing and stuff.

This is an old story.

But, I mean, an old story from everybody from the Rolling Stones to, you know, you name it.

Prince.

If you were black, you know, it was like, here's a new car and a shiny ring and some money.

And so I remember the, I was in, getting ready to leave England and

And I heard that Gaff had good news for me in America.

So that's the reason I went home.

And the good news was that he just got a deal for me on Mercury Records.

So I went back to the United States.

We started making records and just kept plowing away.

The critics hated me.

They fucking hated me because of Johnny Cougar.

Main Man came up with that name, Johnny Cougar, and his excuse was,

His name was David Jones, and I called him David Bowie, and look how well that worked out.

And I'm 22, and I'm going, but I don't like this name.

And they go, well, you don't have to participate.

You can go back to Indiana if you want.