John Mellencamp

I go, why do you say that?

He goes, because now the way the billboard charts work,

Is this getting too inside baseball?

No, not at all.

The way the charts work is that if you get played in Indianapolis and you get played in New York, it counts as one play.

New York counts as one play.

Indianapolis counts as one play.

A play is a play.

When SoundScan came in, they changed it so it's like the number one record of the week.

So if you got a play in New York, that was worth five points.

If you got a play in Indianapolis, that was worth a half a point.

So what does that mean?

That means that people who grew up in St.

Louis and where rock took place, all of a sudden, you know, where I got played all the time, the points didn't amount to shit.

But what did?

Urban stations.

Urban stations played what?

Rap.

So, do you remember when all of a sudden rap music took over?

It wasn't because these guys were so great, and I'm not saying they were bad, I'm just saying that it was because of SoundScan, and my friend Tim knew this was going to happen.